Our Team
We currently have a core team of three, with associated specialist consultants. All staff are fully committed to ecological design, and bring their specialist experience in associated areas.
Core Staff:
Architectural design and technology: Andy Simmonds, Adele Mills, Tim Crosskey
Specialist consultants:
Energy and Services: David Olivier (Energy Advisory Associates) and / or Alan Clarke
Engineering: Bob Johnson
We have been involved in facilitating design workshops with both children and adults, and are committed to making the design and production of ecological buildings inclusive, empowering and fun! We are used to working with people with little experience of visualising designs from technical drawings, or of the pragmatics of buildings.
We are well-used to adapting our design meeting format and modes of presentation to the size of client group involved. We use (3D) sketches and models to easily convey ideas to those unused to reading technical drawings. In addition we use computer aided design to present accurate 3D drawings of design schemes.
We have run training courses and seminars in earth building and timber use, and ecological and energy efficient building generally.
The practice has an extensive track record of completed ecological buildings for a range of individuals, NGO's, councils, schools and charities:
Clients have included the National Centre for Alternative Technology; the National Trust; County Naturalists' Trust; the Six Bells Trust, Bishops Castle, Shropshire; various primary schools; Caerphilly County Council; E.Sussex CC; Weald & Downland Open Air Museum; the Keyhole Trust, Llandrinio, Powys; the Green Wood Trust, Coalbrookdale, Shropshire.
Adele Mills is a Partner in Simmonds.Mills and previously worked as an architect for Leeds Federated Housing Association, private practices in Bristol and Liverpool, and has done general building and carpentry work on a variety of projects. She has particular experience of hands-on building training for women, and has been a design tutor at Cardiff University School of Architecture. She works as both a designer and a builder.
Andy Simmonds
Andy is an architectural designer and builder. Early building work experience was with historic buildings, windmills, waterwheels and bridges, learning about stonework, lime mortars, timber, and metalwork. He later worked for conservation Architects Caroe and Martin. Work with NBA Tectonics (National Building Agency) involved high rise housing refurbishment, production of energy efficiency case studies and technical building guides for government departments. This included ETSU's passive solar programme, developing energy efficient designs for the mass market with architects, clients and housing developers.
The two year Hooke Park course covered carpentry skills, timber product design, manufacturing and engineering, computer skills and marketing. He specialised in researching construction methods utilising homegrown timber culminating in the construction of a roundwood / rammed earth prototype building.
Through long-standing membership of the AECB, he has developed working relationships with the leading designers and tradespeople in the field of ecological building. Being both designer and builder, he has gained practical insights into the viability of ecological techniques, and has taken up on-the-job training of other trades people. He has run training courses and seminars in earth building and timber use, and ecological and energy efficient building generally.
Andy is currently also the part time CEO of AECB - the sustainable building association
Tim Crosskey worked for various practices in London and Yorkshire prior to joining Simmonds.Mills (Plan Shop Archts., Architype, Constructive Individuals and E-Arc); where he specialised in self-build housing, health centres, schools, religious and community buildings.