Assist Architect

New Build Housing

Currently Assist design & manage the completion of in excess of 250 housing units per year ranging from single storey special needs, through medium density two storey housing units, to six storey high density city centre infill.

All of Assist Architect’s current projects for public and private clients aim to be Housing For Varying Needs and Lifetime Homes compliant. This includes designing for future alterations to accommodate a variety of tenant needs including wet-floor showers, through-floor hoists, removable panels and hoist tracks. We have previously worked for Glasgow University providing halls of residence accommodation and several Health Boards and Care Trusts providing supported and profound-needs housing, in addition to Independent-Living accommodation.

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Refurbishment Housing

Since its inception in the early 1970s in Govan, ASSIST Architects have ‘grown up’ with the Housing Association movement, developing an extensive knowledge base for Refurbishment and Regeneration. From traditional Victorian tenements to modern high-rise housing, we are adept at developing a solution which ensures the re-use of the building to meet all aspects of today’s space and building standards and, more critically, all current and future requirements for minimal C0₂ emissions.

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Sustainability

Assist continue to pursue an innovative approach to the creation of sustainable communities with like-minded clients. We meet these challenges with a degree of realism, remembering that affordability and ease of maintenance must not be compromised.

To meet the current challenges of Low-Carbon housing, we have assisted several HA clients with the development of a project specific Sustainable Development Policy which addresses C0₂ emissions and renewable energy strategies such as solar water heating, ground source heat pumps, sunspaces/passive solar heating, mechanical heat recovery and community heating schemes. Our expertise also includes sustainable building techniques and materials specification including, green roofs, breathing wall construction, enhanced insulation and resource and waste recycling.

Through this we seek to maximise energy efficiency to ensure minimal running costs for residents, helping combat fuel poverty.  We seek to optimise energy efficiency by the use of balanced systems that use as much free heat gain as possible to offset minimised heat losses and energy consumption.

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Neighbourhood Regeneration

A significant part of Assist’s work involves large-scale community-led regeneration. Please refer to our expertise page for more information on our extensive experience of Community Consultation.

The regeneration work we undertake includes a mixture of demolition, building rehabilitation and new build. An essential part of the complete redevelopment of a neighbourhood includes the design of public and semi-public spaces requiring knowledge of streetscaping and landscaping to reduce traffic movement, maintain security and safety and, overall, create a pleasant community environment.

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Community & Care

Assist continue to provide design services for wider community and specialist care clients often in the broader context of neighbourhood regeneration proposals. These include church conversions, community and outreach centres, specialist housing and Health Board and Care Trust commissions.

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Office / Workspaces

Assist’s commercial and retail experience includes internal fit-outs and interior design, conversion of existing buildings to offices and new build bespoke office and workspace projects. From our initial beginnings as a Housing Improvement Advisory Centre in a shop front on Govan Road to our own offices at Station Terrace, we continue to develop our experience of commercial design and community workspaces.

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Landscape/Environmentals

Assist have been undertaking landscape and environmental improvements as an integral part of housing projects and masterplan regenerations for over 30 years. Initially this focused on tenement backcourt improvements but now includes all aspects of landscape design including community gardens, allotments, open space, play areas and safe routes to school.

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