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practice
We specialise in science-led, deep energy retrofits that transform energy-hungry and historically sensitive structures into comfortable, low-carbon buildings, prioritising insulation, airtightness, and moisture management to reduce energy demand while preserving the building's unique character and integrity. These projects are supported by our in-house certified Passivhaus Designer. Whether you are aiming for the rigorous EnerPHit certification or taking a targeted or phased approach to improvement, we will guide you through the process with clarity and care to deliver a healthy, future-proof home that costs less to run and feels wonderful to live in.
Whether extending an existing house or creating a new home, we begin by understanding how you want to live and the unique qualities of the site. We design around light, views, landscape and context to create homes that feel naturally connected to their surroundings. Extensions are an opportunity to improve not just space, but flow, comfort and connection to the outdoors. New homes allow every element to be shaped around the people who will live there. Across both, we take a fabric-first approach, using natural, non-toxic materials wherever possible to create energy-efficient, healthy, resilient and beautifully detailed homes that feel as though they truly belong.
We approach listed and heritage buildings with deep respect, combining technical rigour with thoughtful design to ensure these structures are carefully preserved while being useful to modern daily life and loved for years to come. Our particular expertise lies in improving the thermal performance of historic structures without diminishing their character or heritage significance - breathing new life into them while celebrating the craftsmanship that makes them irreplaceable.
We are passionate advocates for creative reuse - agricultural barns, industrial structures, and outbuildings that have lost their original purpose but retain enormous potential are where we thrive. We champion adaptation over demolition, utilising existing embodied carbon and honouring the building's history. Our approach balances preservation and conservation with innovation; retaining the character and integrity of the original structure while introducing carefully considered modern, high-performance elements that make spaces practical, efficient and joyful.
We work with local authorities, businesses, educational trusts and community groups to create practical, low-carbon spaces that support collaboration, learning and wellbeing. Our approach combines sustainable architecture with biophilic design, natural materials and fabric-first energy efficiency, creating healthy environments that are both cost-effective and built to last. For schools and learning spaces, we also consider how buildings can connect people with nature, ecology and food production, supporting hands-on learning and environmental awareness. The result is flexible, inspiring architecture that serves its community while demonstrating regenerative design in action.
Alongside our architectural work, we provide independent consultancy to public bodies, community groups, businesses and private clients. Our expertise spans heritage and condition surveys, climate resilience planning, permaculture design, sustainability policy, community organisation, public consultation and feasibility studies. We help clients understand buildings, sites and wider landscapes, identify risks and opportunities, and make informed decisions grounded in evidence. Whether reviewing a single property, shaping a community project or advising on policy, our focus is practical, sustainable and regenerative outcomes that stand up over the long term.
At Squirrels, we focus our practice on a breadth of design work united by a commitment to craft, honesty, and long-term resilience in the face of the climate emergency, across Somerset, Devon and the wider South West.
What We Do
We follow the RIBA Plan of Work - a clear, transparent structure that guides your project from the first conversation to the day you move in. What makes our process distinctive is the integration of architectural design and sustainability at every stage, from initial site analysis to post-occupancy review. This is a journey we take together: collaborative, honest, and built around your vision.
How We Work
Stage 0: Strategic Definition
Here, we take the time to listen and explore in order to decide on the best way to meet the requirements of your project. This is done through an initial consultation and site visit where the project needs, risks and budget are assessed.
Stage 1: Preparation and Briefing
This is all about defining the brief for the project. This comes hand in hand with a bespoke fee proposal and an early Regenerative Strategy that establishes architectural approach, energy, biodiversity, and landscape ambitions from the outset. In Stage 1, site surveys are also initiated where appropriate - these often include a measured building and topographical survey, and any ecological surveys needed.
Stage 2: Concept Design
In Stage 2 we test a range of concepts against your requirements and desires, as well as testing their viability with regard to cost and environmental responsibility. By the end we will have established a preferred concept through hand drawing and preliminary digital drawings and modelling. This is the stage at which we would seek pre-application planning advice with the local authority, if we believe that this will be beneficial for the project.
Stage 3: Spatial Coordination
During Stage 3, the design moves from the preferred conceptual design to fully fleshed out drawings, specifications and reports needed to submit a planning and/or Listed Building Consent application. These drawings take further into account constraints from engineers, building regulations and cost. The design may also adapt following pre-application advice feedback. By the end of Stage 3, the outcome of the planning application will be established.
Stage 4: Technical Design
In stage 4, the design is developed to a stage where the building could be constructed - this often involves liaising with a structural engineer and other specialist consultants. Within this stage the building regulation application will be submitted, and any pre-commencement planning conditions will be discharged. In traditional procurement routes the contractor will be selected, possibly through a competitive tendering process.
Stage 5: Manufacturing & Construction
On-site delivery commences at Stage 5. We offer flexible levels of involvement to suit your needs. Our team can manage contract administration with the Principal Contractor, monitor project expenditure, supply supplementary technical details required by site teams, and verify that the completed construction faithfully reflects the initial design intent. For self-build projects or custom procurement routes, we provide adaptable support ranging from tailored Project Management to targeted, ad-hoc guidance.
Stage 6: Handover
Stage 6 concludes the building contract once any defects identified in our final inspection have been rectified. We are also able to offer a bespoke Home User Guide. Alongside this we will ensure any planning conditions have been discharged and hold a review of the project performance.
Stage 7: Use
Stage 7 explores how successful the project was in terms of the initial brief and sustainability outcomes. Within this stage, often after 12 months, we can analyse how the building is performing for those who use it and against its environmental ambitions. For projects integrating our agroecology service, we stay involved as your landscape matures - your building and its land are, to us, a single living system, and we are here for the long term.
At Squirrels our key focus is Regenerative Design. Sustainable design asks: can we do less harm Regenerative design asks: can we actively restore?
A regenerative building does not merely reduce its carbon footprint - it contributes to sequestering carbon. It does not merely avoid damaging biodiversity - it actively increases it. This page sets out the framework we use to achieve that, and what it means in practice for your project.
Instead of relying on a single label or a one-size-fits-all framework, we draw upon a range of standards-including Passivhaus, BREEAM, the Living Building Challenge, WELL, and Net Zero Carbon principles.
This flexible methodology allows us to tailor the ideal combination for each project, ensuring that heritage fabric, biodiversity, human health, embodied carbon, and client requirements are all thoughtfully balanced.
It's this range that Exmoor National Park Authority drew on when it asked us to independently review the sustainability chapter of its own Design Guide.
Regenerative Design
Place, People & Health
Every design begins with a careful investigation of the site: its orientation, microclimate, ecology, and relationship to the surrounding landscape. In Exmoor and the South West, that means understanding moorland exposures, prevailing winds, and the field boundaries that have shaped these places for centuries. We design with the explicit goal of leaving every site with a measurably richer ecology than we found, integrating Permaculture principles wherever possible to produce food, water, and habitat as well as shelter.
Indoor environmental quality is a central health priority in our designs. We select natural, non-toxic materials, avoid known harmful substances, and incorporate biophilic elements like abundant daylight and views of nature. Where appropriate, we integrate Mechanical Ventilation with Heat Recovery (MVHR) systems to deliver clean, filtered air within airtight structures. The spaces we craft are healthy, practical, and inviting.
Energy & Carbon
We start with the building envelope. “Fabric First” means exceptional insulation, eliminating thermal bridges and creating rigorous airtightness which typically cuts heating demand by 70-90% before any mechanical system is even considered. We are one of few practices in the South West with a certified Passivhaus Designer on the team, and we bring this technical depth to every project, whether formal certification is the goal or not.
Operational energy is only part of the story; embodied carbon in materials can account for half or more of a building's lifetime impact. We consider whole-life carbon from the outset, targeting LETI and RIBA 2030 Climate Challenge benchmarks, and integrate solar, heat pumps, and battery storage as part of a coherent energy strategy - particularly valuable in Exmoor's off-grid rural context.
Resources & Circularity
We specify materials that come from nature and can return to it: locally sourced timber, wood fibre and hemp insulation, clay and lime plasters. We design for disassembly wherever possible, using mechanical fixings over chemical bonds, and treat water resilience as standard, from rainwater harvesting through to whole-site water circularity using reed beds or constructed wetlands.
The most circular act in architecture is to repair what already exists. We see our work on retrofit and reuse not as a special category of practice, but as a demonstration of our core principle: that the best buildings are those designed to last.
