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HEM Architects

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HEM Architects

Sheffield residential architects specialising in creative, sustainable homes which delight every day.

Our lives are centred around our homes so why shouldn’t they be designed to maximise your happiness and health? HEM Architects specialise in creative, sustainable residential architecture in Sheffield & Oakham. We’re on a mission to help everyone live in beautiful, practical homes that have minimal impact on our planet. Our friendly and highly skilled team are on hand to take inspiration from the

mess and joy of your everyday life to create a beautifully crafted home which will delight you every day. We're looking forward to helping you transform your dream into reality.

31/08/2026

Building a home in your garden has got easier.

Recent headlines in The Telegraph and Daily Express highlight major updates to the government’s National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) around building a home in a garden.

Specifically, Policy L2(1)(d) now places substantial weight on creating new homes within existing residential plots (curtilages).

So if you’re looking to downsize or build an independent home for a family member, this is great news.

So if you’ve ever looked at your garden and wondered “Could we actually build here?”, our 3-Step Service takes you from uncertainty to complete confidence:

1) A free consultation to explore your vision, budget, and project potential

2) A site feasibility review mapping your plot against planning rules and where the key opportunities and problems lie.

3) A clear action plan showing what you need to do in order to get planning permission.

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September is one of our busiest month for new clients with only 5 spots remain for new projects. Claim your space today before they go. ⁠
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Book your Step 1 meeting today by emailing [email protected] and we will send you dates for an online meeting.

27/08/2026

Planning permission has been approved for a brand-new home in Dungworth, Sheffield's green belt.

Adam and Laura approached us in late 2022 after purchasing a plot of garages at the end of a row of semi-detached homes.

Knowing our expertise in securing planning for tricky sites and designing low-energy homes, they wanted to create a light-filled, 4-bedroom family home with an open-plan ground floor.

From the outset, we knew securing permission on an elevated green-belt site would be a challenge.

Although a smaller home was initially approved in 2024 (with a plan to extend later), a subsequent shift in planning policy worked in our favour.

Together with Adam and Laura, our team had the confidence to submit a
new design with a much more generous footprint.

We're thrilled with this outcome and can’t wait to bring the project to life.

Fantastic work by the whole team:
Architecture: Anna Roper and Mami Masuda Back
Planning: Susan Crowley
Visuals: Steve Banks
Topographic Survey: Nick Turnbull
Landscape Design: Four Tree Design Ltd
Geotechnical: Rogers Geotechnical Services Ltd

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September is our busiest month for Project Preparation Workshops, and only 5 spots remain for new projects. Claim your space today before they go. ⁠
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Start your with a Project Preparation Workshop for £199 + VAT. Use the link in the comments below to book on our website now.

20/08/2026

If your ideal home is never on the market, maybe look in your garden?

For many young professionals, the dream of owning a home can feel out of reach.

More rural housing markets often presents a frustrating choice: either move away from the community you love or stay living with your parents.

Edward and his family decided to stop looking at estate agent listings and started thinking creatively about their own land instead.

By reimagining their parents' garden, they’ve unlocked an innovative way to create a starter home that bypasses the typical hurdles of the modern market.

This project isn’t just about finding a place to live. It’s a clever, future-proof strategy that solves two family problems at once.

It involves low-energy design that allows a young professional to stay local while setting the parents up for the future.

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September is our busiest month for Project Preparation Workshops, and only 5 spots remain for new projects. Claim your space today before they go. ⁠
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Start your with a Project Preparation Workshop for £199 + VAT. Use the link in the comments below to book on our website now.

19/08/2026

Planning approved: From uninhabitable 1920s semi to generous forever home

Our clients bought an unmodernised 1920s semi-detached house in Doncaster with big dreams, but major hurdles.

The home was completely uninhabitable lacking heating and safe electrics and was in the Green Belt, which typically caps extensions to a strict 40% volume limit.

They desperately needed a spacious 4-bedroom home, office, and workshop, but standard planning rules stood in the way.

HEM Architects established a permitted development fall-back position at the pre-app stage to negotiate much greater flexibility with the local council.

We then designed a balanced layout pairing a 90m² extension and 70m² workshop with a 108m² full house refurbishment, incorporating budget-smart sustainability like air-source heat pumps, solar panels, and classic farmhouse styling.

We are thrilled to announce that full planning approval has officially been granted.

Our clients are now set to get their dream 200m² forever home complete with a main suite and Juliette balcony.

Even better, because we identified that the house had sat empty for over two years, the renovation qualifies for a reduced 5% VAT rate, saving the clients thousands in build costs.

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September is our busiest month for Project Preparation Workshops, and only 5 spots remain for new projects. Claim your space today before they go. ⁠
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Start your with a Project Preparation Workshop for £199 + VAT. Click the link below and book your meeting on our website.

18/08/2026

We are thrilled to see our Sort Træ project featured in this month’s Build It magazine as one of their favourite Passivhaus homes.

When Susi brought us her design that received planning approval, she needed an expert team to develop the technical details and guide her through building a sustainable, modern home on a challenging, steeply sloping site.

By combining smart architectural detailing with rigorous Passivhaus standards, we achieved an incredible airtightness score of 0.54 ach—making the home 20 times less draughty than a typical new build.

The result? A breathtaking, light-filled space that stays cool in the summer, keeps energy bills to a minimum, and gives Susi ultra-low energy comfort all year round.

Main Contractor: Terry Huggett Developments
Structural Engineer: JAM Structures
Photos: Dug Wilders

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September is our busiest month for Project Preparation Workshops, and only 5 spots remain for new projects. Claim your space today before they go. ⁠
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Start your with a Project Preparation Workshop for £199 + VAT. Click the link below and book your meeting on our website.

17/08/2026

Planning permission secured! ⁠
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Buying a house you love, but you don't love the look of it?⁠
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It’s a common dilemma: the perfect location and a brilliant garden, but the house itself is dark, dated, and inefficient.⁠
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That is exactly the challenge Laura and Rupert are tackling with a 1980s detached home in Woodnewton, near Peterborough. The property has sat empty for over two years, has no connection to the gas network, and needs a complete transformation.⁠
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With planning approval now in place, we are ready to reconfigure the dark ground floor into a bright open-plan living space, upgrade the building’s fabric, and map out a realistic budget to turn this property into an efficient, low-impact home.⁠
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September is our busiest month for Project Preparation Workshops, and only 5 spots remain for new projects. Claim your space today before they go. ⁠
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Start your with a Project Preparation Workshop for £199 + VAT. Click the link below and book your meeting on our website.

12/08/2026

Inspired by talk online about architects' fees, we want to show you what our fees are like for a typical small residential project.

To give you an idea of how this looks in practice, here is a full breakdown of an extension and remodel project in Oakham, Rutland completed in 2020 and calculated using today’s rates:

Project Overview
Scope: 24m² extension + 25m² internal remodel
Construction Cost: ~£103,170
Professional Fees: ~£17,600

How the HEM Architects Fee Breakdown Looks (RIBA Stages 0–4):

Existing Building Survey – £1,212
We carry out a measured survey of your home and produce a full set of existing drawings.

RIBA Stage 1 (Shaping Your Vision & Minimising Risk) – £1,935
We explore 2–3 spatial strategies to find the best layout, identify potential risks early, and leave you with a clear project brief aligned with your budget.

RIBA Stage 2 (Bringing Your Home to Life) – £2,095
We translate your brief into design concepts focused on how your home will look, feel, and function, refining them together until you’re completely confident.

RIBA Stage 3 (De-risking the Planning Process) – £805
We craft a proactive, robust planning submission tailored specifically to your local council to remove the guesswork and stress. (Planning application fees not included).

RIBA Stage 4 (Technical Design & Preparing for Build) – £4,515
We create a detailed technical package alongside your builder, suppliers, and design team to resolve complex details on paper early and protect your budget.

Design Team Leadership – £595
We lead and align your design team, keeping everyone moving forward smoothly to achieve your goals and meet your schedule.

Principal Designer Duties – £595
Required under the Building Regulations Act 2023, Building Safety Act 2022, and CDM Regulations 2015.

Total HEM Architects Fee: £11,717

Visit our fees webpage (link in the comments) for more case studies.

11/08/2026

Sweating through yet another heatwave?
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If your home currently feels more like a greenhouse than a cool and comfortable home, stop before you rush into buying aircon or piecemeal upgrades. Now is the time to get a proper plan in place.⁠
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The way to a home that stays naturally cool in summer and warm and cheap to run in winter is a whole-house retrofit strategy.⁠
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Join building performance expert Paul Testa (Director at HEM Architects) for a free, 60-minute online masterclass + live Q&A.⁠
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What you’ll discover:⁠
☀️ Summer heat protection: Design choices to keep living spaces cool.⁠
❄️ Winter readiness: How to eliminate draughts and strategies to reduce your energy bills. ⁠
🛑 Avoid wastage: Why doing upgrades in the wrong order wastes money and can cause issues like mould.⁠
🎁 Special offer: An exclusive bonus for everyone who registers!⁠
📅 Thursday 10th September | 12:30pm (BST)⁠
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Want to fix your home for good?

Register for the webinar using the link in the comments:

06/08/2026

Adding wow factor through a standout entrance and hallway

One of Stewart and Fiona’s key goals for their Oakham home was to create a spectacular entrance.

Instead of walking into a dark or cramped space, you’re now greeted by a generous stairwell, flooded with natural light from above.

Reimagining your entrance and stairwell is a great way to bring real impact to your home.

By day, sunlight pours in to create a bright and uplifting welcome. And by night, carefully layered lighting brings warmth and drama. Turning a functional or forgotten space into one full of character.

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If you’d like to add some wow factor to your home’s entrance, we’d love to chat.

Book a phone call on our website to tell us about you project and to see if we’re a good fit. Link to book a call in the comments.

05/08/2026

Mechanical Ventilation with Heat Recovery (MVHR) is a system that provides fresh, filtered air to a home while simultaneously removing the stale, moist air and recovering a significant amount of the heat from the outgoing air to warm the incoming air.

At HEM Architects, we help lots of clients create lower energy homes, often discussing MVHR systems as a way to reduce energy consumption and improve air quality.

But to someone that's new to it, it can feel like quite an alien thing to have in your home.

If you have MVHR in your home or have experienced it, drop a comment in this post to tell others what it feels like and of its benefits.

Address

Floor 2 Parkhead House, Carver Street
Sheffield
S14FS

Opening Hours

Monday	9am - 5pm
Tuesday	9am - 5pm
Wednesday	9am - 5pm
Thursday	9am - 5pm
Friday	9am - 5pm

Telephone

+441144420123

Website

http://www.hemarchitects.co.uk/

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