David Kemp – RIBA Chartered Architect

Our roof space conversion is a joy: it’s the lightest and warmest part of the house and without exaggeration changed the way we felt about the whole building. From the front of the house, it has given us new views of Brighton while from the back we can now look out at our roof-level garden. It’s my work area and my daily spirits never fail to lift as I reach the top of the stairs and walk into the space.

David was an absolute pleasure to deal with – very professional, honest, and friendly. He listened carefully to our requirements, asked questions and kept in regular contact throughout the build. The result is beautiful and has real ‘wow’ factor. He came up with some amazing ideas which we would never have thought of and our new room is perfect in every way. We would definitely use him again.

David was a pleasure to do business with, coming up with many creative ideas that enhanced our plans and met our budget. He was also an advocate for local building companies, and the builder recommended by David completed a fantastic job.

David Kemp has been a pleasure to work with. He worked collaboratively with our builders to ensure that all of our visions and objectives were met. We were truly impressed with David Kemp and his team’s careful attention to details, their passion for great design and architecture, which ultimately led to us achieving our dream home. Many thanks.  We wouldn’t hesitate to recommend him to anyone.

David enthusiastically stuck with our project from first concepts through to redesigning the custom picture rail hooks afterwards. From the overall concept to the minutest detail, he proposed, interacted, reworked and supported great outcomes throughout what, at times, was a very challenging build. Our flat, at the top of a late Georgian terrace had not had serious care for over 50 years. It was also void of original 19th Century features. The final result is a beautiful and subtle Art Deco-themed whole (with a dash of Memphis spice) that is loyal to its early 20th Century conversion to a flat, yet enhances the conservation of a late Georgian building – and also delivers 21st century ‘smart living’.

What I loved about David was his intelligent realism, practical sense of architecture and the fact that he listened. It was our dream not his vision. He also found another whole floor we never knew we had! We’re very proud of our house and he helped make it our home.

David has delivered consistently high-quality architectural services to me and my wife over a period of more than 20 years. This work has involved four projects – three domestic projects, on and around our listed building home, and a commercial office development in Central London. In all cases David has met the challenges presented with creativity and efficiency – and he has dealt effectively and sympathetically with difficult conservation issues as they have arisen. In short, we would always rely on DK to deliver to brief.

The house is coming along very nicely and I am very happy with it; lots of compliments to you from friends and neighbours.

David was thoroughly professional with wonderful insight and a great talent for design. The advice given by David on how we can improve the original design for our three-storey house renovation and extension meant we absolutely maximised the space and light in the house. The final design was perfect for our needs and the extension ‘box’ at the rear of our house still gets compliments from passers by more than one year after project completion. David provided a great deal of help navigating the planning process and was a huge comfort when the project faced challenges in getting the plans finally approved. We love the look and more importantly the feel of our home. I would happily recommend David for any renovation or extension project.

Before building work, our house was perfectly adequate but we both felt that it had the potential to be amazing. Fatefully, David and DK were recommended to us by friends. With his calm, professional manner he listened patiently to our ideas for extending the kitchen and connecting with the garden. Although the extension was simplistic in the sense that we were extending across the full width of the house, David has created for us a space that feels much bigger than we had anticipated. He created a cathedral ceiling space with skylights and the clever use of a zinc roof meant that the height of the full width opening could be raised allowing us to install a wall of glass with huge sliding doors. Although the space is big it makes sense as there are zones for the living area, dining, and kitchen. David’s design has been life changing in that the family make use of the space together.

I’ve worked with David Kemp several times over the years – firstly on building a studio to work from; secondly when he designed our house in the most spectacular spot high up on the South Downs, and then thirdly when I converted a massive nineteenth century wooden framed barn into a wonderful family house looking across the landscape to The Long Man of Wilmington. Each time David absorbed my brief and then proceeded to enhance it, pull it apart and think about what I wanted to achieve in the most creative and lateral way. It’s given us 20 years of pleasure.

We appointed David to work with us when building an extension to our house and convert the loft into living space. In working with David we had much more than an architect, he provided us with support, advice, and help to manage the entire project, and all done in a friendly and professional manner. This included assistance on the selection and appointment of the builder and ensuring that we were kept on the right side of the planning and building control people. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend him for similar projects.

Working with DK Architects was an excellent experience. David provided measured and insightful advice and came up with a wonderful design for our large bungalow project. David’s extensive experience enabled us to start on the design prior to moving in and his in-depth knowledge of the planning process, and likely obstacles, was invaluable in making the right decisions at the design stage which resulted in our planning application being approved at the first attempt. We are thoroughly delighted with our finished home and would highly recommend DK Architects for their practical design ideas, professional approach, and the easy working relationship that they engender.

When we bought our first home, we decided on a grade listed flat. We knew that a major renovation project in a heritage listed building would present lots of challenges, but we had a vision to transform our run down 1827 flat into an elegant, sympathetically restored Regency home, whilst being careful to respect and reinstate many of the traditional architectural features. David was not only very experienced, but incredibly passionate about helping us to transform our vision into reality. We have no hesitation in recommending David to anyone who may be considering a similar architectural challenge. David was so passionate about our project from start to finish and we can’t thank him enough for all the time and attention he put into transforming our flat into a beautiful, relaxing home.