Part 1 architectural assistant

Architype

Location: Hereford, UK

Added on: 9 Feb 2024, Job offer expires on: 30 Mar 2024

Architype is seeking Part 1 architectural assistants to join its Hereford studio.

About Architype

Architype offers exceptional opportunities to be involved in design-led, pioneering projects at the cutting edge of zero carbon and true sustainability across a wide variety of sectors.

Architype is widely recognised for our innovative approach including Education Architect of the Year, highly commended AJ100 Practice of the Year, 2022 RIBA London and Sustainability Award and 2022 South of England and South Wales BCO award.

We have an open and collaborative ethos with a common purpose – to deliver fantastic architecture that performs exactly as predicted. We have steadily grown over the last 40 years and are now a multi-disciplinary team of 100 plus collaborating across three studios in Edinburgh, Hereford and London.

Architype has a rich history of pioneering low carbon design and a clear focus on how elegant buildings work for people and the planet. We masterplan and design a wide range of buildings across the education, university, housing, community, healthcare and cultural sectors. Our consultancy service Perform+ enables us to offer insight and cutting-edge technical expertise to clients.

Working culture at Architype is dynamic, creative and caring. We work in a collaborative and supportive way that encourages fresh ideas and career progression, and we support flexible working for all.

Architype is regularly featured in the top five of Building’s Employer of the Year. We are 30 per cent owned by the staff through an employee benefit trust and are committed to becoming 100 per cent employee owned in the future – it is why we call ourselves ‘co-owners’.

Location

Architype’s Hereford studio is located in a rural location in Herefordshire’s beautiful landscape about five miles from Hereford City and also within easy reach of Bristol, South Wales, Cheltenham, Gloucester, Worcester, Shrewsbury and Birmingham, not to mention stunning landscape such as the Black Mountains and Malvern Hills.

It’s fair to say that most people who work at Architype do so because of what the practice achieves and what we stand for, we all have a passion and desire to work on projects that are at the cutting edge of sustainability and that enhance people’s lives and this carries through to our studio culture. The majority of the Hereford studio co-owners have moved to the area for the combination of the passion for what we do, the studio culture and fantastic rural location meaning we have a collection of passionate, innovative, warm and like minded individuals. Covering projects across much of England and Wales, we enjoy having some of the most diverse and ground breaking projects within the company.

Architype currently operates a hybrid working policy allowing co-owners to work flexibly from home and from our studios, we do seriously value our office culture and the value that it brings to achieving great design, continued personal development and building relationships, therefore we are looking for candidates that can work from the studio for a minimum of three days a week. Within this we still look to accommodate those that need to work flexibly (i.e we have core hours between 10 am to 4 pm but beyond that its up to you how your hours are worked as long as project/practice needs are accommodated) and we also operate a TOIL policy so that any overtime that needs to be worked can be taken off at a later time.

Job type

We are offering a 12 month fixed term contract for this role.

Our preference would be for full time hours (37.5 hours per week) but we would be open to considering part time hours for the right candidate.

Benefits:

a competitive salary which is aligned to industry standards; our current salary bandings for this role are £23,000 to £26,500
33 days holiday (inclusive of bank holidays)
37.5 hour week – flexible/hybrid working possible
pension benefits of three per cent employer contribution
company health scheme
cycle to work scheme

To apply

Please take note

Architype is an equal opportunities employer. We are committed to promoting a diverse and inclusive community. From day one we encourage co-owners to ‘bring their whole selves to work’, celebrating all that our co-owners can bring to the practice. To support this intention we offer a range of family friendly, inclusive employment policies, flexible working arrangements and co-owner engagement forums, to support co-owners from many different backgrounds.

Please can we ask that you complete our anonymous equality and diversity monitoring form by clicking here.

Visa sponsorship

We welcome applications from all nationalities; however, we are unable to offer visa sponsorship for our roles, so before you apply for this post, you must ensure that you have the right to work in the UK. For more details on eligibility to work in the UK, please visit here.

If you are an international student, recently graduated, you must have your graduate visa status established before applying.

Making your application

Please can send your CV and a brief portfolio (max size 5 MB) via the apply for job button below along with a short statement (maximum 400 words), setting out:

how you meet the criteria in the job specification
what you feel you would bring to Architype and the Hereford studio culture
if you have any specific preferences about your hybrid working arrangements

You must state, in the subject line of your email ‘Hereford studio’ and the job role you are interested in (Part 1, Part 2, architect or senior architect). Without this information in the subject heading we will be unable to sift your application correctly and it will be missed.

This post will be offered as 12 months fixed term contract, subject to a probationary period.

Unfortunately, due to the volume of applications we are sorry we cannot respond to all applications, so if you do not hear from us after the interview date above please assume that you have been unsuccessful.

Note that all applications will be treated in accordance with our GDPR policy.

Job description

A validated Part 1 degree holder, Part 1 architectural assistants will be entrusted with day-to-day contact with clients and design teams and through their projects will assist in the furtherance of the strategic direction of the practice, its design ethos and quality management systems.

Part 1 architectural assistants will be expected to set and maintain high standards of design and assist in the establishment of sustainability targets for their projects. In general Part 1 architectural assistants will be expected to keep abreast of current legislation and government policies in respect of the built environment and contribute to topical professional debate, seminars internal project reviews and CPDs as appropriate.

Part 1 architectural assistants may be expected to work on a number of separate projects and will be expected to assist the project architect to ensure that every project attains the highest design standard and is delivered in a profitable way.

Part 1 architectural assistants will be expected to be proficient in BIM programmes, ideally Revit. They will also be expected to be proficient in Word, Excel, Filemaker and a basic proficiency in Powerpoint and InDesign.

In addition, Part 1 architectural assistants have the following responsibilities:

assist and support directors and senior staff in their tasks of winning work and managing the finances of the practice
contribute in staff training and personal development
assist with the development of client contacts, identification of work opportunities and preparation of submission documents
implement the quality (ISO 9001) and environmental (ISO 14001) management system in respect of project work under their control and general aspects for which they may be responsible including specifically filling out improvement logs, assisting in and maintaining the project design quality statement
provide information on their projects to assist in the programming and resource allocation/management
attend and contribute to regular design reviews
assist as required with the preparation and distribution of marketing material

Job specification

Essential:

validated Part 1 degree holder
be proficient in 3D CAD programmes (essential) with Revit skill (desirable)
be proficient in Word, Excel, Filemaker
have basic proficiency in Powerpoint and InDesign
commitment to genuine sustainability
commitment to a collaborative style of working and ability to work well in teams
commitment to alignment with Architype’s core values as a creative, ecological, progressive community

Desirable