Why set up in business?

Spaceworks tenants Norton Mayfield Architects were interviewed today by architecture students at Sheffield Hallam University. The students have been sent out to interview architectural practices to find out the realities of running a business for the Professional Practice element of their course.

Norton Mayfield Architects had to answer a range of questions including:

• Why set up your own business (as opposed to working as architects for a larger firm)
• Why become a Limited Liability Partnership instead of a Limited Company
• Their involvement with the Sheffield Society of Architects (Alastair is the current President)
• What kind of contracts they use with clients
• How they calculate and charge fees, including bidding for work

These are not unusual conversations to hear in Spaceworks as tenants are often comparing notes on how they run their businesses, find and secure work and the all important renumeration.

The two points that Norton Mayfield Architects made that particularly pricked our attention were that their tenancy at Spaceworks was core to their strategy of running a lean effective organisation and that this also ties in with their environmental strategy which includes minimising their use of resources through sharing space, office infrastructure etc.

Norton Mayfield Architects helped us design our space and are working on proposals for the courtyard outside.