Architectural Assistant & Project/Practice Coordinator

Architectural Assistant \& Project/Practice CoordinatorTraining \& Progression Role

Company: ARM Design \& Build Ltd
Location: SW19 2RR, London
Job Type: Full\-time
Salary: £27,000–£30,000 per year, depending on experience and ability
ARB Registration: Not required

About the Role

ARM Design \& Build Ltd is looking for a motivated, organised and adaptable Architectural Assistant \& Project/Practice Coordinator to work closely with the Director and support the day\-to\-day delivery and management of a busy architectural practice.

We are not looking specifically for an experienced Architect or someone who has spent many years specialising in one particular area.

Instead, we are looking for someone with a good architectural or built\-environment foundation who is eager to learn, willing to take responsibility and interested in understanding how an architectural practice operates as a whole.

This is also not a conventional Architectural Assistant position where your responsibility is limited to producing drawings.

The role combines:

• architectural work;


• project coordination;


• planning and Building Regulations support;


• email and correspondence management;


• consultant coordination;


• workflow and task tracking;


• team coordination;


• research;


• client communication;


• office administration;


• and direct support to the Director.

We deliberately want a generalist rather than a specialist.

You do not need to be a generalist already.

We are looking for somebody who wants to become one.

We are happy to train the right person. Your attitude, intelligence, organisation, initiative, flexibility and willingness to learn are more important to us than having many years of experience.

Your responsibility will increase gradually as you learn our projects, systems, clients and way of working.

The long\-term objective is for you to become somebody who understands what is happening across the practice, helps keep projects moving and can increasingly deal with routine matters without the Director having to personally manage every action.

What We Are Looking For

We are looking for somebody who is:

Flexible. Curious. Organised. Responsible. Proactive. Reliable. Eager to learn.

Our practice undertakes a wide variety of work.

One day you may be preparing drawings.

Another day you may be reviewing a Building Control comment, checking a planning application, preparing a client update, chasing a consultant, researching a technical requirement, updating a project tracker or coordinating work with another member of the team.

We therefore do not want somebody who thinks:

“I only do drawings.”

or:

“That isn't part of my role.”

We want somebody who is willing to understand the problem and help find the solution.

If you are given something that you have never dealt with before, we do not expect you to already know the answer.

We do expect you to be willing to:

Understand it → Research it → Look at examples → Ask sensible questions → Propose a solution → Complete the task → Follow it through.

Being willing and able to learn new things is one of the most important parts of this position.

Your Main Responsibility

Your overall responsibility will gradually become helping ensure that:

nothing important across the practice is forgotten, unnecessarily delayed or left without a clear next action.

For every active project, we should be able to understand:

• where the project currently stands;


• what has been completed;


• what remains outstanding;


• what needs to happen next;


• who is responsible for doing it;


• when it needs to be completed;


• what information we are waiting for;


• whether somebody needs to be followed up;


• whether there is a problem or risk;


• and whether anything genuinely requires the Director's attention.

Initially you will learn this process while working closely with the Director.

As your knowledge and confidence increase, you will be expected to take greater ownership of it.

Key Responsibilities1\. Project Workflow Management

Assist with monitoring live architectural projects.

Keep project statuses, actions and deadlines up to date.

Maintain project trackers, task lists and outstanding\-information schedules.

Understand what stage each project has reached and gradually learn to identify the next required action.

Follow up outstanding tasks and information.

Identify projects or actions that appear to have stalled.

Make sure instructions and decisions are converted into actual actions rather than simply discussed.

Raise important problems, risks or delays with the Director early.

Help ensure that projects continue moving forward.

2\. Supporting the Director

You will work closely with the Director.

A major purpose of this position is to gradually reduce the amount of routine tracking, chasing and project administration that the Director needs to manage personally.

You will help the Director understand:

What has happened?
What is outstanding?
What is the problem?
What needs to happen next?
Who is dealing with it?

You will follow through actions resulting from discussions with the Director.

As you develop, you should increasingly distinguish between matters that genuinely require the Director's decision and matters that can be dealt with independently.

Where possible, we want you to bring the Director a possible solution rather than only a problem.

3\. Email and Correspondence Management

Project correspondence is an important part of this role.

You will assist with monitoring emails and identifying which require action.

Over time, you should develop the ability to distinguish between:

• correspondence for information only;


• matters you can deal with yourself;


• matters that should be allocated to another team member;


• matters requiring information from a consultant;


• urgent matters;


• and matters requiring the Director's decision.

You may draft professional emails to:

• clients;


• consultants;


• contractors;


• planning officers;


• councils;


• Building Control;


• suppliers;


• and other professionals.

You will follow up unanswered emails and outstanding information.

Important information received through correspondence should be reflected in project trackers and actions.

As your experience develops, you will be authorised to deal with more routine correspondence independently.

4\. Team Coordination and Allocation of Work

You will assist the Director with coordinating work across the team.

Where appropriate, you may allocate tasks to other team members.

When doing so, you should clearly explain:

What needs to be done.
What information is available.
What the expected output is.
When it is required.

Allocating a task does not mean forgetting about it.

You should monitor whether it has been completed and follow it up where necessary.

You may also review work before it is sent to the Director.

Where a task is more appropriate for you to complete personally, you should be prepared to do it yourself.

This position therefore involves both:

managing work and doing work.

5\. Architectural Work

Architectural production remains an important part of the position.

Depending on your ability and experience, your work may include:

• existing and proposed plans;


• elevations;


• sections;


• site plans;


• location plans;


• planning drawings;


• design development;


• drawing revisions;


• measured survey information;


• schedules;


• Building Regulations drawings;


• technical details;


• presentation information;


• planning supporting documents;


• consultant coordination;


• checking drawings;


• preparing submission packages;


• and other project documentation.

You are not expected to know every discipline yourself.

What we want you to gradually learn is:

What information do we need?
Who should provide it?
Does what we have received make sense?
Is something missing?
What needs to happen next?

6\. Planning Applications

You will assist with the preparation and coordination of planning applications.

This may include:

• preparing drawings;


• checking submission requirements;


• undertaking planning research;


• checking planning history;


• reviewing council requirements;


• monitoring validation;


• monitoring application progress;


• responding to planning officer requests;


• coordinating supporting documents;


• tracking decisions;


• reviewing conditions;


• and maintaining submission records.

You will not be expected to know all planning matters from day one.

You will be expected to learn.

7\. Building Regulations and Technical Coordination

You will assist with Building Regulations and technical\-stage projects.

This may involve tracking Building Control comments and helping coordinate responses.

You may work with information from:

• structural engineers;


• energy and SAP consultants;


• fire consultants;


• drainage consultants;


• acoustic consultants;


• M\&E consultants;


• surveyors;


• and other specialists.

You should gradually develop the ability to recognise when consultant information is missing, inconsistent or needs to be incorporated into our drawings.

Training and practical exposure will form part of your development.

8\. Clients and Consultants

You will communicate professionally with clients and consultants.

This may include:

• requesting information;


• chasing outstanding information;


• sending documents;


• arranging meetings;


• recording actions;


• providing straightforward progress updates;


• and coordinating information between different parties.

As you gain experience, you will develop an understanding of which matters can be dealt with independently and which should be escalated to the Director.

9\. New Enquiries and Quotations

You may assist the Director with new project enquiries.

This may include gathering information about a property or proposed project, carrying out ba

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