AlchemyGreen Architects + Project Managers

Colin has the most endearing characteristic of any Architect I have collaborated with...he listens to his Clients.
Creative, yet stylistically flexible, eco-aware, practical and can stick to a budget.
Also really good fun to work with.

I have worked with Colin several times and have always been impressed by his attention to detail; he has a wide range of experience and always finds solutions to apparent problems.

I am the founder of Mezimbite Forest Centre in Mozambique. Colin graduated with me as an architect at Wits over 40 years ago. He has been for that time both an Architect and a Project Manager.

We have worked together on Green Modular Housing, where his skills and experience really count in selecting local materials and processes which are definitively green, evaluating and detailing sustainable technologies, measuring real environmental effect not only in terms of Carbon footprint, but reuse and recycling of capital resources and sourcing sustainable and regenerative bio-based materials. Where damage may have been projected, he took the trouble not only to check up on third party certification, but also, in the case of specialised tropical hardwoods to personally verify the community forest management and reforestation.

He always had great technical skills and has maintained these, keeping up to date with the latest information technology, cutting edge practice and 3D computer modelling programs.

On the Wimbledon Synagogue refurbishment project, he was both the project manager and architect. Contemplative spaces are required to appear simple but need to be backed up with a massive amount of technical effort.

The prime requirements for a contemplative space are for atmosphere, and attention to facilitating the diverse rituals and celebrations that take place in the main and supporting spaces. Colin achieved that admirably.

I think the best compliment he got on the project was from a blind person, who upon entering the new space, listened and smelled and said: “Yes, this feels much better”

I was commissioned to do specific iconic works for the Synagogue - the doors to the new ark. The technical details were well resolved before I was briefed, and then adjusted to suit the materials and skills available (Shitum wood which is rare and considered sacred). One of the problems was fitting a massive set of decorative doors weighing almost three quarters of a ton from the humid tropics where the wood grows and where it was crafted to a dry, climate-controlled piece of London. The technical complexities are immense and resolving the logistical problems a Herculean task. The doors are now the centrepiece of the space. He has an image of these on his profile.

There were other artists commissioned on the project to create a series of stained-glass windows. These had their own logistical issues but were installed successfully.

The Synagogue opened on time, to a very tight budget and constricted programme.

The space is poetic.

So, that plus 40 plus years of experience. What more can one ask for? More...

I have worked on a number of projects with AlchemyGreen and its Principal Colin over the past 8 years. Colin worked on a couple of high value industrial projects both in the UK and in Africa. The UK project required Colin to bring his planning skills to the fore in assisting in a Client Adjudication case against a Joint Venture Contractor on a £14m project. With Colin's assistance we offset a Contractors Claim and saved the Client £1.8m in additional cost. The African project was a £16m gem stone facility in Botswana. Colin undertook the roll of contract administrator on this very difficult and demanding project.
Colin will be an asset to any team he works with and has a wide depth of experience and knowledge. More...

I worked in the role of employers agent with the principal of Alchemy Green on a very substantial refurbishment and extension project with a value of £1 million plus. The scope of works went from some complicated engineering right through to interior design. I found Colin to be more than up to the task of design, specification, drawing, implementation, procuring and management. On the basis of the completed project which was also on a very tight time schedule I would be happy to recommend him without hesitation. More...