RIBA CHARTERED PRACTICE · WORTHING, WEST SUSSEX
THE FIRST STEP
Find out what your house will allow before you commit to a design
Most people come to an architect with a question that sounds simple and is not: can we do this, will we get permission, and what will it cost to build? The Feasibility & Options Study answers all three, in writing, before you commit to a full design.
What It Includes
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A visit to the property
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A proper conversation about how you live now, what is not working, and what you want the house to do.
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A planning appraisal specific to your address — what has been approved nearby, what constraints apply, and an honest view of the likelihood of approval.
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One clear recommended design direction, hand-sketched, with the alternatives we considered and why we set them aside.
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An indicative build cost.
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A written recommendation you can keep and use however you wish.
| Amount | |
|---|---|
|
Professional fee |
£625 |
|
VAT at 20% |
£125 |
|
Total payable |
£750 |
The full amount is credited against your design fee if you appoint us within six months. If you decide not to go ahead, the report is yours to keep and use however you wish — including with another architect.
Why We Work This Way
Planning is the part clients worry about most. It is also the part that is cheapest to get wrong early and most expensive to get wrong late.
Testing the planning position and the design direction first means that when you commit to a full design, you are committing to something we already have good reason to believe will work. We have 26 residential planning approvals to date, and one refusal, which was overturned on appeal. That record exists because we do this first, not because we are lucky.
What The Study Is Not About
It is not a planning application, and it is not a guarantee of permission — no one can offer that honestly. It is not a full design, and it is not a builder’s quotation. The build cost is indicative, and a builder pricing your actual drawings will give you a firmer figure later.
What happens next
If you decide to proceed, the study becomes the starting point of the full design, and the study fee — £625 + VAT, £750 paid — is credited in full against your design fee.
We will give you a fixed price for the design work at that point, based on the scope the study has established — not an estimate that moves later.
Coastline Architects
A RIBA Chartered Practice in Worthing, designing homes across the Sussex coast and Downs, and commercial, industrial and education buildings across Sussex and Hampshire.
©2026. Coastline Architects. All Rights Reserved.
43 New Broadway, Tarring Road, Worthing, BN11 4HS
01903 357047 · info@coastlinearchitects.com
Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm
24 residential planning approvals to date.