From affordable, energy-efficient housing to inspiring care homes, each of our projects tells the story of a unique challenge and its unique solution.

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Our services

Tooley Foster is fully committed to providing the best possible service through all stages of the design and construction process.

For every project, no matter its size, we will provide a high degree of expertise and a competitive fee structure. We can offer strategic framework agreements with clients and are actively involved in Partnering on many projects. 

Design / Engagement / Planning / Impact Management / Conservation / Built Environment / Project Management / Technical Delivery / Principal Designer / Feasibility Studies

Our range experience allows us to operate across many sectors; please follow the links below where you can find examples of our work:

Passivhaus

Foleshill Health Centre

We know the future is low carbon and everyone can make a difference; architects are in a unique position to make this happen: Tooley Foster have been there from the start.

Described as 'Passivhaus specialists' by the Governments Commercial Function in their 2022 report on Zero Carbon & Sustainability in Construction; we have amassed 12 years Passivhaus experience and over 30 years experience creating low energy buildings. Peter Ranken, Director of Sustainability at Tooley Foster, heads up the Passivhaus team and delivers a range of services, including:

  • Integrated architectural and Passivhaus low energy design
  • Thermal bridge modelling
  • Construction detailing for low air leakage and reduced thermal bridging
  • Co-ordination of building services with building design, including ventilation
  • Passivhaus advice for first time clients and contractors
  • Post occupancy evaluation and monitoring advice
  • Outsourced SAP and SBEM calculations for regulatory compliance.

In addition, we use the Passivhaus Planning Package (PHPP) to achieve the AECB Building Standard which offers performance improvements above Building Regulations standards but with similar cost.

 

Peter Ranken (CEPH)

Connor Randall (CEPH)

Gales Place in Crawley

We are committed to the integration of Passivhaus, low energy practice in the design and construction sectors and support all measures to reduce energy use to address climate change. We were early signatories to Architects Declare and deliver workshops and lectures on Passivhaus design, including contributory modules on environmental building performance at Anglia Ruskin University. Our low energy and Passivhaus projects include buildings for local councils, the NHS and a range of arms length public bodies, these include:

  • Low energy design for 100 Passivhaus social housing dwellings in East London
  • Three Passivhaus houses as social housing in Buckinghamshire
  • 26 carbon neutral houses and flats in Basildon
  • 19 local authority flats and houses in Crawley
  • Passivhaus design and consultancy for family homes throughout the UK
  • Passivhaus advice for other architects building their own houses in Guernsey and Suffolk
  • The NHS' first medical Passivhaus building located in Coventry.

Accredited Passivhaus Design (APD) is our partner organisation; established to deliver Passivhaus certification, consultancy as well as explore leading Passivhaus technologies and design practice. 

Click through to see all our Low Energy & Passivhaus projects here.

Reducing the cost of healthcare buildings with Passivhaus

The contribution Passivhaus can make in the fight against climate change is well documented; the economic case is perhaps less well known. To address this, we have published a new document now available for download on the our website. Reducing the cost of healthcare buildings with Passivhaus provides an easy to follow overview of Passivhaus construction techniques and principles, as well as a summary of data used in a 'real life' business case for a Passivhaus building completed in 2021. 

Together with CHP and AECOM, we looked at the development of NHS community surgeries built in the last few decades, capturing detailed cost and energy usage data from two NHS health centres built in 2008 and 2014. We then compared these figures against projected data for the same buildings, but this time constructed to the Passivhaus Classic standard. This innovative research provided the economic case for the development of the UK's first Passivhaus health centre.

You can read more about Foleshill Health Centre and download the document here

 

 

 

Healthcare & Foleshill

Our designs should deliver benefits beyond those enjoyed by the communities who use them. One area we believe we really make a difference is in the design of healthcare related buildings & medical facilities.

Having already established a focus on healthcare with innovative designs for medical centres, hospices and surgeries; Tooley Foster Medical was launched in 2021 with new resources and expertise. Our staff are supported by Steve Muller and John Marsh, two very experienced colleagues in the design of Health facilities in the NHS, private and veterinary care sectors. Steve has worked with us as a consultant since 2005 and has nurtured specialist expertise in mental health projects. While Johns' specialism lies in laboratory projects, having worked widely on major hospital schemes, GP surgeries, MRI installations and the National Decontamination Programme. He also leads on several public sector framework projects with NHS hospitals in London and throughout the South East.

Our areas of work include:

  • laboratories & research facilities
  • primary care
  • mental health
  • acute care and ancillary accommodation
  • elderly care
  • secure accommodation
  • diagnostics

Veterinary Hospital in Lower Langford for Bristol University

We are all sensitive to our environments, and building design impacts the health of patients in many ways.  Whether by using technology to reduce disease or by more subtle changes to lighting or layout; whats clear is significantly better medical outcomes are achieved for patients where the their needs are central to building design.

Healthcare buildings are often not new. Hospitals in particular can be constrained by historic or listed building status, often requiring innovative solutions to improve healthcare standards in a way that is sympathetic to the design.

And whether for completely new developments or restoration works, implementing low energy design and construction will help meet national CO2 targets and drastically reduce a buildings running costs.

Foleshill, June 2021

The waiting room at Foleshill

All sections scored above a 5 and given design development this means the building has the potential to be a very good public building. It could be suggested that this is an exceptional score...

 

Design Quality Indicator (DQI) review for the NHS

Foleshill Health Centre

We are keen to implement low energy and Passivhaus design standards and have recently completed Foleshill Health Centre in Coventry: the country’s first health centre built to Passivhaus standards.

Its opening follows four years of analysis and research by Tooley Foster, AECOM and Community Health Partnerships to establish the financial and health benefits of Passivhaus standards for medical buildings. On site for just 25 weeks, with every aspect tightly controlled and budgeted for, the Foleshill project used modular construction to keep site costs down and illustrates how factory production is no barrier to high-end, Passivhaus certification.

The building will now be used as an exemplar of good practice within the NHS. Data will continue to be collected and analysed over the next few years, providing additional evidence for investment in Passivhaus by the NHS as we near 2040.

See further examples of our extensive work in the medical & healthcare sector here.

Small works

Calcutta Road, Essex: 10 homes completed in 2020

We offer a bespoke Small Works service aimed at the smaller end of the developer market, including first-time developers, as well as commercial, education, religious and charity organisations.

We can provide initial designs, detailed drawings and specifications, planning applications and building regulation submissions for a range of small projects such as:

  • Small residential developments (generally up to 24 residential units)
  • Small mixed-use developments (generally up to 24 residential units)
  • Extensions and alterations to commercial premises
  • Extensions and alterations to education, religious and community buildings

The Small Works team is headed up by Nigel Goulding, for further information please contact him here.

One of the flats at Calcutta Road

Four affordable homes in Oxfordshire completed in 2018

New rear extension at Oaklands School in Essex completed in 2019

The new hall and dining area at Oaklands School

News & Analysis

We have a long history of being at the leading edge of developments in architecture and design. From societal benefits to new environmental standards, research and development is integral to everything we do.