DMA

In the past decade, we have applied an energetic philosophy to challenging tradition, delivered in parallel with a passion for design and a respect and commitment for our clients. It is this philosophy that has enabled us to grow into the thriving 20-strong team we have today, with an ever-expanding portfolio of success and achievements.

During the past few years we have witnessed increasing polarisation between small practices, working on bespoke, often one-off projects, and larger organisations, which are increasingly multi-disciplinary, who sweep up most of the available work through framework agreements and partnering with established clients or tier one contractors. This has meant for many, the dream of growing a small practice was becoming increasingly more difficult. However, we knew that in order to grow our own practice and get the opportunity to work on larger, more interesting projects we needed to disrupt the current procurement ecosystem and find our way into these larger, complex supply chains. We identified the adoption of digital techniques as such a disrupter and whilst change management is the biggest challenge to any organisation, as a smaller one we also had the opportunity for rapid and agile repositioning.

Digital methods have ensured that our product, the information we produce, is more complete, coordinated and accurate, and therefore more valuable. This was particularly important as a smaller practice if we were to be taken seriously when competing against much larger established firms. We have been able to demonstrate that a digital approach is a viable business model for small practices if they are to achieve future growth and prosperity.

With a passion for our work and a desire to create a practice that stays true to its belief, we have this year been shortlisted in the Constructing Excellence London and South East Awards, for SME of the Year. When we first set up DMA we firmly set our foundations on a desire to grow the business based on our passions. Whilst we knew our areas of expertise, we also knew the industry, and had the ability to be flexible to stay ahead of the curve and remain insightful of market trends and new technologies. Annually we make significant investments into new design technologies and BIM delivery systems as well as continual investment in development and training for our team. As a business we are re-imagining the traditional architecture practice – through our unique approach, we are creating new opportunities to develop expertise; increasing efficiencies in the delivery of built projects and unlocking a raft of client benefits.