Who are we?

The Practice was founded in 1978 by Peter Sutton and Anthony Harrison, continuing a collaboration they had both enjoyed in Nigeria. From this modest start the Practice has grown significantly and there are now five partners; Peter Sutton, Mike Inness, Chris Cunningham, Steve Heaver and Jon Capel together with Barry Freeman and Stuart Kittlety as Associates and Lucy Newton-White as Office Manager. The total 'team' amounts to around 25 personnel, which is a considerable sized practice for this provincial location.

The Practice offices are situated in the centre of Totnes, an historic and vibrant market town in the South Hams of Devon. From here the practice enjoys a stimulating and dynamic working environment and services projects mainly throughout the South West but occasionally to places further afield.

The scope of our experience is very wide and covers many building types. From bespoke private house commissions, which form the mainstay of our work, the range of work has grown to include major housing schemes, visitor centres (including many for the National Trust), museums, schools, hotels, and numerous important historical buildings.

We take the responsibility of creating buildings and built environments very seriously indeed and we really enjoy working with individuals, groups and communities to shape the places where they live and work.

All of our work, regardless of the project type, is underpinned by a carefully considered approach and a dedication to design innovation, excellence and sustainable principles. We aim to respond to the site context with bespoke design solutions for each individual site picking up on key characteristics and interpreting these into more contemporary forms. In this way we are able to produce schemes, which both site comfortably with their surroundings yet have a distinctive individual character with subtle contemporary styling and features making a positive contribution to the built environment.

We are very pleased that the quality of work has been recognised in the numerous awards that we have been fortunate to receive over the years and underpins our philosophy of 'giving our clients more than they expect'.

Why use an Architect?

In the preface to "The Architect in Practice", Arthur Willis and W George describe the attributes of an architect as having:"..........many other duties to perform, and much of his time will be spent away from the drawing board attending committee meetings, co-ordinating the work of consultants, inspecting and approving materials and workmanship, trying to avoid or deciding disputes between parties to a contract. He will have to tackle all the paper work necessary in administration, from getting the contract documents prepared and signed, issuing orders or certificates of this, that and the other, studying an analysis of how the client's money had been spent and finally presenting the building accounts to him with such explanation as may be necessary. At the same time he will have to keep himself up to date by studying new techniques, of which there are so many in this age of change".

Architecture is not just about building buildings, it is also about building relationships, (with clients, contractors, neighbours, communities, planners etc), trust, psychological chemistry and enjoyment. We feel that practising in Totnes also gives Harrison Sutton Partnership the geographic inspiration to marry the above attributes into the practical everyday job of being an architect.