Architects for

New Build Homes

Bespoke homes, designed from the ground up

Designing a new build home is an opportunity to create something completely tailored to you - your lifestyle, your site, and your ambitions. Whether you’re planning a self-build or working with a developer, we design bespoke homes that combine clarity, character, and long-term value.

As architects specializing in the self-build sector, we work closely with clients to shape new build homes that feel personal, well-considered, and built to last. From first ideas through to completion, our role is to guide you through the process and help you make confident, informed decisions.

A thoughtful approach to bespoke home design

Every project begins with understanding how you want to live. We take time to explore your brief, your priorities, and the potential of your site - developing a design that responds to both.

Our bespoke home design process focuses on:

  • Creating spaces that feel intuitive, functional, and enjoyable to live in

  • Maximising natural light, views, and connection to the outdoors

  • Responding carefully to context, setting, and planning requirements

  • Balancing design ambition with budget and buildability

  • Delivering homes that are efficient, adaptable, and enduring

The result is a home that reflects you.

Contemporary new builds, carefully delivered

We specialise in contemporary new builds that are both refined and practical. Clean, well-proportioned forms, considered material palettes, and carefully detailed interiors all contribute to homes that feel calm, cohesive, and timeless.

But good design is only part of the story. We also ensure that each project is grounded in reality - aligned with your budget, suited to your chosen construction approach, and supported by clear, coordinated information for the build.

Supporting self-builders from start to finish

As experienced self-build architects, we understand that many of our clients are navigating this process for the first time. We provide clear guidance at every stage, including:

  • Feasibility and site appraisals

  • Concept and developed design

  • Planning applications and approvals

  • Technical design and construction information

  • On-site support and coordination

Our role is to simplify the journey - helping you move from an initial idea to a completed home with clarity and confidence.

Designed around your life

A successful new build home is not just about appearance—it’s about how it supports everyday life.

We design homes that respond to how you live, whether that’s creating flexible family spaces, accommodating home working, integrating accessibility, or shaping spaces for entertaining and socialising. Every decision is made with long-term use in mind, ensuring your home continues to work for you over time.

A collaborative, client-focused process

We see every project as a collaboration. You bring the vision—we bring the expertise, structure, and creative thinking to realise it.

Clients value our:

  • Clear, straightforward advice

  • Design-led but practical approach

  • Attention to detail

  • Ability to balance creativity with buildability

  • Calm, considered guidance throughout the process

Planning a new build home?

Whether you’re at the early stages of a self-build or already have a site in place, we can help you unlock its potential.

As a self-build architect specialising in bespoke home design and contemporary new builds, we’d be happy to talk through your ideas and help you take the next step.

Get in touch to start your project.

“We appointed ReFrame Studios to design and then oversee our dream home building project in Hampshire ReFrame Studio have been an extremely collaborative and professional company, taking our initial concept, working through a number of ideas in an iterative way and have made us feel very much part of the process.”

M. Williams

Featured New Build Homes

Boscombe Spa
Clifftop Home

Boscombe Spa is a new-build residential house located on the south coast overlooking Poole Bay. The site occupies a highly sensitive planning context, positioned between two adjacent conservation areas and requiring a carefully considered architectural response.

ReFrame Studios worked closely with the client throughout the early stages of the project, engaging in a pre-application process with BCP Council to establish a design strategy that would respect the surrounding context while unlocking the site’s exceptional qualities. The resulting proposal replaces a dilapidated bungalow with a contemporary home that maximises uninterrupted sea views across Poole Bay while remaining sensitively sheltered by the mature landscape of Boscombe Chine Gardens.

Sustainability was a key driver in the project’s design and construction. The house is designed as a low-energy building, utilising Structural Insulated Panels (SIPs), integrated solar roof tiles, and an Air Source Heat Pump (ASHP) to significantly reduce operational energy demand.

Through careful planning engagement and a clear architectural approach, planning permission for the new dwelling was achieved on the first submission.

Netley Abbey
Lakeside Home

Bonnie Banks
Hillside Home

Southern Wood
Rural Home

Wiltshire
Oak-framed Home

Located within the Netley Abbey Conservation Area and close to an ancient Scheduled Monument, this Bauhaus-inspired lakeside home required a sensitive architectural response to its historic setting. Early engagement with local planners was key to developing a design that balanced contemporary architecture with the constraints of the conservation context, securing planning approval on the first submission.

The 400 m² home responds closely to its surroundings. The lakeside site informs the architecture, framing views across the water while carefully managing privacy from neighbouring developments and ensuring good daylight throughout the interior spaces.

Sustainability was central to the design. The house is conceived as a low-energy home achieving an A+ SAP rating, incorporating photovoltaic panels with battery storage, a heat pump, MVHR (Mechanical Ventilation with Heat Recovery), and rainwater harvesting.

ReFrame Studios was commissioned from initial feasibility through to administering the building contract. The studio also developed the interior design and designed bespoke CNC-fabricated furniture, creating a cohesive relationship between the architecture and its interior spaces. The project is currently under construction.

Located within the Netley Abbey Conservation Area and close to an ancient Scheduled Monument, this Bauhaus-inspired lakeside home required a sensitive architectural response to its historic setting. Early engagement with local planners was key to developing a design that balanced contemporary architecture with the constraints of the conservation context, securing planning approval on the first submission.

The 400 m² home responds closely to its surroundings. The lakeside site informs the architecture, framing views across the water while carefully managing privacy from neighbouring developments and ensuring good daylight throughout the interior spaces.

Sustainability was central to the design. The house is conceived as a low-energy home achieving an A+ SAP rating, incorporating photovoltaic panels with battery storage, a heat pump, MVHR (Mechanical Ventilation with Heat Recovery), and rainwater harvesting.

ReFrame Studios was commissioned from initial feasibility through to administering the building contract. The studio also developed the interior design and designed bespoke CNC-fabricated furniture, creating a cohesive relationship between the architecture and its interior spaces. The project is currently under construction.

Southern Wood House is a contemporary rural home set within the Dorset countryside, close to both the Cranborne Chase and the New Forest National Park. The project replaces an existing bungalow, with the design developed broadly within the constraints of the original footprint.

The brief called for a contemporary interpretation of a traditional barn. The resulting design combines a simple, agricultural-inspired form with modern detailing, including a black metal roof and natural timber cladding that respond to the surrounding rural character.

An asymmetric roof form helps reduce the building’s apparent height at the front of the site, while two roof terraces provide elevated views across the landscape. The house is being constructed using Insulated Concrete Formwork (ICF), creating a highly insulated and robust building envelope suited to a low-energy rural home.

Careful development of the proposal ensured the scale and form remained appropriate to the setting, and planning permission was secured on the first submission. The project demonstrates a contemporary rural architecture that draws on local agricultural forms while creating a modern, light-filled home suited to its landscape setting.


This project involved the design of a new-build home set within a historic village in near Bradford-on-Avon, carefully balancing contemporary living with a strong respect for local character. The architectural approach draws on traditional materials and forms, reinterpreted through a modern layout to create a home that feels both rooted and refined. The composition centres on twin gabled volumes connected by a glazed link, allowing light to flow through the plan while clearly expressing the building’s form. Externally, the use of traditional stone and an exposed oak frame construction reinforces the connection to the local vernacular, while internally the layout delivers a bright, open, and flexible living environment suited to modern life.

New Build Home FAQs

  • Working with a self-build architect helps ensure your home is designed specifically for you, your site, and your budget. We guide you through the process, helping avoid costly mistakes and creating a home that is both well-designed and buildable.

  • Costs vary depending on size, specification, and construction method. We help you understand likely build costs early on and design your home to align with your budget, balancing ambition with practicality.

  • We don’t follow a fixed style. Instead, our work is shaped by each client, their site, and the brief. While many of our projects are contemporary in approach, the aim is always to create a home that feels appropriate, considered, and personal—rather than applying a predetermined aesthetic.

  • Yes. We manage the planning process on your behalf, developing designs that respond carefully to local policies and context. We can also engage with planners early to reduce risk and improve the chances of approval.

  • Absolutely. Our bespoke home design process is centred around how you live. Whether you need flexible family spaces, areas for entertaining, home working, or specific access requirements, we tailor the design to suit you.

  • Yes. We can design homes using Modern Methods of Construction (MMC), such as timber frame or modular systems. We’ll help you decide if this approach suits your project and ensure the design aligns with your chosen build route.

  • Most new build homes take between 18–30 months from initial design to completion. This includes design, planning, technical development, and construction. Timings vary depending on complexity and procurement route.

  • Yes. We can support your project from early feasibility through to construction on site. Our services can include design, planning, technical information, and construction phase support to help ensure your home is delivered as intended.

  • Yes. We regularly work with a trusted network of contractors, engineers, and specialist consultants, and we’re happy to recommend teams suited to your project. We can also help you through the tender process, ensuring you appoint the right people and build a strong, collaborative team from the outset.