Services
Commercial and Mixed-Use Projects
Mixed-use, assisted living and apartment schemes designed with the same care as our private homes.
Alongside private houses, LUSO Architecture designs larger buildings for developers and operators: mixed-use schemes with commercial space at street level, assisted living, apartment buildings and houses in multiple occupation. Recent work includes a mixed-use scheme on Southampton Road in Ringwood and assisted living schemes on Wimborne Road in Bournemouth.
These projects are judged on viability as well as design. We work to a brief of areas, unit numbers and build cost from the first sketch, and bring the same attention to proportion, materials and detail that defines our houses. The practice's director has experience across residential, retail, hotel, education and listed building work.
What the service covers
- Feasibility and capacity
- Early layouts that establish unit numbers, areas and parking against the planning context.
- Concept and planning design
- A scheme with a clear architectural identity, taken through pre-application advice and a full planning application.
- Technical design
- Construction information and specification for building control, tender and site.
- Consultant team co-ordination
- Working with engineers, planning consultants and other specialists as lead designer.
- Marketing visuals
- CGIs and animations for investors, operators and sales.
Commercial and larger schemes by LUSO
Southampton Road, Ringwood
This project reimagines the prominent Aroma Café site on Southampton Road in Ringwood through the creation of a contemporary mixed-use development…
Wimborne Road, Bournemouth
This proposal introduces a thoughtfully designed mixed-use development positioned along a prominent street within Poole and Wimborne’s wider urban…
Wimborne Road, Bournemouth
This concept design proposal explores the redevelopment potential of a prominent site along Wimborne Road, Bournemouth, through the introduction of a…
Toft Mansion, Manor Road
This project explores the comprehensive redevelopment potential of a prominent clifftop site on Bournemouth’s East Cliff, occupying a highly…
Commercial Projects: common questions
- What kinds of commercial project do you design?
- Mixed-use buildings, assisted living, apartment schemes and houses in multiple occupation make up most of our non-domestic work, usually for developers and operators in Dorset and Hampshire.
- Do you design apartment developments?
- Yes. Toft Mansion on Manor Road, Bournemouth, is a 94-apartment scheme designed by the practice, and we design smaller blocks and conversions as well.
- Can you act as lead designer on a larger scheme?
- Yes. We co-ordinate the structural, services and specialist consultants' information with our own, from planning through technical design.
- Does changing the use of a building need planning permission?
- Often, but not always. Some changes between uses are permitted development, some need prior approval and others need full planning permission. It depends on the existing and proposed use classes and on any local restrictions, and we check this at the outset.
Where we work, and further reading
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Ready to discuss your project?
Whether you are planning a new build, a renovation, or a development, we would love to hear about it.