White Mark Design Services

Initial Scheme and Concept Design Service	Interior Design
Site Suitability Assessment	Furniture Design
Acoustic Survey and Design	Project Management
Full Architectural Design	Structural Measurements and Design
Budget Estimate and Cost Control	Health and Safety at Work Site Supervision
Technical Systems Design	Services Available Worldwide

Turning aspiration into design...

The principle objectives for White Mark are to deliver the absolute best in quality for the client within any budget range and to be able to scale the design costs to remain competitive from the smallest listen room to the largest recording studio complex.  In order to deliver on these goals White Mark had to develop a new approach to building a company, an approach that involved making innovative investments in new technology. 

White Mark’s design philosophy is outlined below. 

The Brief
The Design
The Implementation of the Design
Budget Management and Control
 

The Brief

Taking a good brief is crucial to the successful implementation of any design-based project. Turning aspiration into design successfully means listening to and fully understanding the detailed requirements of those for whom the project is to be realised. All aspects of that aspiration need to be fully explored at as early a stage as is possible to allow correct weight to be attached to each in the delicate balancing act that is design process. Issues that relate to the detailed knowledge of the work that the rooms need to perform, the clients who are to use them, the artists who are to create in them and the engineers that will work in the rooms, together with the business plan that the project costs must be justified against, are all central to the design process and need addressing from the outset. 

The importance that White Mark place on this early stage of the project is emphasised by our approach to enquiries when potential projects are first introduced to the company. We have a policy of not seeking appointment until a basic layout and costing are in place. This means that the first meetings are usually undertaken without charge, the client only covering travel expenses to the site where appropriate. We have come to understand that this is offers many benefits to a project. The main attraction of this approach is that the fundamental issues that affect the design can be assessed at the outset and a basic budget put in place. Potentially costly aspects like the need for isolation can be discussed and early assessments made as to potential site suitability and necessary development budget. As an approach it has a further significant advantage in that it offers both the potential client the opportunity to work with White Mark before committing to any contractual arrangement. This permits an evaluation to be made, not only of White Mark’s design capabilities, but also of how it would be to work closely with us. This relationship is vital and we are prepared to invest this early time into it to ensure that the project starts on the very best of possible basis. 

Listening to the brief and demonstrating how it is to work with us are fundamental to White Mark’s approach to the design project. 
 

The Design

Creating the team
Once an accepted scheme is in place, the next fundamental step is to assemble a team to realise it. White Mark staff have over fifty years of experience in studio construction between us and have close relationships with many of the leading firms specialised in studio construction, air conditioning and power systems installation, structural engineering, interior design, technical furniture design and safety and project management. We are happy to assemble a team from these companies ideally tailored to the proposed projects and bring together quotations from a range of companies to ensure cost competitiveness from the outset. 

White Mark is equally happy to take the time to brief new companies introduced to us by clients so that they can understand the design and construction techniques used and produce further costings to contribute. We have been involved in projects worldwide and are used to working both as a specialist designer, as part of an established project design and management team, or as the lead designer with companies with whom we have worked before. We believe that it is the size, nature and location of the project that dictates the best way of assembling a team to achieve it and that other factors are irrelevant. We will work to establish the best and most cost effective design and construction team to suit each project. 

Attention to Detail
White Mark believes that the key in designing a quality acoustic space is attention to detail. This includes every aspect of the project from meeting notes, design drawings, supervision and final technical support paperwork. It is important to realise that, no matter how complex a studio project is, it remains, fundamentally, a building project. Consequentially, White Mark strives to produce as comprehensive a drawing set as possible ensuring complete control of all aspects of the construction and allowing competent and experienced builders of to understand fully what is being asked of them. Complete control over what is built can only be achieved with a fully detailed and structured drawing set. 

This has allowed White Mark staff to create studios of great technical complexity at consistency high levels of performance in countries as far apart as the USA and Reunion Island and in languages as diverse as Icelandic and Polish. 

Predictability of Design
Once the layout is agreed upon, a detailed design can be undertaken. The two vital influences here are the performance of the completed rooms and the budget/time scale management. White Mark prides itself on the predictability of its room design record. A combination of long experience and sound design practice based on fundamental science and not folklore has led to an enviable list of completed rooms which have set the very highest standards of performance. Indeed, console manufacturers have chosen White Mark to design their demonstration suites and we have a very strong record of repeat business with clients returning to us for phase two and three developments at their premises. Great care is taken with the design detailing and the briefing of the building contractor to ensure optimal isolation performance and our specially developed approach to room mode management, reflection suppression and even decay time maintenance ensure that the fundamentals of the design are addressed correctly. 

Accuracy of Budget Proposal
Right from the outset, White Mark will develop the budget for a project in tandem with the actual design itself. Our cost forecasting tools have been in development over a number of years and are based on the bimonthly survey of construction costs in Greater London produced by the Royal Institute of British Architects. This allows us to accurately predict building costs in the London area and set this information against our own experience. The resulting data allows a detailed costing for every element for studio construction broken down with line items for each constituent part. For example the isolation shell is costed as the sum of elements such as concrete floating floor framing and isolation shell construction to which are added acoustic doors and glass. Each stage of the construction is similarly broken down so that the cost produced for the project can be seen as a summation of the detailed constituent parts. Thus any discussion on costs can be related directly to the effect on the design in an informed way allowing proper decisions to be taken. 

A further benefit of this approach is that it allows the line item unit costs to be adjusted by local architect or quantity surveyor to give greater accuracy in budget forecast when taking into account local variations. This has successfully been used in locations including Cardiff in Wales and New York and Miami in the USA. 
 

Implementation of the design

Team Selection and Flexibility 
A central feature of White Mark's approach to all of the projects brought to us is the flexibility with which a team can be configured to suit the exact requirements of the particular proposal.  As with the design team discussed above, the construction team is carefully assembled with detailed consideration being given to cost, location and complexity of the development. White Mark makes extensive use of our associated companies, but only as appropriate, and this allows us to build a competent, tailor made team for each project.  This minimises costs and allows the full integration into the design and construction process of any trusted contractors that the client may already know and wish to use.  Thus in-house building departments or companies may be used and particular relationships that may already exist with such vital suppliers as air-conditioning engineers can easily be accommodated.  The interface with all of these suppliers is formalised by the use of specification documents that set out performance requirements, comprehensive drawing sets that cover detailed construction in both plan and elevation and regular, minuted meetings to monitor progress against the project programme.  This programme is established with the team of contractors from the outset and is the central tool for monitoring progress.  Full involvement of the client or a representative in the meetings means that all parties are kept fully informed of all aspects of the project throughout its duration.
 

Budget management and control

The budget is another area of significant concern and, from the outset, this is kept open and under control.  As discussed in detail above, before contract White Mark will supply a scheme drawing and associated budget document.  This is built up of line items so that all contributing cost elements can be seen and budget decisions made in full knowledge of their consequences.  Whilst White Mark aspires to build beautiful buildings and facilities, we are always aware that these are commercial ventures and that the successful client knows his or her own business best.  We do not see our role as one of creating 'design statements' but as one of facilitating the creation of facilities that best suit the needs of each individual client.  Should the desire be to cover a wall in leather then this is perfectly possible, but the cost of the wall finish element will rise and this should be plain to see from the outset.  A project must be planned so that the available budget can be spent proportionately on all of the elements that make up the final facility and thus true costing must be applied for everything from the outset.