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Betternest Mission
To empower the person to transform their home.
This is guided by three core beliefs:
1. High-quality architecture should be available to all (not just to the rich)
2. Everyone has the ability to create their dream home, given the right tools
3. A home’s True Value = current value + Potential
Home + PDRs = better CO2/£/m2
Betternest Vision
To democratise architecture.
“Belief in the significance of architecture is premised on the notion that we are, for better or worse, different people in different places – and on the conviction that it is architecture’s task to render vivid to us who we might ideally be.”
Alain De Botton, 2007
This country is blighted by some of the worst housing stock in Europe. We are plagued by poorly-lit, badly-laid out houses that leak energy and carbon. We are also burdened with a mind-numbingly bureaucratic and inefficient planning regime. Set against our national tendency to object to anything remotely ‘new’ and you have all the conditions necessary for inaction. Even the bravest and most tenacious homeowners struggle to overcome the existing barriers – of fear, cost and hassle – to successful and stress-free home-renovation.
This is not helped by the architectural profession. It’s unfortunate that so many of our great British architects are lured by the international airport and corporate icon. Domestic environments surely offer the greatest potential for public engagement and social transformation, yet they receive so little attention from the architectural elite.
We have always believed that architecture is the highest form of art: democratic, accessible by its very nature, and affecting everyone. We can’t all travel to an art gallery to enjoy the virtues of fine art or sculpture, but we are all subject to the influence of architectural space because we have no choice: we all live, eat and sleep within its framework.
Space and light have the potential to transform the way we behave and think. Most importantly they can change the way we feel. Sunday roasts; early nights; BBQ’s in the drizzle … Our homes are special places, where our memories are formed and our dreams imagined.
However, it is not enough to rely on the transformative power of architecture – we need to connect, enable and empower people with the best that architecture can offer, affordably.
Our Vision is to democratise architecture so that we can all believe in its significance. And not because we are told to, but because we have experienced its value in our own home, in our own lives.
The homeowner must be put in the centre, allowing them to become the architect of their own dream home. Because ultimately their vision is all that matters.
The story: how did Betternest come about?
I stumbled across Permitted Development Rights in 2003 whilst working as Managing Director for an architectural practice in London. We had been having trouble getting planning permission for a large loft conversion on a semi-detached house. We spent over six months consulting with the client and local authority after numerous objections and had been made about our original scheme. We had to make so many changes that we were left with just two very small dorma windows – a far cry from the large, extensively glazed proposal that we had originally submitted. We (and the client) were close to giving up when the planner said, “The mad thing about it is that your original proposal would have been passed if you simply used the Permitted Development Rights attached to the property.”
I had never heard of them. But minutes later the planner had faxed me some highlighted sections of the General Permitted Development Order 1995. I couldn’t quite believe what I was reading. The amount of things that you could do to your home without the need for planning permission were quite staggering.
To this day I still think of the many occasions I have overheard homeowners being advised by their local authority that their “application will not be passed as it did not conform to the design guidelines of the Borough” – when I know that it would go through uncontested under Permitted Development Rights! I wonder how many people in the past (and even now) have spent thousands of pounds trying to get permission for their project when they didn’t even need it in the first place?
Permitted Development Rights are Rights that you already own. 15.5 million households in England and Wales alone have them attached to their property. We think of them like millions of planning permissions just sitting there waiting to be visualised, traded and transformed.
Simon Smith
Founder & CEO
Management Team
Board of Directors
Christopher Hood MA (Hons)
Chairman (Non-Executive)
Chris is a successful entrepreneur and manager and has a proven record of profit growth in challenging markets. He left St. Johns College, Cambridge with a first class degree in Mechanical Science and Business Studies and after a few years selling Computer systems, joined his fledging family business (Shear Group). Over the next ten years this business grew rapidly and profitably and was then sold successfully to Johnson Matthey PLC in 1990. Chris then went on over the next ten years to restructure and run a major division of Johnson Matthey employing 2,000 people and achieving international sales of £250m and operating profits of over £30m and for over 6 years was a member of the Executive Committee of the company. Chris is the major initial funder for Betternest Group which he joined in 2007.
Simon Smith BA (Hons) AADipl
Founder & Chief Executive
A builder’s son and graduate of the prestigious Architectural Association School of Architecture (AA) in London. Simon founded Betternest in 2007 and now serves as Chief Executive. In 2003 he co-founded an architectural practice in Fulham – Simon was responsible for designing and managing over 100 projects which included domestic renovation and new-builds for homeowners across the South of England. Whilst at the Architectural Association he worked with Dr David Lane, head of Operational Management Methodologies at the London School of Economics generating a system that explored the link between real-time control systems (Max Msp) and Soft System Methodology (SSM - CATWOE) in order to challenge conventional notions of architectural form and function. The project sought to establish a link between spatial quality and financial return in real-time. In 1997 he read Architecture at Liverpool John Moores University and graduated with First Class Honours. Simon has also worked as a carpenters apprentice and project manager for domestic construction firms which has enabled him to gain valuable insight into the domestic renovation process.
(SSM – CATWOE) http://www.bola.biz/research/ssm.html
(Mas Msp) http://compusition.com/web/software/maxmsp
(AA) http://www.aaschool.ac.uk/AALIFE/index.htm
Iris Ventures
Iris Ventures, part of global integrated marketing agency iris Nation, offers start-up and early-stage business a unique mix of management advice and execution resource, helping them to realise their ambitions and successfully take their business ideas to market. Iris Ventures has been involved with Betternest since 2008, helping develop its original Proposition and route to market, as well as providing ongoing commercial and marketing leadership. Iris Ventures maintains an equity interest in the business and as such rotates its Board position amongst Managing Partner, Chris Hughes, Director, Brian Southward, and Director and Chairman of iris Nation, Drew Thomson.
James Hood BSc (Hons)
Operations Director (Executive)
James completed his honours degree in Architecture and Environmental Design at Sheffield Hallam University in 2005 gaining Part 1 recognition from the Royal Institute of British Architects. From an early age James was interested in Architecture; his experience began with the design and project management of an eco-barn conversion in Suffolk for private clients. Whilst working at an Architectural Practice in London for two years he gained considerable experience designing domestic conversion projects in West London; his duties included planning applications, design statements, building control and project management. James joined Betternest in 2007 as Operations Director.
Robert Copping BSC (Hons)
Business Forecast (Non-Executive)
After graduating in Physics, Robert began his career with British Aerospace as a Technical Engineer and progressed to the project management of multinational defence contracts. In 1990, Robert became Commercial Manager of a subsidiary of the Rank Organisation and when the company was bought by Schroeder Venture Capitalists in 1996 he became Global Projects Director. In 1999, Robert established Paradigm Management Consultants and clients included the Ministry of Defence, although it mainly helped SME’s to grow. Robert launched Sightpath Limited in 2006, which uses its unique software system to deliver a highly effective Business Development Service. He and his Business Catalysts have now modelled many different businesses to create Business Development Plans, which have successfully helped clients to obtain finance or simply to grow with reduced risk.
Robert has now encapsulated much of what has been learned in an acclaimed new book: ‘The Heart of Business Success – How to Overcome the Catch-22s of Growing Your Business’ and is regularly invited to speak to business groups on the subject.
The Heart of Business Success: http://www.ecademy-press.com/shop/business-and-networking/the-heart-of-business-success-by-robert-copping/
Sightpath: http://www.sightpath.co.uk/
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