“Ursula Rigby has designed two houses for me. The first was a major conversion completed in 2001. The second is a new house and is being built now. I have been entirely satisfied with her work on both occasions. I have self-built all four of my dwellings in my time and am a difficult person to please. I have fixed ideas. I think I know best, but like most amateurs, my designs are not always cost-effective or practical to build. Therefore, during the times that Ursula and I have worked together, I have been immensely impressed how she has tactfully suggested and persuaded me to consider more practical alternatives to my wilder ideas. Also, with her architectural professionalism and considerable experience, she has been able to modify my rather amateur and stiff doodlings of the type of house that I want, by the simple means of thickening, adding height, or eliminating a wall here – or recessing or arching a door there – thus producing a cohesive, attractive, correctly-proportioned and professional design proposal, which enhances my original idea, rather than imposing on me fashionable features that I might not want. This is a very difficult road to follow, and I commend her for her skill in succeeding.

Ursula is also very focused on getting value for money. The first house was, due to her efforts, completed WITHIN budget and ON TIME. She will stand no excuses from any contractor, and insists on strict adherence to the contract specifications. She is ruthless with any one who tries to pass off bad workmanship.

I have no hesitation in recommending her.”

Roger Goodlet

“We have known Ursula Rigby since 2005, when we consulted her about our intended home renovations. These involved major extensions and a complete redesign of our kitchen and dining areas, as well as three bathrooms. This was a project which we knew would take many months to complete.

Ursula discussed our wants and needs and, in a short time, came back with a number of alternative plans and options. She listened closely to our ideas and was able to envision and expand on them and turn them into beautiful design concepts, which exceeded our expectations in every way. The new kitchen area presented some design challenges, particularly with regard to the roof and lighting aspects. However, Ursula was able to create a wonderful space that functioned well and added warmth, light and character to our home. Importantly, she was able to do this while preserving the existing charm of the exterior of the house.

We were so impressed with Ursula’s attention to details which we did not even consider at first, such as lighting, storage, and especially the ceiling. Through every step of the design and construction process, she was very accessible and competent and gave the builders and other contractors very detailed and specific drawings.

Any home owner looking to design or renovate a home would do well to work with Ursula.”

Alwyn and Julie Smith

“Ursula Rigby has been our family’s architect of choice for a number of years and building projects. What is great about Ursula’s design style is that it is ‘creative’ in bringing in new and previously unthought-of ideas. Ursula has a good knowledge of exciting, new materials and makes brilliant use of space. Her designs are in sympathy with each unique environment and she insists on structural integrity, plus she is quite pedantic about her drawings. Our experience with her getting plans through the appropriate departments, approved, signed-off and ‘ready-to-roll’ has always been great. As far as we are aware, Ursula also has a good working relationship with manufacturers, builders and suppliers – very helpful when undertaking a building project.

We would always recommend her.”

Jonathan and Jane Sims

“I have known Ursula Rigby for over 20 years and have used her professional architectural services on two occasions on my house. Once to rebuild and renovate the kitchen/bar/dining area and then to rebuild and renovate the main bedroom/bathroom/dressing room area.
We have a thatched house and Ursula had to redesign from the roof down. On both occasions I was very happy with the results.

Ursula is very professional, easy to work with, has superb taste and quickly comprehends what the client’s requirements are, as far as style and design go.

I would not hesitate to recommend her”

Anne Robinson

“Like many homeowners, after having lived in our home for a few years, we decided on do a few changes to make things more comfortable… In our case this very quickly developed into a long shopping list of things to do and manage, with little agreement between my wife and myself on how to go about proceeding with the next steps. We decided to look for someone who would help with developing our specific ideas into practical plans and useable living spaces, maximizing the benefit of each and every change that we wanted included.

We contracted with Ursula Rigby, initially only to do an architectural design and draw up the necessary plans for the changes. Ursula is very friendly and really easy to work with, she was energetic, professional and tackled our project enthusiastically. She quickly provided us with some sketches and came up with some insightful design solutions of her own which accommodated both my wife and my own sometimes disparate requirements. After various discussions, changes and a few rounds of drawing alterations, we ended up with final drawings and plans which incorporated all our ideas and some inventive solutions. Ursula then went on to manage the project, obtain all the necessary approvals and documentation, manage the sub contractors, ran regular site meetings and took care of all the finicky details to deliver a fabulous completed project on time and within budget. Both my wife and I loved the finished results and were we to do any more changes we would employ Ursula in a heartbeat!

It was a pleasure to work with Ursula, she really knows her stuff and I strongly recommend her work as a professional architect.

I would not hesitate to recommend her.”

Carl Mostert