Our multidisciplinary team is unique in the field, combining architects and designers with historians, researchers, materials experts and a range of other specialists in aspects of our built environment. Our approach is both analytical and responsive across a full range of project types: we consider heritage to be both inspirational and dynamic, and strive to create new work in the context of understanding a place and its values. Well known for our singular expertise in conservation and restoration of significant heritage places, we are equally committed to sensitive and compatible contemporary development. Our aim is to create a meaningful resonance between the past and the present. Established in 1981 as Allom Lovell & Associates With roots in small-scale residential design, director KAI CHEN brings a practitioner's intellect to interpret and challenge notions of preservation. His strong design aesthetic incorporates a penetrating awareness of kinship with architects past. Director PETER LOVELL is an established authority in the field of conservation, research and investigation. His deep understanding of traditional materials and methods expands the range and possibilities of our contemporary designs, as well as underwriting our role as expert witnesses and consultants to national and state statutory planning and heritage bodies. Professional Services ARCHITECTURE + INTERIORS Lovell Chen offers a full spectrum of architectural services, designing for surroundings that range from pristine spaces to urban environments and nationally recognised heritage sites. Our unifying principle is a contemporary response to place, anchored in a fundamental awareness that places derive importance from the past, while continuing to grow and change. Interior design, from broad concept to intimate detail, is integral to the work of our architectural team — reflecting the holistic approach that we bring to all our projects. We respond to the continuing narrative of each environment — whether we are working on a public open space, structure or interior — and respect the intentions and achievements of past practitioners CONSERVATION WORKS Our firm is widely known as a unique repository of in-house expertise in the fields of conservation, restoration and reconstruction. The sharing of skills and exchange of ideas between members of our multidisciplinary team has enabled us to remain at the forefront of relevant and often highly technical specialisms for more than two decades. We're privileged to share our skills with the heritage community and often provide a specialist resource for other architectural practices. HISTORIC INTERIORS Interiors reflect fluctuations in cultural taste, and restoration projects often involve the analysis and interpretation of multiple layers of decorative change. We bring valuable in-house skills to archival and scientific investigation of historic interiors. Our experience and extensive knowledge also help us interpret and analyse the significance of different style cycles in the life of a building, enabling us to advise and support clients in the refurbishment, restoration or reconstruction of interiors STRATEGIC + MASTER PLANNING Lovell Chen's practical, holistic approach to strategic and master planning is underpinned by a wide range of experience in the development of plans for sites of all types, including major sites with considerable challenges. The common theme is places with significant heritage values, important buildings and structures, and potentially sensitive urban interfaces. Often plans are done in concert with conservation management plans, archaeological and environmental surveys, engineering audits, statutory regulation reviews and input from in-house architects — an approach that involves an integrated team and draws on both in-house skills and those of external consultants. This results in a unified strategic vision encapsulating all aspects of a site. By developing a thorough undertstanding, we can uncover a site's potential and find solutions for impediments and constraints Our strategic and master planning service includes: Consultation with client bodies, stakeholders and communities An holistic audit of the factors impacting upon a site, including place, function, operation and heritage Identification of future requirements Consideration of determinants and constraints Preparation of an appropriate delivery framework, covering aspects such as cost, scope, programme and statutory requirements We provide strategic and master plans for a wide range of projects and places in the government, civic, commercial, education, arts, residential, transport and industrial sectors. Individual projects have included community facilties, town halls, places of worship, major institutions and government buildings, theatres, creative spaces and university developments. HERITAGE MANAGEMENT PLANNING Lovell Chen delivers a comprehensive and flexible service in the preparation of heritage management plans, using Australia ICOMOS guidelines as a basis for each document but tailoring and extending the scope where required to suit particular client and place needs. The strength of our in-house skills and our experience of the broader heritage context enable us to maximize the usefulness of heritage and conservation management plans for clients, communities and heritage bodies alike. HERITAGE ASSESSMENTS + APPROVALS Lovell Chen brings incisive and informed thinking to the heritage assessment process, an area that is governed by both statutory constraints — at National, State and local levels — and a plethora of related policies and guidelines. Work in this field ranges from preparation of short, targeted statements aimed at local decision-makers to large scale and complex investigations that often lead to full conservation management plans for presentation to statutory bodies. Our focus is on clarity and consistency, and the development of useful and tailored conservation and heritage strategies which are accessible and can be readily implemented. We are also highly experienced in facilitating and obtaining statutory approvals for works to heritage places, including preparing heritage impact statements, presenting to heritage authorities and consulting with authorities and communities. Our strength in representing proposals lies in our committed engagement with the issues involved. We approach both the permit application process and the appeals process before heritage tribunals, not as hurdles to be overcome but as genuinely important forums for the challenge and progress of heritage debate INTERPRETATION The question, "Why?" is pivotal to every aspect of our work. Why is a site important? Why should something be preserved? Interpretation and presentation are at the core of many of our major projects, and utilise technologies that range from conventional plaques and markers to interactive and new media. Historians and researchers on our team provide a dual input, helping clients and external experts to explain and curate the past while opening up the spaces of the future.