Built on instinct.
Proven by time.
In 2012, the government introduced Class Q permitted development rights — legislation that allowed agricultural buildings to be converted into homes. Most in the industry overlooked it.
Michael James did not. He spent the following years becoming the country's leading authority on Class Q planning — studying the legislation at a level no one else had bothered to reach. In Winchester, on a large barn called Durley Hall Farm, he secured what is believed to be the first Class Q planning permission ever granted in the country. It was achieved through a provision rarely invoked: Winchester City Council had failed to determine the application within the statutory 56-day window.
That instinct — to move before the market, to understand what others hadn't yet read — is the same instinct behind every project since.
Today, Michael builds across Dorset, Hampshire, Wiltshire and internationally — working alongside the best architects in the region, including Arc Architects, who designed Holtwood House. He is a master home builder. He has sourced passive doors in Poland, cladding and finishes in Indonesia, tiles in Spain, kitchens in Germany, and a specific cooker for a client's kitchen from France. He is currently completing a private residence in Lombok, Indonesia — commissioned by a Dorset client who trusted him enough to take the work to the other side of the world.
He works with a small number of clients each year. He is present on site. He picks up the phone.