Improving your home isn't just about building an extension.

It's about protecting the original character you love while making everyday life easier and more enjoyable.

Still exploring ideas or gathering information?

The free Design Your Home Vision Checklist helps you begin thinking differently about your home, so you can make right-for-you decisions before investing in plans, building work or the Vision Programme.

You can get started straight away, in your own time. No need to book an appointment or wait for a call.

Over a coffee break, you'll work through a series of simple but thought-provoking exercises to help you understand what matters most, what isn't working and what you want to protect about your home.

Download the Vision Checklist >>

"​It is gorgeous, really gorgeous and has made a massive difference to our lives. Thank you so much for the design - you did a fab job."

L. Bramhall

"Design is Decisions!"

Good design comes from making the right combination of right-for-you decisions. But the amount and complexity of decision making needed for a home design project can be overwhelming.

That's where I come in.

When you work with me I help you make the right decisions for you and your home-life, so you create a home that feels easier to live in, supports the life you want and becomes a pleasure to come home to every day.

​I help you consider your options and choose what best fits your finances, timescale and priorities, while taking into account your existing home and the way you want to live.

Most people jump straight into design, but when you're still working out what matters most, the design process takes longer, costs more and can result in changes that don't fully deliver the home you hoped for.

​I take a different approach.

This is why all my clients start with the Design Your Home Vision Programme, before moving into design.

Are you ready to take the first step to improve your home?

To create a home that truly works for you, it's important to decide what's right for your space, your lifestyle and your priorities. So you can create a home that genuinely supports the way you want to live.

But you don't need to have all the answers before you begin.

That's why all of my clients begin with the Design Your Home Vision Programme.

It's a structured, supportive process that helps you:

• Understand what matters most to you and your family
• Identify what needs to change and why
• Gather the information needed to make informed decisions
• Establish the priorities that will guide your project
• Move into design knowing what's right for your home, lifestyle and priorities

Once you've made those foundational decisions, we can move into the Big Picture Plan, where different design options are explored and tested.

You don't need to have your budget, design or answers figured out before you start. That's exactly what the Vision Programme is designed to help you do.

Start with the Vision Programme >>

Here's what happened when Anna explored her options before committing to a design:

"Overall working with you was excellent! The best part was that you are so personal and creative. Your approach is so different from others in that you listened to my needs and created solutions based on them.

Before working with you, I had an architect come to my home. He didn't ask me one question about what I wanted. I was struggling with challenging my thinking about how my home could be renovated. Exploring what other options are regarding moving and also comparing cost of staying and cost of moving.

The Big Picture Plan helped me to decide what I am going to do, which is move. I was surprised by the amount of different options that could be a possibility of the renovations. For anyone on the fence about working with you I would say, Do it! Jane is a genius."

Anna Radford, St. Helens

How it works

1. Start with the Vision Checklist (if you're exploring)
2. Make the important decisions with the Vision Programme
​3. Explore your design options with the Big Picture Plan

"Working with Jane has been excellent. We have been especially impressed by her holistic approach, as well as her creativity and enthusiasm.

Before working with Jane at iarchitect we had worked with another architect. We were struggling to understand the range of different options, and how we could incorporate any green/eco elements.

The Big Picture Plan gave us a way to extend our house in a completely new way that we hadn't even thought about! That will give a much better outcome! Jane's eco design knowledge was particularly valuable. The previous architect we'd worked with didn't really suggest anything around energy efficiency and having someone to give advice right from the start was invaluable."

Saul & Bryony, Manchester

Start with the Vision Programme >>

Not ready for the Vision Programme yet?

Start with the free Design your Home Vision Checklist and begin making the important decisions that will shape your project.

Get the Vision Checklist >>

​Hi! I'm Jane

When you choose iarchitect Limited to design your home, you work directly with me - Jane Leach, award-winning chartered architect and founding director.

Specialised in human centred design, eco-home renovation and architectural conservation, I've redesigned well over 100 homes since setting up what is now iarchitect Ltd in 2009.

This means you get:

• Functional and practical design that is easy and comfortable to live with
• Eco-design embedded into your design from the outset based on Passivhaus principles
• Beautiful design that preserves and enhances the original character of your home

View my portfolio here >>

Every home is different. Some clients come to me for an extension, others for a loft conversion, while many want to rethink and redesign the home they already have.

​Whatever the project, the starting point is always understanding what's right for your home and the way you want to live.

Here's what some of my clients had to say about working with me:

"My partner and I are in the early stages of scoping our first house extension project. While we had some ideas of what we wanted we realised that we don't have enough architecture tools to achieve them so we invested in a sketch design package with Jane at iarchitect. I was aware of Jane's passion in working with families' existing homes and I felt more comfortable asking for help this way than walking into a local architecture firm.

This process helped us to shift the conversation away from our house quibbles and budget, and to focus more positively about how could we make the school morning exodus a smoother process for all, and how to improve the flow of toys/voices/people around the new house. Jane was very easy to chat with, listening, feeding in, offering suggestions along the way and letting my partner and I have our 'I don't think so!' moments.

At the end of the day Jane produced 3 different, hand drawn sketches - she chatted through both the why's and how's of the ideas and we all felt that two of them were more likely than the third so we focussed on two. These were follow up by tidier, electronic versions by the end of the week.

The whole process has been insightful and thought provoking. Jane's knowledge and process has really kickstarted useful conversations between my partner and I and helped us to identify key factors to incorporate into our new home. As the design ideas are firmed up, I'm really looking forward to extracting more expert ideas from Jane on how to bring our new home to life. Thanks, Jane!"

Kimm, Farnham

"We were thinking of extending to give us more light and space but Jane convinced us just to rearrange the internal space. She came up with a brilliant plan which gives us a much better flow.

​She is delightful to work with and is always on hand to give advice."

Lois Macpherson, Poynton

"We interviewed a number of architects and builders to find the right solution for our house extension. Jane was the only one who proposed a different approach to the first floor layout, offering light, space and architectural design elements. The design offers practicality and style and has accommodated all our requirements.
​
​Jane is very accommodating and flexible when a change is required. Her problem solving abilities more than justify the costs of employing an architect, particularly if you are looking for something more extraordinary than "design and build" has to offer. She is a great listener and communicator."

Siobhan Duncan, Manchester

"Jane is super committed to her work and having a design day with her was both really helpful and inspiring. She came up with lots of creative solutions to my tricky Victorian home's old fashioned layout.

​She also really listened to the points I had made about how we use the house and didn't try to impose her own ideas, though I did appreciate her focus on being energy efficient. I would recommend her wholeheartedly."

A. Norwich

"Jane has made our home redesign project so much easier and more effective. From the first contact through to obtaining planning consent, Jane listened to what we needed and wanted, suggested options but happily left final decisions to us, she understood how we want to make use of our space and our final plan will deliver this.

​From an ordinary two up two down to a spacious three bed, two bath home with only a small extension, she's a near miracle worker!"

Katy Carmichael, East Lancs

"Jane came highly recommended and I'm more than delighted to extend that recommendation. We were looking for help to pull our loose ideas about how to enlarge our kitchen, within some quite restrictive guidelines and Jane was able to come up with some fabulous ideas that ticked all our boxes and then some.

​Jane was an excellent listener and translator who took our ideas and provided comprehensive sketches to help visualize our thoughts. I wouldn't hesitate to hire Jane in the future."

Trasie Einig Jones, Liverpool

"Conservation area planning requires an added level of professionalism, patience and knowledge. All of which ultimately led us to working with Jane on our project.

​Jane was collaborative and managed to keep step in step with the planners to achieve a successful outcome."

Tas Hirani, Manchester

"Jane designed and managed our significant extension in an exemplary fashion. She was imaginative, but also practical, and has helped us create a house that we are very proud of.

​She showed great patience, built good relationships with the builder, and was always available for advice and guidance. I would recommend her services to others, unreservedly."

Jim Slavin, Alderley Edge

"Jane's advice and help has been invaluable. Within 30 mins she had helped us understand the planning and restrictions due to the sewage pipes running across the back of our property. She took her time to read all the information we had sent her, talked through the options on layout and design, then walked us through any concerns we had and discussed possible solutions.

​Jane turned around initial sketches within days and her continued support in talking with planning and the utility company has been excellent."

Caroline Ellis, Newton Abbot