Introduction

So as to be able to provide you with the best possible service I may need to hold personal information about you. Your privacy is very important to me and you can be confident that your personal information will be kept safe and secure and will only be used for the purpose it was given to me. I adhere to current data protection legislation, including the General Data Protection Regulation (EU/2016/679) (the GDPR), the Data Protection Act 2018 and the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003.

I am happy to chat through any questions you might have about my data protection policy and you can contact me via email or phone, details of which can be found on the contact page of my website.

‘Data controller’ is the term used to describe the person/organisation that collects and stores and has responsibility for people’s personal data. In this instance, the data controller is me.

How I use your information

Initial contact
When you contact me with an enquiry I will collect information to help me satisfy your enquiry. This will include your name, your address and a method of contact such as an email address or phone number.

If you make an enquiry but then decide not to proceed I will ensure all your personal data is deleted within one month. If you would like me to delete this information sooner, just let me know.

If you appoint me for architectural services
I will use your email address and/or phone number to contact you during the time I am working on your project.

After our contract has ended
There are reasons why professionals are required to keep records after the work has ended: for example, in the case of financial transactions personal information may need to be retained for accounting and tax purposes.

In addition, I retain design information and any notes and/or related documentation for seven years after project and/or contract completion, after which time they will be confidentially destroyed. This is inline with industry standards. Your name and address will likely be recorded on such information. During this time information will be stored securely in a locked filing cabinet that only I have access to.

Third party recipients of personal data

In order to provide architectural services to you and to fulfil legal obligations in respect of tax and accounting purposes I share a limited amount of personal data with third parties, for example, my accountant is permitted access to my invoices and bank account statements.

In addition, in the course of progressing design projects I often need to forward design drawings to third parties for example structural engineers, contractors and suppliers. In addition, design information often needs to be posted and available online, for example on the Planning Portal via the Planning Services Websites of Local Councils. I do not have control over who then accesses this information.

Where I have contacted and/or contracted with a third party to carry out tasks I have carefully selected which organisations I work with: however ultimately, I do not have control over how they will use your information. I will never pass on your contact details to any third party organisations for the purposes of sales, marketing or research.

Your rights

Under the GDPR guidelines you have the following rights: The right to request access to the personal information that I store and process about you. You can ask for corrections to be made to the information held or for your personal information to be deleted. You can also ask me to restrict the processing of your personal information or to object to the processing of it altogether in some circumstances. You can read more about your rights at ico.org.uk/your-data-matters.

If I do hold information about you I will:

• give you a description of it and where it came from;
• tell you why I am holding its, tell you how long I will store your data and how I made this decision;
• tell you who it could be disclosed to;
• let you have a copy of the information in an intelligible form.

If you would like to make a request relating to any of the rights above, please send a request in writing by email. Please be aware that in certain situations I may be unable to comply with the above requests for legal reasons. Please also be aware that there may be a charge for complying with a request if it is deemed to be excessive in nature.

Complaints

If you have any complaint about how I handle your personal data please do not hesitate to get in touch with me by writing or email. I would welcome any suggestions for improving my data protection procedures.

If you would like to make a formal complaint about the way I have processed your personal information you can contact the ICO which is the statutory body that oversees data protection law in the UK. For more information go to ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint.

Data security

I take the security of the data that I hold about you very seriously and as such I take every effort to make sure it is kept secure. My email account is password protected and the mobile phone and computer/laptop that I use to respond to your emails, have anti-virus software and have password and/or fingerprint protection. If it is not necessary to keep it, any email correspondence will be deleted within one month.

Website

Visitors to this website
By accessing the website, you are consenting to the information collection and use practices described in this privacy notice. If website visitors contact me through the details listed on this website, they do so at their own discretion and provide any personal details at their own risk. I use legitimate interests as the lawful basis for holding and using your personal information in this way when you visit my website.

The website uses cookies and Google Analytics. Cookies are small files saved to the user’s computers hard drive that track, save and store information about the user’s interactions and usage of the website. This allows the website, through its server, to provide users with a tailored experience. Since cookies store a lot of information they can present their own privacy implications. Google Analytics is a service provided by Google that gathers anonymous data on how people are using websites and then provides visitor statistics, details of page views etc. This service is used by many website owners as the data helps website owners to improve their websites.

If visitors would like to deny the use and saving of cookies from this website onto their computers hard drive, they are advised to take the necessary steps within their web browsers security settings, to block all cookies from this website and its external serving vendors or, if available, to use a cookie control system upon their first visit.

No user-specific data is collected by me or any third party.

External Website Links & Third Parties

To enhance user experience, external links from trusted third parties, are sometimes embedded within this website. However you should be aware that such links often come with their own cookies and since I do not control them I cannot guarantee what they do. Although I only look to include quality, safe and relevant external links, users are advised to adopt a policy of caution before clicking any external web links or shortened URL links mentioned throughout this website. Users are encouraged to verify the authenticity of such links before proceeding.

Despite my best effort, I cannot guarantee or verify the contents of any external links. Users should therefore note they click on external links at their own risk for I cannot be held liable for any damages or implications caused by visiting any external links mentioned.

Changes to this Privacy Policy

I reserve the right to change this Privacy Policy and any changes will be communicated via this website.