Modern multi-story house with white brick and black accents, outdoor patio with people sitting at a table, grassy yard, and a narrow water feature in the foreground.

From overlooked sites to buildings with purpose. Design-led planning that delivers opportunity.

Northern Workroom combines architecture and planning expertise to unlock the potential of both land and existing buildings. We provide clarity and insight, creating design-led planning proposals that reveal opportunity, guide decision-making, and prepare sites for the next stage.

We make the planning process understandable, design-led and commercially effective. Whether it’s unused land or an existing building in need of a new direction, we focus on planning outcomes that unlock opportunity and allow sites to move forward.

How we add value

    • Assess, design, submit planning applications, secure approvals

    • Typically provides the largest uplift because we create new potential

    • Change-of-use, extensions, infill, or sensitive retrofit

    • Uplift often more modest than new-build land schemes

    • Meaningful architectural and planning improvement

    1. Assess the site — clear advice, realistic potential

    2. Design the proposal — context-led, commercially-aware architecture

    3. Submit the planning application — coordinated, thorough, well-presented

    • Landowners — single plots, gardens, parcels, or wider land bundles

    • Property owners — retrofit, repurpose or extension projects

    • Land buyers & small developers — seeking planning-ready opportunities

    • Design-led thinking

    • ARB-registered expertise

    • Clarity and honesty

    • Simple process

    • Quality over volume

  • Travis Verlaan-Mills

    SITE & PLANNING DIRECTOR

    Travis is Site & Planning Director and founding partner of Northern Workroom, leading site sourcing, feasibility, planning strategy, and development coordination. He specialises in identifying underused land, assessing planning risk, and unlocking value through clear, design-informed decision-making at the earliest stages.

    Travis works closely with landowners and investors to move opportunities from initial appraisal through to planning consent and delivery with confidence and commercial clarity.

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  • Abbie Verlaan-Mills

    DESIGN DIRECTOR

    Abbie is Design Director at Northern Workroom, leading the design-facing aspects of the practice across architecture, interiors, and visual direction. She is responsible for translating strategy and planning intent into restrained, well-resolved design outcomes that add long-term value.

    Abbie ensures design quality, material clarity, and user experience are embedded from concept through to delivery.

    A young woman with shoulder-length hair, glasses, and a black top, smiling at the camera.