Lovell Chen creates enduring value through responsible stewardship, design-excellence and strategic foresight

We provide a complete range of architectural services for the contemporary built environment, and we combine this with an ability to understand, ‘read’ and work with the architecture of the past. Our award-winning design team are problem solvers – we find physical, economic and programmatic solutions to a wide range of challenges.

The team works closely with clients, consultants and builders right from the start, and strive for innovative solutions that produce imaginative, high-performance outcomes. Every element of a Lovell Chen building is interrogated to ensure that it contributes to the whole.

‘Design and construction is a continuous process’, says founding director and design architect Kai Chen. Embracing this mantra allows the architecture team to think differently, to find opportunities and to truly collaborate.

Lovell Chen offers specialist architectural services for the conservation of buildings and structures. Our work is underpinned by a comprehensive understanding of building fabric and how it performs.

As well as requiring in-depth knowledge of traditional and modern construction techniques, works to older buildings often means bringing them into compliance with building regulations, including in relation to environmental sustainability, disability access, seismic codes and fire safety. We look for imaginative ways to address these challenges and aspire to achieve a balance between client/user expectations, statutory obligations and long-term viability.

Recognising that time and cost are key factors in project delivery, our approach is always strategic — involving analysis of project costs, the prioritising of works and, when needed, providing for staged delivery.

Our conservation works service includes:

• Detailed inspection and documentation of existing fabric, including at-height survey work
• Preparation of option analyses where required, to determine priorities and staging
• Working with specialists in materials analysis
• Sourcing materials and identifying appropriate substitutes

The work of our architecture, conservation and heritage teams comes together in the delivery of building presentation. From the detailed restoration of interior and exterior historic decorative treatments to the design of contemporary furniture and fittings for new places in heritage contexts, the integration of our design skills, experience and technical knowledge enables highly resolved outcomes.

Presentation is focused on the fabric treatment and contents of a building. It can involve refurbishment, restoration or reconstruction, or we may be called upon to develop new solutions or undertake adaptation — many projects involve aspects of all these activities.

Examples of our work include: the meticulous restoration of the interior of the Gothic Bank in Collins Street, Melbourne and the investigation of exterior finishes of the dome of the State Library of Victoria and development of appropriate solutions for its refurbishment. 

Lovell Chen provides a range of strategic and masterplanning services with a particular focus on places with complex heritage issues.

Often initiated as part of redevelopment works or a major change in use, projects have included the development of plans for major infrastructure and institutional sites, for heritage property portfolios, and for individual structures and landscapes. Outcomes range from programmes for capital works and maintenance, to wholesale adaptation and reuse.

The process makes use of our integrated in-house team of architects, planners and heritage consultants, who provide a comprehensive service, delivering a designed outcome for a place, not just analysis. Our approach combines a thorough understanding of the core processes and documentation relevant to planning with the experience to think laterally about the possibilities.

Lovell Chen’s advice, design review and approvals services provide practical support to owners of heritage properties. Our approach seeks to strike a balance between owners’ requirements and the conservation of our diverse cultural heritage.

Common triggers for advice concerning a heritage building or place include due diligence, proposals for new development or subdivision, and plans to alter, extend or demolish all or part of a heritage building or place. In every case, we are guided by best practice guidelines (including the Burra Charter) and relevant statutory controls.

Our approvals service includes:

• Preliminary appraisal of the relevant issues
• Preparation of a heritage impact statement
• Stakeholder consultation and meetings with relevant authorities
• EPBC Act self-assessment and referral (Commonwealth)
• Technical discipline services for Environment Effects Statements (Victoria)
• Co-ordination of the permit process, including the required advertising
• Expert witness services, hearings and appeals

Heritage (and conservation) management plans are a critical tool in guiding the management, conservation and development of significant heritage structures, places and areas.

The strength of our in-house skills, and knowledge of the broader heritage context, enable us to optimise the relevance of management plans for owners, site managers and approval authorities. We also bring to their preparation an understanding of the practical considerations of living with or managing a heritage place. Our clients include individuals and organisations, and local, state and national government bodies.

Our highly experienced team delivers rigorously researched documents that are consistent with best practice guidelines and include a detailed description of the heritage place, an assessment of its heritage significance, and practical guidance and recommendations on conservation and management. We ensure that statutory requirements are met, including compliance with any relevant heritage authority guidelines, and we evaluate for all relevant values, including social value.

Lovell Chen provides a comprehensive range of strategic planning and heritage assessment services.

We are skilled in preparing heritage studies at the local, state and national levels. Heritage studies require the identification and assessment of places for potential application of heritage controls. The range of places we investigate includes individual properties, collections or groups of sites (precincts), places of archaeological significance and landscapes. We are highly skilled in this work, with an experienced in-house team of historians, architectural historians, architects and planners — partnering with archaeologists and other specialists, as required. The integration of planning expertise into the heritage study team is particularly advantageous.

Core components of heritage studies include Thematic Environmental Histories, detailed histories of local areas which act as valuable tools for comparative analyses, a process that informs the relative significance of similar places. And central to every project is a systematic assessment of significance, where the historical, aesthetic, technical, social and associational attributes of places are analysed to support on-going management.

Strategic planning and heritage assessment services provided also include policy development on behalf of statutory authorities, as well as heritage guidelines, public education and outreach.

Our experienced team of heritage consultants is also regularly called upon for peer reviews of studies and analyses.

Lovell Chen has an established track record in all aspects of site interpretation, from strategic planning to the design and delivery of interpretive displays. Our heritage team is highly experienced in the preparation of interpretation strategies and content and works closely with our architects and conservation specialists to develop integrated interpretive elements for adaptation schemes.

Effective interpretation reinforces and sustains connections between communities and heritage places, and enhances an understanding of their significance. Heritage interpretation also has more tangible benefits. The process has the potential to assist in place making, wayfinding and establishing an identity for heritage places undergoing change.

All our interpretation work is grounded in a shared understanding of the significance of place.