Grand design

Business partners David Smith and Warren Smart own BCL, a development company based in Wallingford, which, after just two and a half years in business, is establishing itself as a leading light in design and architecture.

The pair are just putting the finishing touches to their flagship building, Heathfield, at Boars Hill, Oxford — a striking combination of modern contemporary design and traditional English features.

Thanks to the backing of family friend Lord Richard Macclesfield, the firm now has completed eight projects all over Oxfordshire, ranging from modern country houses to barn conversions and executive homes.

BCL grew from the pair’s mutual passion for design and architecture which they had both put on the backburner until a chance meeting on set of the award-winning children’s movie Tooth in 2002, where Mr Smith was executive producer and Mr Smart, film financier.

They went on to work together on Mr Smith’s first film as director, horror movie Spirit Trap which, unfortunately for Mr Smith, did not go down well with the critics and he decided to turn his hand to housebuilding full time.

And he certainly proved his capabilities early on when in 2002 he bought two cottages at Nuffield for £400,000 and sold them a year later for £1.1m.

The pair are certainly well-armed with all sorts of skills to take on the property market.

Mr Smart, 45, of South Stoke, spent five years in the RAF before turning his hand to managing restaurants and then becoming a film financier. He also played American football for Great Britain before becoming one of country’s top coaches in the sport which, he said, helped him hone his skills as a strategist on and off the pitch.

Father of two Mr Smith, 63, of Henley, enjoyed a long a successful career in advertising before becoming a film director.

“Our skills base makes us a great team, they come together and it works very well for these projects,” he said.

Together they have set up two companies. The second, AGT, formed two months ago, designs and fits ground heat source pumps for sustainable heating and is expected to turn over £1m in its first year.

The idea for this project emerged as the pair discovered how difficult it was to find a company able to design and install the pumps which they wanted to fit in their properties and saw a niche.

So what has made BCL begin to turn so many heads?

“It’s our attention to detail,” said Mr Smith, speaking in the kitchen of the Heathfield home. And we have learned from our mistakes in our other jobs and not to make them again.

“I don’t think it costs any more to design something well than it does to design something mediocre. It’s the attention to detail that’s important and making the right design choices.

“Heathfield a happy house. It’s a very contemporary open space. Quite often modern minimalist houses are cold, but we think we’ve achieved a home rather than a house.”

The building, set in the heart of this tranquil Oxford suburb high on Bedwells Heath, is magnificent.

They bought the site in 2006 for a £800,000 and sold it, off plan, for £3.5m in February last year, ten days after it was put on the market.

From the monumental staircase which spirals up four floors to a sunlit tower, all the way down to the ‘media room’ in the basement, which houses a nine foot cinema screen and a 2,000-bottle wine cellar, this home is 6,800 square feet of luxury. It is full of clean lines, natural materials and made to measure fittings designed for the 21st century.

Every detail is exquisitely finished — the £17,000 curved handrail is one such example. The swimming pool, sauna and steam room look set to be complete next month.

“We believe families are staying together longer and longer so we have built a house where the children can have their own space,” said Mr Smith.

Both self-confessed perfectionists, this development is testament to their rigorous attention to detail and is living proof of their visionary design ethos.

The onset of a recession might seem an unlikely time for a house builder to be celebrating success, but Mr Smith and Mr Smart are convinced they can ride it out and emerge on top.

They are already at an advanced stage with their next project in Brightwell-cum-Sotwell and believe it’s the quality of their product which will see them through.

Mr Smart said: “We set up BCL at the height of the housing boom. We had the foresight to know we had to be strategic and knew houses were overpriced and there was going to be a correction on its way.

“We built houses for cash buyers so people wouldn’t be affected by mortgages and interest rates and we also knew our product would be of a superior quality.”