West Africa
Ghana, Nigeria, Côte d’Ivoire and Senegal. Hot and humid on the coast, with a supply chain that rewards local sourcing and a rainy season that has to be programmed around rather than argued with.
The practice
A studio built around the way things actually get made.
Dyce Consult began in Accra and works outward from it. We hold six disciplines in house so that the drawing, the calculation and the pour stay part of one conversation.
The story
Rooted in Accra, drawn outward.
The practice was formed around a simple frustration: the gap between what gets drawn and what gets built. Too much of the work in the region was being designed at a distance and corrected on site, at the client’s expense.
So we put the disciplines together. An architect who has stood in the rain watching a pour draws differently. A structural engineer who has read a tender return prices differently. That proximity is the whole method.
Designing for a tropical climate
Passive cooling is not a feature we add. Shade, mass, cross-ventilation and a sensible window-to-wall ratio are settled in the first week, because they are the only decisions that cannot be retrofitted cheaply later.
We model the sun path for the actual latitude and the actual date, size the overhangs from it, and test the plan depth against the prevailing wind before anyone starts drawing elevations.
Sourcing close to the site
Laterite, timber and clay block are specified where they perform, not as a gesture. Local sourcing shortens the programme, keeps the money in the region and produces buildings that can be maintained with what is available nearby.
Specifications name alternatives rather than a single imported product, so a supply problem in month nine does not become a redesign in month ten.
Building capacity, not dependency
On every site we run, the inspection regime is taught as well as enforced. Trades that understand why a hold point exists stop needing one. That is the only version of quality control that survives after we leave.
Across Africa
Urbanisation is a programme constraint, not a headline.
Cities across the continent are growing faster than they are being drawn. We take work in West, East and Southern Africa where the brief, the climate and the supply chain are ones we can genuinely serve.
East Africa
Uganda, Rwanda and Kenya. Higher altitude, steeper ground and a strong precast capability, which changes both the structural options and the site logistics on almost every project.
Southern Africa
Zambia, Botswana and Mozambique. Long dry seasons and wide diurnal swings make thermal mass and deep overhangs do most of the work that mechanical cooling does elsewhere.
How we work
Six steps, in this order, every time.
01
Listen and test
We start with the brief, the site and the budget in the same room. Before any design work, we establish what the site can carry, what the codes require and what the numbers will bear.
02
Design against the climate
Orientation, shading, mass and cross-ventilation are settled first. A plan that works with the sun and the breeze costs less to run for the next forty years than one that fights them.
03
Resolve every discipline together
Architecture, structure and services are coordinated as one model. Clashes are found on screen, where they cost hours, rather than on site, where they cost weeks.
04
Document so it can be built
Drawings are produced for the trades who will read them. Specification is written to what can be sourced locally, with named alternatives rather than a single imported product.
05
Hold the line on site
We inspect before the pour, not after. Programme, cost and quality are reported monthly against the baseline, and change is recorded as it happens.
06
Hand over and stay reachable
Handover includes as-built records, operating information and a defects process with names against it. We expect to be called in the first year, and we answer.
People
Role first. The name matters less than who answers the phone.
Architecture
Principal Architect
Leads concept and developed design across the practice. They chair the weekly design review and hold the brief against every change.
Structures
Lead Structural Engineer
Responsible for frame, foundation and lateral stability design. They sign the calculations and attend the reinforcement inspections.
Delivery
Construction Manager
Runs procurement, programme and cost reporting on site. They are the client’s single point of contact once a contract is let.
Advisory
Building Consultant
Handles feasibility, code compliance and due diligence. They tell clients early when a site will not carry the brief.
Building Design
Systems Coordinator
Owns the multi-discipline model and the clash register. They keep the services interface resolved ahead of each drawing issue.
Visualisation
Visualisation Lead
Builds every image from the live drawing set. They light scenes to the real sun path so the renders can be used to make decisions.
Roles shown are placeholders pending confirmation of the published team.
Client comment
“The drawings arrived complete. Our trades priced them without a single request for information in the first month.”Placeholder attribution — contractor, commercial project
Work with us
The first conversation is the cheapest one.
Bring the site, the brief and the number. We will tell you what is possible before anyone commits to a design.