The SLA Collective
By carefully tailoring each team to align skills with the unique needs of each client and project, we maintain an agile, responsive approach that ensures quality at every stage. Our ultimate goal is simple: to exceed expectations and deliver projects that enrich and endure.
“Effective teams thrive on shared understanding, mutual respect, and a passion for collaboration.
That’s why we created the SLA Collective — a group of like-minded professionals with diverse expertise who share our values and our commitment to excellence.
Our resourcing model is built on the belief that flexibility, autonomy and balance in how we work truly matter.
Clients benefit from an agile team working under the direction of SLA with tailored scopes to drive value, creativity and deliverability.”
Joy Stone
Joy Stone
Founder & Director-
BArch (Hons) Dip Arch ARB RIBA
As Founder and Director of Stone Lane Architects, Joy brings almost three decades of industry experience to steer complex, award-winning projects across a wide range of sectors. Known for her collaborative personable approach and effective leadership, she works closely with clients and multidisciplinary teams to transform ambitious ideas into well-crafted, buildable solutions.
A trusted strategic advisor to her clients and a passionate problem solver, Joy has a proven track record of unlocking the potential of challenging sites and de-risking projects at critical stages. Having collaborated extensively with major contractors and self-delivery developers, she brings insight into quality design and buildability. In her technical design advisory roles, she provides clear strategic oversight, reducing unnecessary complexity and enhancing commercial viability without compromising design integrity.
Joy has a proven track record of adding value post-Planning, successfully navigating complex Planning Amendments and delivering significant construction cost savings whilst carefully balancing technical and operational constraints.
Her commitment to shaping the wider built environment is further demonstrated by her ongoing work as a Design Expert for Design West, an Associate Lecturer at UWE and a proactive mentor for girls and women pursuing careers in the Construction Industry.
Louis Lane
Founder & Director-
BSc (Hons) M.Arch ARB RIBA
As Founder and Director of Stone Lane Architects, Louis brings a wealth of leadership experience to projects of all scales and across a wide range of sectors. Drawing on two decades of architectural practice, he excels at directing both internal design studios and expansive external consultant teams in his capacity as Project Lead and Lead Designer, ensuring clarity, cohesion and design quality throughout the design process.
Louis has successfully steered high-profile, complex and distinctive developments from inception through to completion. His portfolio includes managing the architectural teams and technical resolution for major urban schemes on brownfield sites with key emphasis on place-making, identity and character. He brings a bold, imaginative approach to design, crafting distinctive architectural responses and shaping the design process to unlock each project’s full creative potential.
He is equally adept at leading sensitive, heritage-led transformations within highly constrained and complex contexts, expertly navigating challenging briefs to unlock the potential of historically significant environments. He has worked with both large scale clients and contractors as well as smaller stakeholder groups and charitable trusts, building long lasting relationships and often returning to deliver repeat commissions with key clients.
Committed to responsible design through positive collaboration, Louis champions design excellence across the entire project lifecycle. He pairs his creative vision with rigorous technical oversight, bringing extensive, hands-on expertise in Contract Administration and Principal Designer (CDM & BSA) roles.
The Collective
Kara de los Reyes
LIFE-CENTRED DESIGN CONSULTANT & PROJECT FACILITATOR
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BSc Arch M Arch PG Dip with 20+ years professional experience
Consultant Strategist, and facilitator working across design, architecture, and urban planning.
Founded TerraLupa to support the shift into resilient, life-centred outcomes in the built environment. Supporting ways of designing that restore relationships between people, place, and living systems.
How you add value?
Senior leadership experience through director and trustee roles held with Artspace Lifespace, the Association of Collaborative Design, and Land is Life, alongside teaching and examining across UK universities.What are you passionate about? Bringing into focus long-term environmental and social aspects often overlooked in conventional project delivery.
Terra Lupa
Alex Bell
ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGN CONSULTANT & ARCHITECT
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BSc (Hons) MArch ARB, RIBA CR, Certified Passivhaus Designer, L5 Retrofit Coordinator with 25+ years professional experience.
Director at Chapter 2 Architects
Retrofit West supplier and Trusted Professional.
Alex freelances for Bath & West Community Energy, is a Design West Panel Member and is involved in university research into Net Zero Construction Policies.
Environmental design consultancy for retrofitting homes or businesses, or for optimising new designs through performance-based energy modelling.
How you add value?
As a PAS2035 Retrofit Coordinator, I can produce a retrofit plan at the early stages of a project to identify the most appropriate energy efficiency measures and establish aspirational energy targets based on best practice.Peer reviews, technical audits and problem solving.
Other services include thermal imaging to identify heat loss, and energy modelling using PHPP to test designs against low-energy standards like Passivhaus. Modelling allows design optimisation for insulation levels, airtightness, glazing areas and shading.
Embodied carbon analysis on design options.
What are you passionate about?
Aspiring for well insulated and airtight buildings with good levels of ventilation. This not only leads to user comfort with low running costs but also good internal air quality and wider health benefits.Encouraging retrofit over new-build and enjoying the challenge of giving old buildings a new lease of life.
Harriet Watkins
INTERIOR ARCHITECT, DESIGN MANAGEMENT
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BA (Hons) Interior Architecture with 25+ years of experience
Director of Clear Future Architecture Ltd.
Freelance designer and consultant- Harriet Watkins Design Services
Project Lead within Workplace, Retail, Leisure, Residential and Education sectors.
Significant on site experience working as a Design Manager.
How you add value?
Approachability and proactivity to keep projects to programme and on budget. Brief focused response to design through attention to detail and methodical approach to each project.What are you passionate about?
Clear and open communication with the whole team from client, design team through to the boots on the ground
Mark Watkins
ARCHITECT
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BSc (Hons) Dip Arch ARB RIBA with 25+ years of professional experience
Director of Clear Future Architecture Ltd.
Lecturer in Architecture at the University of Bath.
Past President of The Bristol Society of Architects and Chair of Bristol and Bath branch of the RIBA.
How you add value?
Experience as a Design Director of a development company ensures I can design creatively to overcome financial, programme and technical constraints. Experience of navigating complex and lengthy planning processes to gain successful outcomes.What are you passionate about?
The benefits of thorough, rigorous and persistent evaluation of briefs to ensure the best design outcome for the client, the project and the budget.
Chloe Wynn
INTERIOR ARCHITECTURAL DESIGNER
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BA(Hons) with 14+ years professional experience.
Director at Maven Design Studio Ltd
Specialising in commercial - hospitality, leisure, workspace & civic Interior Design.
How you add value?
A strategic partner in design, rethinking the relationship between humans, business and the built environment, with a focus on elevating the user experience for long term success, beyond build phase metrics.A biophilic designer combining a sensory-led approach that reflects how people experience spaces practically, neurologically and psychologically.
Creative, deliverable solutions with collaborative, responsive service.
What are you passionate about?
The social legacy of thoughtfully designed buildings past, present and future in shaping communities and connecting people to place and nature, supporting wellbeing and resilience.Circular design that meaningfully extends beyond sustainability frameworks to tell unique stories.
Ben Gregory
ARCHITECTURAL DESIGNER
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BA (Hons) Architecture, MArch, PG Cert with 15+ years professional experience.
Project delivery within workplace, leisure, residential and cultural sectors.
BIM implementation, leading project team collaboration to deliver successfully coordinated projects.
How you add value?
With an expansive knowledge of BIM and Autodesk Revit, I am always looking for efficiencies by continually learning and keeping myself up-to-date with evolving technology.Going above and beyond expectations to offer the best possible service to clients.
What are you passionate about?
Creativity and attention to detail. Designing spaces that are not only visually appealing but also promote the well-being of those who experience them.
Tom Wall
ARCHITECT
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BSc M Arch PG Cert ARB RIBA
Director of Wall Architecture Ltd.
Residential work: High-end extensions, dwellings, conversions.
Listed Building Consent
Commercial work: refurbishments, extensions, sports facilities, schools, SEN provision.
How you add value?
An easy-to-work-with, no-nonsense Architect, offering a responsive design service. Guiding clients confidently through every phase of the design process.What are you passionate about?
Beautiful projects designed in a practical and buildable way.Wall Architecture
James Angus
ARCHITECTURAL TECHNOLOGIST
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BSc (Hons) Architectural Technology MCIAT with 20+ years of experience.
Director at Angus Design Ltd.
Technical design and delivery, with a strong focus on clear, coordinated and buildable information, supported by robust envelope design and detailing.
Over 20 years’ experience collaborating with prominent Bristol architectural practices alongside running an independent domestic practice.
How you add value?
Producing clear, co-ordinated, contractor-ready information that reduces RFIs and site issues while protecting programme and cost.Pragmatic navigation of complex fire, thermal, acoustic, and regulatory requirements, with early risk identification and proportionate solutions.
A focused, no-nonsense contributor within multi-disciplinary teams, strengthening technical delivery and adding value without unnecessary process
What are you passionate about?
Efficiency, clarity, and technical integrity. Well-resolved buildings that perform properly, are straightforward to construct, and stand up to real-world use.I value collaboration, shared problem-solving, and continuous improvement, particularly as technical requirements and delivery pressures continue to increase across the industry.
Jason Zhang
VISUALISER & ANIMATOR
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BA Urban Planning
Project Director at S+A
Leading Architectural 3D visualisation, animation production and AI assisted productions
How you add value?
Effective visual communication and enhancement of designer's original vision. Researching and integrating AI platforms, creating promotional-quality videos using AI-driven workflows.What are you passionate about?
I am enthusiastic about investigating the convergence of emerging AI technologies and traditional 3D visualisation to improve the communication of architectural concepts.
The Wider Network
ARCHITECTURAL DRAFTING
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Where required the Collective will also bring in our wider drafting teams to deliver specific packages of work or to upscale for intensive periods of technical drawing delivery.
These are trusted Delivery Partners ranging from sole practitioners to full scale architectural drafting studios.