Edinburgh’s New Town. The East Lothian coast. The hills of Perthshire. For more than 30 years, Somner Macdonald Architects has designed enduring homes across some of Scotland’s most demanding settings

Somner Macdonald Architects is led by Tom Armistead and Seán Gaule, whose combined 35 years of experience in heritage, new-build and contemporary residential design brings expertise to every project.

The team remains small and senior-led — by choice. “It keeps us close to the work, from first sketch to final handover, and close to the people we design for,” says director architect Tom Armistead. “Our projects range from bespoke new builds to sensitive refurbishments and extensions, many within Scotland’s most characterful settings; listed buildings, conservation areas and complex planning contexts across Edinburgh and beyond.”

Whether the location is a tight urban plot or an expansive rural site, Somner Macdonald’s approach stays consistent: understand the place first, then design with purpose. “We gravitate to architecture that is expressive but restrained,” says Tom. “Calm, coherent spaces, shaped by considered proportions and tactile materials, attuned to how people actually live. Nothing loud for its own sake, just rooms that feel resolved, and homes that age timelessly.”

Sustainability is built into both material and method, with passive, low-energy principles applied wherever the brief allows. This approach has been recognised with a RIAS Award, among others, for the restoration of a Category A listed property in Edinburgh’s New Town. “For us, though, the real measure of success is simpler: a home that suits the people living in it, fits its setting and lasts,” explains Tom.

Collaboration sits at the centre of Somner Macdonald’s process. The team works closely with clients, craftspeople and consultants throughout, treating every project as a shared undertaking rather than a one-way brief. It’s an approach that has kept clients returning across multiple projects and, in several cases, multiple decades.

Somner Macdonald is, at heart, a practice built on continuity; of relationships, of standards and of care for the places it is trusted to shape. “Three decades in, that hasn’t changed — and we don’t expect it to,” says Tom proudly.

 Visit the Somner Macdonald website | Follow Somner Madonald on Instagram 

See Somner Macdonald’s work in context: this B-listed mansion in Barnton was something of a unicorn project for the team.

This B-listed mansion in Barnton is something of a unicorn project