I am a partner in a two partner practice based in Anglesey, North Wales.

Both my partner and myself were Design Officers/Contract Administrators in a North Wales Health Trust working on schemes from £50k to £1m and we had both expressed an interest in moving out on our own into the commercial sector. In January 2003 we did so forming the practice WM Design Partnership. At this time my partner was a Chartered Member of the Institute and we made a conscious decision to move the practice in the direction of CIAT direction. I had previously gained a BA Hons Arch in architecture school but never progressed it passed the Part II stage.

In July 2003, I was accepted as a profile candidate of the Institute and commenced the route towards Chartered Membership via the Professional Occupational Performance (POP) Record route. As the practice had a mixture of commercial, health and private schemes ongoing it was reasonably easy to keep a full diary for the POP Record. In any office based examination it is imperative to keep a record of all meetings, discussions and this methodology fits in well with the POP scheme.

In December 2005, I attended the Professional Practice Interview and succeeded in achieving Chartered Membership, MCIAT.

Details of scheme worked on since the practice formed:

• Bangor, New Clinical School and main entrance, £2.2m 
• Black Shed, Aberdyfi, New Outward Bounds Centre, £1.2m
• New houses, Rhosgadfan, New houses, £200K
• Primary Health Care Centre, Nefyn, proposed new health facility, £1.4m
• Housing exception sites, Gwynedd, proposed housing sites in National Park, £600K