Intelligence for the built world.
We don’t design the space. We build the intelligence that helps people design, build and renovate it better.
The gap
It's everything that happens between the experts.
1.617 works alongside owners, architects, interior designers, decorators, builders, contractors and specialist trades. The expertise is almost never the problem.
- Information lives in different places.
- Drawings change.
- Specifications evolve.
- Quotes are difficult to compare.
- Costs move.
- Decisions create consequences elsewhere.
- Responsibilities become unclear.
- Small misunderstandings become expensive problems.
So we build the thing that keeps it all in agreement.
What changes
- Everyone is reading the same drawing.
- Three quotes can be read side by side.
- A price has a reason attached to it.
- A problem surfaces while it is still cheap.
- A decision reaches the people it affects.
- Less is built twice.
The intelligence between the drawings
We don't replace the experts. We connect them.
Architects design. Builders build. Owners decide, hundreds of times. We read what passes between them:
Drawings · Specifications · Schedules · Budgets · Quotes · Bids · Contracts · Product selections · Requirements · Project plans · Changes · Decisions
A drawing, a quote and an email rarely disagree loudly. They disagree quietly, in different places, and nobody notices until somebody is standing on site. Reading them together is work a machine is good at.
Not another place to log tasks.A project that knows what it contains.
Everything is connected
Everything is connected. We help you see it before it becomes a problem.
A project is presented as a sequence.
Clarity before commitment
Understand what you're agreeing to.
- What changed?
- What does it affect?
- Is it included?
- Are these quotations actually comparable?
- What is missing?
- What happens to the budget?
- What happens to the programme?
- Who needs to know?
- What needs a decision now?
Ordinary questions. They shouldn’t take a week and three phone calls to answer.
Fairer by design
Compare like with like.
Owners often receive proposals and quotations that are extremely difficult to compare.
- Different scope.
- Different assumptions.
- Different exclusions.
- Different specifications.
- Different allowances.
- Different ways of presenting cost.
Not simply: which number is lowest?But: what am I actually getting for that number?
Comparable numbers make for a better conversation. The good builder stops being punished for pricing honestly.
Cost with context
Every decision has a consequence.
- Change the material.
- Change the specification.
- Change the supplier.
- Change the scope.
- Change the programme.
The system helps reveal what moves with it.
Cost becomes part of the decision,not the surprise after it.
Risk, earlier
Problems are cheaper before they become physical.
- a missing detail
- an assumption
- a discrepancy
- an unresolved decision
- a specification that doesn't match a drawing
- a quotation that excludes something everyone thought was included
- a requirement discovered too late
Intelligence won’t remove risk from a project. It gives teams a better chance of seeing problems while there is still time to act.
Human expertise
The human in the ratio.
1.617 is not trying to automate architects, designers, builders or specialist professionals out of the process. Their expertise is the point.
Technology handles
information · comparison · coordination · visibility · dependencies
People retain
judgement · creativity · experience · craft · relationships · accountability
Where Places applies
Retail
From planning to experience.
Stores · Flagships · Showrooms · Rollouts · Refurbishments · Commercial environments
Restaurants & F&B
From operation to atmosphere.
Restaurants · Bars · Cafés · Refurbishments · New openings · Multi-site programmes
Hospitality
From operation to atmosphere.
Hotels · Guest spaces · Restaurants & bars · Public spaces · Refurbishments · New openings
It works the same way anywhere a lot of people, drawings and money have to arrive at the same place on the same day.
We are not the architect. We are not the interior designer. We are not the builder.We build the intelligence between them.
So great ideas have a better chance of becoming great places.