Ottawa designer Chuck Mills has joined renovator Amsted Design-Build as director of design, formalizing a collaboration between the two that stretches back almost 20 years.
The announcement comes on the heels of the release of finalists for the Greater Ottawa Home Builders’ Association’s Housing Design Awards, which take place in October. Amsted is a six-time winner of the Renovator of the Year award while Chuck Mills Design has twice won top honours at the prestigious event. Both are finalists for 2017 in special achievement categories: Amsted as Renovator of the Year; and, with Chuck Mills, as Designer of the Year.
Amsted and Mills have also each won awards at the national and provincial levels, often for projects on which they worked together.
Amsted president Steve Barkhouse says there are multiple reasons for bringing Mills into the company fold, including “his passion, creativity and knowledge” and the fact that Mills “considers streetscape and the personality of the home, and he carefully and creatively peels back the layers of design to find the best, most cost-effective solution. Chuck cares about every project as if it were his own home.”
Mills says that one of the attractions of joining Amsted is that “Steve afforded me the luxury to run the department as I see fit … and concentrate on things I think I’m best at.” He says that includes one of his favourite occupations: mentoring younger designers. After decades on his own, he’s also discovered that a team atmosphere is “fun.”
Just as importantly, he and Barkhouse think exactly the same way about the product and service they deliver and the relationship they have with clients. “If we do a good job, the referrals just keep coming. That was true when I was on my own and it absolutely is true now, tenfold, at Amsted.”
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