Quality Policy

Hyphen’s ambition is to become the world’s best-connected network of owner-led architectural offices, offering the highest level of service to our clients worldwide, and competing on a global stage in our chosen sectors.  This commitment is supported by our values and is essential to our continued growth and success.

We stand for quality.  Our accountability to quality is vital to all we do.  We are committed to the continual improvement of our services and towards satisfying all the applicable requirements of our certification to ISO 9001:2015, which also supports our Quality Management System (QMS).

We not only strive to meet, or exceed, the needs of our clients and other primary stakeholders, we go the ‘extra mile’ by continually reviewing and improving our QMS to enhance performance, increase client satisfaction and achieve our company’s goals and quality objectives.  We care about the details and in everything that we do, we are proud to say, “we did that”.

The scope of the QMS covers the core services we provide, including Full Architectural, Project Management, and Principal Designer Services.

Through our QMS we check that reasonable skill, care and efficiency is exercised in every aspect of the services we provide. The QMS is continually monitored by our Quality Managers, our Associate – Technical Standards and the COO to ensure its effectiveness through auditing, reporting and review. Quality Management Review Reports are carried out at planned intervals and are reported to the board of directors.  Any recommendations for changes or improvements are then advised to the board.  We continually strive to do better and learn from our experiences.

Specific procedures identify how the QMS is implemented, these are identified in the Quality Framework.

Our Quality Objectives are:

  • To ensure that all our services are of the highest professional standard.
  • To ensure that checking systems are in place to monitor quality and consistency.
  • To meet agreed timeframes.
  • To produce all services within the budgets agreed.
  • To ensure Client expectations are met through a process of evaluating feedback leading to continual improvement.

We also seek to establish annual quality objectives as appropriate and the quality managers measure our progress against these.

The directors of Hyphen hold ultimate responsibility to review the QMS, formulating this policy and providing the necessary resources to implement it effectively. The Quality Managers ensure that the QMS conforms to BS EN ISO 9001:2015. We ensure that we comply with all applicable statutory and regulatory requirements, and that this is understood by everyone at Hyphen. We take ownership and we expect every employee to share this dedication to quality and play their part in maintaining and improving quality.

The Quality Policy is accessible to all employees through our intranet ‘Hi’ and on our website for all external parties.  Everyone receives periodic instruction and awareness training of the Quality Policy and QMS.  Conforming to the requirements of the QMS is mandatory for employees and for external suppliers where their service affects our QMS.

We work with the best. Our suppliers are aware of their effective contribution towards the success of the service provided by us. They are appointed on the understanding that their performance is reviewed and monitored and that their appointment status may be affected by not conforming to the relevant requirements of our QMS.

Our uncompromising commitment to quality is essential to our success and we work in an environment that is motivated by continuous improvement and is consistent with our values.

 

Policy last reviewed: 21 December 2022
Next review due: 20 December 2023