When Lisa Haywood and Lee Stutt look back at the beginnings of Stutt Associates, there is a sense that the firm was always going to happen.

A building designed by architects inevitably says something about its occupants, but VESP Architects’ new office in Ashburton goes further: it is a working demonstration of the ideas the practice has spent two decades developing for its clients.

If you didn’t know it was there, you’d miss it. It’s a place that has a literal high-street presence but manages to hide itself behind heavy wooden double doors and a metal plaque that hints at what’s within.