Our History

The Plan Centre was established more than forty years ago by founder, Cliff Princehorn.

Since its humble beginnings, the Plan Centre has grown to become one of the most recognised and respected Building Design practices in the Hunter region, with a steady stream of repeat clients, and word of mouth referrals. 

While Cliff has moved into a new stage of life, and now spends much of his time flying airplanes, our current Designers have the skills and experience to turn your initial ideas into a building design, for which we can subsequently obtain all relevant development approvals, and prepare construction documentation that will transform your ideas into reality.

What is a Building Designer?

We are often asked about the differences between Building Designers and Architects.

Realistically, Building Designers and Architects perform very similar jobs.  Both design and document buildings; and both can be involved throughout the entire life of the project, from the initial concept right through to overseeing construction.  The major difference is that in order to be called an Architect, it is a requirement to be registered with the NSW Architects Registration Board.  Many architecturally trained professionals are not registered with the board and choose to work instead as Building Designers, and our office currently employs several graduates of Architecture.

The most important factor in selecting a Design Professional is to ensure that you feel comfortable with them.  We aim to achieve this by establishing a dialogue early in the process, to discuss your wants and needs and determine how best to transform them into reality.  This is the key to our success, and has resulted in many of our clients coming back to undertake additional projects, as well as many of their friends who have been referred to us for this very reason.