The current business was started by Roger Bettle and took its first instruction for the preparation of plans detailing internal alterations to form a bathroom in May 1961, for which Roger charged a grand sum of 5 guineas. Roger Bettle worked on his own developing the business for the next 20 years until in 1984 following a sudden illness, Roger had to call on the services of a friend Gordon Feather to help keep things going whilst he recovered. Gordon was an Architectural Technician and upon Rogers return to work remained with the practice. Roger and Gordon operated the business from a small suite of first floor offices in Ringwood High Street and undertook a range of services in the domestic, commercial and educational sector with clients such as such as Homefield School, Ringwood Brewery and The Homelands Community Centre. As the workload increased Roger and Gordon needed to take on additional staff so in January 1988 they took on Carol Kerley.
The expansion of the business took a further leap in 1989 when Roger and Gordon joined forces with Dick Sheerin an architect who had been working for a number of years in Local Government to form a partnership, and it was at this point that the practice name became ‘Sheerin Bettle and Associates’.
The business moved from the High Street premises to a recently refurbished office in Christchurch Road which enabled Roger to open an art gallery on the ground floor with the architectural and surveying practice operating from the two upper floors. Unfortunately no sooner had the practice moved to the new premises the country entered into a recession. The next few years were difficult but despite the challenges the broad base of experience enabled the practice to see through the hard times of the early 1990’s with an increasing client base and range of projects. During the 1990s the practice expanded its educational portfolio taking on new build and alteration projects at Moyles Court School, Ringwood School and St Peters School. Whilst continuing to offer Design services to domestic clients on both large and small projects.
In 1995 Gordon Feather retired and for a while the practice continued with Dick, Roger and Carol. In 1998 Kevin Jones joined the practice which coincided with Rogers’s announcement that he would also be retiring. With the advances in technology the ever evolving demands of the modern construction industry it soon became evident that the practice needed more space.
In 2005 the opportunity arose for the practice to convert an adjacent property comprising of a 17 Century Grade II listed building formally a Malt house into a new office, which would provide the practice with the space and facilities required by a modern Architectural Practice. The works on the new office were complete in February 2006 just in time for the proposed move.
The move to the new office allowed the practice to further develop the use of Auto Cad whilst retaining the traditional skills of hand drawing. Sheerin Bettle and Associates continues to provide a full range of services to domestic and non domestic clients both locally and regionally.