Sonor is the technical partner Cheshire architects bring in at concept stage to make sure smart home, AV, cinema and lighting are designed into the building rather than retrofitted around it. Family-run since 2003, 500+ projects, frictionless to work with.
Because the alternative is your client adding smart home and AV after handover and discovering it costs three times what it would have done if the cabling, riser positions and containment had been specified in the first place. We've watched that movie many times. The earlier we're at the table, the cleaner — and cheaper — the build.
Our role at concept stage is technical-bridge. We'll attend a design meeting at your office or on site — no fee — and produce a written summary of the smart-home / AV / cinema / lighting opportunities for the project. We'll flag where containment needs to go, where to put the network cabinet, what circuits the lighting needs, and what the budget envelopes look like. From there, you and the client decide what's in scope, what's parked, and how to brief the M&E and electricians.
One meeting at concept — usually at your office. We listen, sketch, and follow up with a clear written summary your team can use directly.
We produce containment drawings, cable schedules, and equipment lists in the formats your contractor and M&E engineers expect. We don't slow your tender pack.
On site through first-fix to coordinate with the electricians, plumbers and structural team — cable routes, back-boxes, plant-room positions all sorted before close-up.
We install, programme, calibrate and hand over directly to the client — with your design intent preserved. Your client thanks you, not us.
Post-handover, we own the relationship with the homeowner for ongoing support — so your phone doesn't ring in 2 years asking how the cinema works.
The client contracts directly with Sonor for the install. You're not in the middle of the commercial chain, you don't carry the risk, and we'll happily attend client meetings with you when useful.
£1M+ residential new builds, full renovations, listed-building conversions, barn conversions, coastal properties with sea-view AV requirements. The clean projects are the ones where the smart home is part of the architectural concept — keypads that suit the joinery, speakers that disappear into the ceiling design, cinema rooms where the architecture is the cinema, not a black box bolted on. We design to fit, not the other way round.
Architect projects across Chester, Wilmslow, Alderley Edge, Knutsford, Prestbury, Tarporley, Heswall, Caldy, West Kirby, Hoylake, Llandudno, Conwy, Abersoch and surrounding areas. For larger projects we travel further — Liverpool, Manchester, Greater Cheshire, mid-Wales.
If you've got a project on the boards and you'd like us to come in for a concept meeting, we'd love to. Email projects@sonor.co.uk with a sentence about the project and we'll get straight back. See also our design partners network and our consultancy service.
Drawings and schedules in a form your team can build from: cable routes and outlet positions, rack and containment locations, ceiling and wall fitting positions for speakers and screens, lighting-control layouts and keypad positions. We attend design meetings, coordinate first-fix with the electrical contractor, and test before plastering. Second-fix, programming and handover follow when the house is ready, and aftercare is direct with the client.
Concept or developed design — before electrical layouts are fixed. That's when cable routes and fitting positions can be resolved without compromise.
Cabling and outlet drawings, rack and containment locations, speaker and screen positions, lighting-control layouts and keypad schedules.
Yes — we agree first-fix scope with the electrician, attend site for coordination and test installed cabling before plastering.
Architect-led residential — new builds, major renovations and listed or period properties where installations need to be discreet.
We do, directly with the client, independent of the design team.