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Milestone Architects

Architects in Accra

Greater Accra Region

A large part of the register is in Accra — houses, apartments and mixed use across Kanda, Trassaco, Dansoman, Tse Addo, Kwabenya, Kweiman, Weija, Oyarifa and Amasaman. The studio is in Kumasi, and the drive down is a routine part of running these jobs.

01

Orientation is the first constraint, not the last

Accra sits close to the equator, so the sun is high and the east and west elevations take the punishing low-angle load at either end of the day. A plan that puts habitable rooms on those faces without deep reveals or screens is committing the client to running air conditioning for the life of the building. We set orientation at Stage 2, before the plan is fixed, because it is almost impossible to correct later without losing floor area.

02

The sea breeze is a design instrument

The prevailing south-westerly comes off the Gulf of Guinea for most of the year. Cross-ventilation through a plan that is only one room deep, or that has an open circulation edge, does real work here — enough that several of our schemes run naturally ventilated circulation and only condition the rooms themselves.

03

Permitting runs through the local assembly

Building permits in Accra go through the relevant Metropolitan, Municipal or District Assembly, with the drawing set stamped by the licensed professionals. Getting the Stage 3 set genuinely coordinated before submission is what keeps a permit from coming back, which is the single most common cause of delay we see on jobs that arrive here from elsewhere.

04

Drainage and the two rainy seasons

The major season runs roughly April to July and the minor one September to November, and both arrive hard. Falls, gutters, downpipe sizing and the level of the ground floor above the surrounding grade are Stage 4 questions we would rather over-draw than under-draw.

On the register in Accra

Kanda Apartments, Apartments with rooftop lounge in Kanda, Accra

Kanda Apartments

Apartments with rooftop lounge

Trassaco Lantern, Private residence in Trassaco, Accra

Trassaco Lantern

Private residence

Shifted Planes, Private residence in Dansoman, Accra

Shifted Planes

Private residence

The Loggia House, Private residence in Kwabenya, Accra

The Loggia House

Private residence

Kweiman Cove, Private residence in Kweiman, Accra

Kweiman Cove

Private residence

Tse Addo House, Private residence in Tse Addo, Accra

Tse Addo House

Private residence

Weija Terraces, Apartments in Weija, Accra

Weija Terraces

Apartments

Oyarifa Apartments, Apartments in Oyarifa, Accra

Oyarifa Apartments

Apartments

The Porthole House, Private residence in Amasaman, Accra

The Porthole House

Private residence

EV Pavilion, Showroom and mixed use in Accra

EV Pavilion

Showroom and mixed use

Before you appoint anyone

Do I need an architect to build a house in Ghana?

For anything beyond the simplest structure, yes — and in practice you need one to get a building permit at all. A permit application to a Metropolitan, Municipal or District Assembly in Ghana has to be supported by a proper drawing set prepared and signed off by the relevant licensed professionals. Beyond the legal requirement, the value of an architect is decided long before the permit: orientation, the section, and the depth of a shading device determine whether the finished building is comfortable without machinery, and those decisions cannot be corrected later without losing floor area.

How much does an architect cost in Ghana?

Architectural fees in Ghana are usually structured one of three ways: as a percentage of the final construction cost, as a lump sum agreed against a defined scope, or as a fee per RIBA work stage so that a client can stop, review and re-commit at each one. Which is appropriate depends on how well-defined the brief is at the outset — a project with a settled brief suits a lump sum, while one still being tested suits stage-by-stage. Milestone Architects quotes against a written scope after the first meeting, so the figure is tied to a specific set of deliverables rather than to a percentage of a number nobody knows yet.

All questions

Building in Accra? Start at Stage 0.

Milestone Architects works throughout Ghana from the studio in Kumasi. Tell us where the site is and roughly what you want to do with it — that is enough to begin.

Enquire