General Data Protection Regulation (EU) 2016/679

PRIVACY NOTICE: YOUR PERSONAL DATA

We need to tell you about the types of data we process about you, what we do with your data, and why we do it. The purpose of this Notice is to provide you (whether you are a client or other third party) with helpful information in this regard. If you have any questions, or if you want any further information, you can contact us using the details below.

WHAT TYPES OF DATA DO WE PROCESS?

We process personal data about lots of different categories of people, including our clients, people involved in matters we act on for our clients, people we or our staff have relationships with, and other third parties who interact with us (either directly or through our website).

Because of the nature of the services we provide, the types of data we process can be quite varied, but will usually include full names, contact details, and associated client information.  Depending on the nature of our relationship with you, we may also process information about your business and company affiliations; identification (including copies of your passport); financial affairs; family, lifestyle and social circumstances; education and employment background; the services we provide you or your company; your preferences (including when visiting our offices); your relationship with our staff; the goods or service you or your company provide us; and your use of our website.

In some circumstances we may process special categories of personal data about you, in which case we take particular care to only process such data in accordance with the strict legal parameters.  This type of data can include information about your health (including information you provide about your dietary requirements when attending meetings).

We may obtain such personal data from you directly, from our clients, from third parties involved in matters we act on for our clients, and from other third parties (including publicly available information).

Where you are our client, it will sometimes be necessary for you to provide us with information directly, and in those cases it is your responsibility to ensure that all such information is complete in all material respects and not misleading.  The accuracy and appropriateness of our advice may be affected as a consequence of your failure to do so.  If any information changes, please let us know so that we can keep it updated on our systems.

WHAT DO WE DO WITH YOUR DATA?

We process personal data for the purpose of providing architectural, interior design, principal designer, project management and other related services to our clients and also for our own general business purposes including (without limitation):

• fraud prevention and for the prevention or detection of crime;
• ensuring the safety and security of our people and premises (where we also use CCTV);
• disclosures to our auditors, our own legal and other professional advisors, our insurers and insurance brokers;
• administering our clients’ accounts with us, including providing billing services and tracing and collecting any debts;
• applications or software, and general improvement of our services;
• advertising, marketing and public relations, including sending you direct marketing communications (insofar as we are permitted by law).

WHAT BASIS DO WE HAVE FOR PROCESSING YOUR DATA?

We will only process your personal data where we have a lawful basis for doing so. In general, our lawful basis will be one of more of the following:

• that the processing is necessary for the performance of a contract to which you are party or in order to take steps at your request prior to entering a contract;
• that the processing is necessary for compliance with our legal obligations;
• that the processing is necessary for the purposes of pursuing our legitimate interests (this includes carrying out the business of providing architectural, interior design, principal designer, project management and other relevant services and pursuing our general business interests); and
• In addition, in some circumstances we may process personal data on the basis that you have provided your express consent, for example, through instructing us on a matter (including, in some instances, in respect of special categories of personal data about you.

Please note that you have the right to withdraw any such consent, which you can do by getting in touch with us using the contact details below.

WHO DO WE SHARE YOUR DATA WITH?

In providing services to our clients and in complying with our legal obligations, we may share the personal data that we obtain about you, insofar as we are permitted by law to do so, with the following third parties:

• third parties involved in any project, including (without limitation); project team members, local authorities, statutory bodies, contractors, and suppliers and others, where deemed necessary, to allow works to the project to be completed.
• suppliers and service providers used by us in providing services, details of which can be made available on request, including (without limitation) postal services, document storage facilities, front of house teams and IT service providers such as cloud providers of software as a service, project intranet providers and providers of our IT servers;
• financial organisations, debt collection, credit reference and tracing agencies;
• our auditors, our own legal and other professional advisors, our insurers and insurance brokers;
• government agencies, regulators and other authorities (including (without limitation) the Information Commissioner and Ombudsmen); and
• our and your trade associations, professional bodies and business associates.

HOW LONG DO WE KEEP YOUR DATA?

We keep personal data in accordance with our internal retention procedures, which are determined in accordance with our regulatory obligations and good practice. These retention periods depend on the nature of the information (for example, we apply different retention periods to our staff information as opposed to information on our client files), and are subject to change.  Project data is generally retained for 15 years.

If you have any questions in this regard, or any concerns about how long we keep your information for, please contact us at: info@a10architects.com

YOUR USE OF OUR WEBSITE: COOKIES

There are a few specific details we want to provide you with when you use our website, particularly in relation to Cookies.

A Cookie is a small file downloaded on to your computer or device when you access certain websites. Generally Cookies identify you through your IP address and do not collect information about your identity.

For more information about Cookies please visit

www.allaboutcookies.org or www.youronlinechoices.org

Cookies allow us to distinguish you from other users of our website and help us to provide you with a good experience when you browse our website and also allow us to improve our website.

We use Cookies for the purposes of:

• understanding what brought you to our website and what pages you visited;
• remembering you when you return to our website; and
• providing you with safe restricted access areas.

You can manage Cookies by changing your browser settings to block or delete cookies. To find out how, visit www.allaboutcookies.org. Please note that if you block all cookies you may not be able to access parts of our website.

All rights reserved. Extracts may be copied with prior permission and provided their source is acknowledged.  This document is for general information only.  It is not legal advice and should not be acted or relied on as being so, accordingly A10 Architects Ltd disclaims any responsibility.  It does not create a architect/designer-client relationship between A10 Architects Ltd and any other person. Legal advice should be taken before applying any information in this document to any facts and circumstances.

WHAT ARE YOUR RIGHTS?

You have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner in respect of our processing of your personal data.

Information can be found at www.ICO.org.uk. If you would like to raise your complaint with us in the first instance, please contact us.

You have rights under data protection laws to request from us access to, rectification of, or erasure of your personal data. You also have the right to request the restriction of any processing or to object to our processing of your personal data. Finally, you have the right to data portability. Please use the contact details below to exercise your rights. You can find more information about your rights at www.ICO.org.uk.

HOW CAN YOU CONTACT US?

You can get in touch with us, and in relation to any data protection queries, by emailing us at: info@a10architects.com