01Who we are
YAK Design & Construction (“YAK”, “we”, “us”) is an architectural design and construction studio based in Central London, serving clients across London. For the purposes of the UK General Data Protection Regulation (“UK GDPR”) and the Data Protection Act 2018, we are the controller of the personal data described in this policy.
If you have any question about this policy or about how we handle your information, contact us at berhandogan@yakarchitecture.com or on +44 7391 750674.
02What this policy covers
This policy applies to personal data we handle when you:
- visit this website;
- contact us by phone, email or in person about a project;
- become a client and we design, obtain approvals for, build or maintain a property for you;
- work with us as a supplier, subcontractor, consultant or other business contact.
It does not cover websites operated by others that we may link to. Their own policies apply.
03The information we collect
Information you give us. When you enquire or become a client we typically handle:
- identity and contact details, such as your name, phone number, email address and postal address;
- details of the property and the project, including its address, ownership or tenancy position, your brief, budget and timescale;
- documents and images you send us, such as existing drawings, surveys, title plans, photographs and planning history;
- records of our correspondence, meetings, proposals, contracts, instructions and decisions made during the project;
- invoicing and payment records. We do not store payment card details.
Information we create or obtain during a project. This includes measured surveys, photographs of the property taken for design and record purposes, drawings, specifications, structural calculations, site reports and inspection records. Some of this information identifies you or your home.
Information from other sources. Where it is needed for your project we may receive information from local planning authorities, building control bodies, HM Land Registry, utility providers, engineers, surveyors and other professionals acting for you.
Information collected when you use this website. This website has no contact form, no user accounts, no analytics and no advertising trackers, and it does not set cookies. As with almost every website, the servers that host it may automatically record technical information such as your IP address, browser type, the pages requested and the date and time, in order to deliver the pages and keep the service secure.
Special category data. We do not ask for sensitive information. Occasionally a brief involves it, for example where a home is being adapted for a health or mobility need. We only use such information to design and deliver what you have asked for, and only with your explicit consent.
04How we use your information and our lawful bases
We only use personal data where the law allows it. The table below sets out our main purposes and the lawful basis for each.
- Responding to your enquiry, arranging a site visit and preparing a proposal. Lawful basis: taking steps at your request before entering into a contract.
- Designing, obtaining approvals for, building, supervising and handing over your project. Lawful basis: performance of our contract with you.
- Submitting planning, Building Regulations and licensing applications on your behalf. Lawful basis: performance of our contract with you, and compliance with legal obligations.
- Invoicing, accounting and tax records. Lawful basis: performance of a contract and compliance with legal obligations.
- Health and safety, building safety and quality records. Lawful basis: compliance with legal obligations and our legitimate interest in being able to show that work was carried out properly.
- Managing our relationships with suppliers and subcontractors. Lawful basis: performance of a contract and our legitimate interest in running our business.
- Keeping this website secure and available. Lawful basis: our legitimate interest in operating a safe website.
- Establishing, exercising or defending legal claims. Lawful basis: our legitimate interests.
- Showing a project in our portfolio, on this website or in other marketing. Lawful basis: your consent, which we will always ask for in writing and which you can refuse or withdraw at any time.
Where we rely on legitimate interests, we have considered whether those interests are overridden by your rights and concluded that they are not. You can ask us for more information about that assessment.
05Confidentiality of your project
We sign a confidentiality agreement with every client. We do not disclose who our clients are, what we have built for them or where, and we never share images of a home without the owner’s permission. For that reason the photographs on this website are illustrative and do not show our clients’ homes.
This commitment sits alongside your legal rights under data protection law. It does not prevent the disclosures that a project legally requires, which are described in the next section.
06Who we share information with
We never sell personal data. We share it only where that is necessary for the purposes above, with:
- Certified specialists and subcontractors working on your project, who receive only what they need to carry out their trade;
- Consultants appointed for your project, such as structural engineers, surveyors, party wall surveyors and approved inspectors;
- Local planning authorities, building control bodies and licensing teams, when we make applications for you;
- Suppliers and manufacturers, for example to arrange deliveries to your property;
- Professional advisers and insurers, including our accountants, lawyers and insurance providers;
- Service providers that host this website, our email and our files, acting on our instructions;
- HM Revenue & Customs, regulators, courts and law enforcement, where we are legally required to do so.
Planning applications are public. When a planning application is made, the local authority normally publishes the application, the site address and the drawings on its public planning register. We will explain what will become public before an application is submitted.
07International transfers
We are based in the United Kingdom and aim to keep your information here. Some of our service providers may process data in other countries. Where personal data is transferred outside the UK, we make sure it is protected by an appropriate safeguard, such as a transfer to a country covered by UK adequacy regulations or the International Data Transfer Agreement approved by the Information Commissioner.
08How long we keep information
We keep personal data only for as long as it is needed for the purpose it was collected for, including any legal, accounting or reporting requirement. In deciding how long that is, we consider the nature of the information, the legal periods during which a claim could be brought, and our duties under tax and building legislation.
- Enquiries that do not lead to a project are kept for a limited period in case you come back to us, and then deleted.
- Project records, including contracts, drawings, approvals and site records, are kept for the period in which questions or claims about the work could arise. For building work this can be many years after completion.
- Financial and tax records are kept for at least six years, as required by law.
- Server logs are kept for a short period for security purposes.
When information is no longer needed we delete it securely or anonymise it. You can ask us for the specific period that applies to your information.
09How we protect information
We use technical and organisational measures appropriate to the sensitivity of the information we hold. These include restricting access to project files to the people who need them, using password-protected and encrypted systems, requiring confidentiality from our team and our subcontractors, and sharing with third parties only the minimum information needed.
No method of transmission or storage is completely secure. If a personal data breach occurs that is likely to affect your rights and freedoms, we will tell you and the Information Commissioner’s Office as the law requires.
10Your rights
Under UK data protection law you have the right to:
- be informed about how your data is used, which is the purpose of this policy;
- access the personal data we hold about you;
- rectification of inaccurate or incomplete data;
- erasure of your data in certain circumstances;
- restrict how we use your data in certain circumstances;
- object to processing based on legitimate interests, and to direct marketing at any time;
- data portability, meaning a copy of data you provided in a commonly used format, where processing is based on contract or consent and carried out by automated means;
- withdraw consent at any time where we rely on it, without affecting processing already carried out.
We do not make decisions about you using solely automated processing or profiling.
To exercise any of these rights, write to berhandogan@yakarchitecture.com. There is normally no charge. We may need to confirm your identity, and we will respond within one month, or tell you if the request is complex and we need longer.
11Marketing
We do not send marketing emails or messages to people who have not asked for them, and we do not pass contact details to anyone else for marketing. If we contact you about our services after a project and you would rather we did not, tell us and we will stop.
12Children
Our services and this website are intended for adults. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children. If you believe a child has given us personal data, contact us and we will delete it.
13Complaints
If you are unhappy with how we have handled your personal data, please contact us first at berhandogan@yakarchitecture.com so that we can try to put it right.
You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office, the UK regulator for data protection: ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint, telephone 0303 123 1113.
14Changes to this policy
We review this policy regularly and will update it when our practices or the law change. The date at the top of the page shows when it was last revised. If a change significantly affects how we use information we already hold about you, we will tell you directly.
This policy is published in English and Turkish. If there is any difference between the two versions, the English version applies.