The starting point
Three partners left larger practices to set up Kestrel Grove together, deliberately choosing not to take an office. The plan was to work from home and from site, meeting clients where it suited them — which meant the practice needed shared, reliable access to CAD and BIM software and a single source of truth for drawings and models from the very start.
Without that, the partners were passing files around by whichever method was quickest, running CAD locally on whatever laptop each of them owned, and knowing that would fall apart the moment they hired their first member of staff.
Understanding before building
We talked through the practice's software before anything else: which CAD and BIM packages they'd standardised on, typical project file sizes, and — critically — the GPU performance Revit modelling actually needs, since that's the detail that gets underestimated most often when firms move design work off local machines.
We also talked through hiring plans, so the environment could be sized for three partners today without needing rework the day they took on their first architectural assistant.
What we built
We deployed a GPU-backed Remote Desktop Services (RDS) environment with FSLogix profile containers, purpose-sized for CAD and BIM work rather than a standard office desktop. AutoCAD and Revit run centrally, drawings and models live in one managed location, and any partner can pick up exactly where another left off, from any device.
GPU-backed for CAD & BIM
Sized specifically for Revit and heavy modelling work, not a generic desktop stretched to cope.
One source of truth for files
Drawings and models live on infrastructure we look after directly, rather than passed between laptops.
No hardware to buy
No workstations, no studio server — just a hosted environment the practice connects to from wherever they're working.
Grows with the practice
The first architectural assistant, and every hire after, is added as a user — not a new machine to source and configure.
Starting from a blank page
As with any practice starting from nothing, there was no old system to migrate away from — the work was building the right environment before the partners' current, ad hoc way of sharing files caused a real problem on a live project.
Discovery & planning
CAD/BIM software, typical file sizes and GPU requirements mapped, alongside the partners' hiring plans.
Build
GPU-backed RDS environment designed and deployed with FSLogix, sized for three partners with headroom to add staff.
CAD, BIM & project software configured
AutoCAD, Revit and document control software installed, licensed and configured, with existing project files brought in centrally.
Live from day one
The practice began working from a single shared environment immediately, with support in place as they've hired since.
The result
Kestrel Grove runs entirely on hosted infrastructure they don't have to think about — no studio server, no workstations to maintain, and no risk of a laptop failure taking a live project's drawings with it. The partners work from wherever suits the day, and adding new staff as they win work is a five-minute job rather than a hardware order.