Tell us about your family business.
The story behind Fore Design and Flex Planning began in our dining room in 1990 when it was started by my parents, John and Miriam Ashcroft. Initially focused on residential projects, we grew through letterbox marketing and word of mouth.
Over the past 35 years, the business grew and evolved to become Beyond Ink with a focus on commercial development and high-end residential, offering multiple and varied services and skillsets.
As of February 2025, we have entered our next chapter as two separate entities, Fore Design and Flex Planning with a combined team of 16 people. We currently have two generations working in the business with myself, Jordana Ashcroft O’Sullivan (second generation) as the General Manager of both Fore Design and Flex Planning.
Fore Design is a commercial and residential design practice with a skilled team of Architects, designers and construction professionals working collaboratively to ensure a thorough and balanced outcome at every stage of a project–from concept to completion. We pride ourselves on delivering high quality outcomes with emphasis on design excellence and innovation. Collaboration is at the core of all we do, our team-driven approach allows us to produce exceptional commercial and residential developments.
Flex Planning is an agile approach to town planning. Offering a broad range of specialist planning services to suit commercial, residential and complex developments throughout South Australia with expert advice and support every step of the way. This new chapter provides both Fore Design and Flex Planning with more independent direction anda fresh focus. We’re really excited for what’s to come!
What has been your greatest success?
Like any business we’ve had high highs and low lows, but I would say our greatest success overall is our mindset. Through it all we’ve remained driven, to get through more challenging times and to get better and better at what we do. In that, we’ve also always been open minded, I don’t think we’ve ever said “because that’s the way we’ve always done it”. We’re always open to new ideas, concepts, ways of working and are willing to give things a try and embrace change... knowing that not every idea will be a winner.
What do you value about FBA?
We honestly had no idea what we were getting into at first! John and I attended a lunch centred around emerging generations and succession in family businesses, where everyone kept mentioning FBA and the upcoming conference. Three weeks later we were on a plane to the FBA Conference in Cairns (baby in tow)–still no idea of what to expect but with a “what’s the worst that could happen?” attitude. We were blown away by the stories, ideas, and how open everyone was. Suddenly, we were in a room where people were being referred to as “Mum and Dad” rather than by name which felt quite strange to me.
What advice would you give to other family businesses?
Business can be complex and challenging before you add in a layer of family dynamics. I would say find some people like you, that understand family businesses and that you can bounce ideas off. FBA is a great way to do that.
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