We read every story the Architects’ Journal and Building Design published in September, more than 250 between them, and kept the ones that bear on where practices are winning work and who they will need to deliver it. This is the first of a monthly review that runs in Arcavia Architecture Monthly.
Gensler leads the month twice
Gensler has drawn up the masterplan for Sphere Group and Legal & General’s £350m scheme on the former Rackhams department store, One Temple Row and 43 Temple Row in central Birmingham, with more than 500 homes and 225,000 sq ft of offices; public consultation opened on 24 September. In east London it submitted the first phase of Arada’s £2.5bn Thameside West to Newham, 1,500 homes in six buildings opposite the O2, with the first two blocks entirely for social rent and around 5,000 homes planned in all.
Birmingham and the Midlands
Carmody Groarke won its first Birmingham job, the Smithfield office and market building, from 27 submissions, putting 17,200m² of offices over a reimagined Rag Market. Wolverhampton approved a plan for 6,750 homes across 33 sites, KSS won consent to take the City Ground to 52,000 seats, and Adam McPartland left Glancy Nicholls Architects to lead Ridge’s architecture practice in the region.
Housing and masterplans
Five schemes put 10,058 homes into planning in one month: Hawkins\Brown’s 3,800 at North West Cambridge, JTP’s 2,977 at Beckton Riverside, Gensler’s 1,500 at Thameside West, 1,014 at York Central and Studio Egret West’s 767 at Edgware. A draft Small Sites Design Code for London, written with RCKa, is open for consultation until 4 December.
Practice business and the profession
HOK’s UK business grew turnover 28% and returned to profit, Conran and Partners became DLR Group’s first European studio with employee ownership open to all 75 of its designers, and Foster + Partners kept the top spot in Building’s top 50 with more than 600 architects. The Design Council puts architecture and built environment design at £18.7bn. More than 85% of architects met ARB’s first compulsory CPD year, and ARB opened routes to registration that do not require a Part 1.
Awards
Retrofit led the month’s recognition: shedkm was AJ Retrofit Practice of the year, IFDO’s Eagle House in Hastings was Retrofit of the year, Caruso St John is a RIBA International Prize finalist and RSHP won the contest for Valencia’s new Central Station.
What is in the report
Eight pages across six sections: a client spotlight on Gensler, Birmingham and the Midlands, housing and masterplans, practice business, the profession, and awards and competitions, each closing on key take aways for hiring, followed by the full source list and method. Building Design articles sit behind a subscription, so items sourced to BD alone are taken from the published headline and standfirst.