40 Argyll Street receives planning permission 14.12.23

Full planning approval and listed building consent for 40 Argyll Street has been granted by Westminster City Council.

40 Argyll Street is the office element of the redeveloped Dickins and Jones department store, a Grade II listed building within the Regent Street Conservation Area.

The scheme will deliver the refurbishment of the office floors, atrium and reception to provide new contemporary flexible office space with enhanced social spaces while the rest of the building remains operational. A new rooftop terrace and ‘sky room’ pavilion will provide the office occupants with external amenity that can be used year-round.

Underpinning the proposals is an ambition by the client to de-carbonise their holdings to meet the challenge of the climate crisis. All MEP systems and plant equipment will be upgraded to minimise operational carbon, reducing energy usage intensity alongside a rolling programme of renewal and education to building users. New and expanded end of journey facilities will also encourage sustainable transport choices.

Gingerbread City 2023 11.12.23

AHMM has participated in this year’s Gingerbread City, a model metropolis made of gingerbread ‘plots’ designed, baked and assembled by teams representing more than 100 architecture and design practices.

The theme of this year’s city is ‘Water in Cities’ with the aim of encouraging visitors to think about how water affects our surroundings and the built environment. Our plot was located underwater, where water is the landscape and the townscape and our structure had to be resilient to rising sea levels and safe for our residents.

Our selected plot is the Sea Turtle Heritage Centre formed of seven domes representing the seven species of sea turtle. The domes are designed to withstand drastic environmental changes, providing large spans of programmable space for visitors to take a closer look at the wildlife. The centre’s main goal is to educate visitors about the depleting coral, endangered turtle species and human impact on the marine environment.

Now in its seventh year, the Gingerbread City is organised by the Museum of Architecture, a charity dedicated to finding new ways for the public to engage with architecture and to encourage entrepreneurship within the architectural practice to stimulate learning, collaboration and action. The exhibition is on display at Westfield London, White City until 7th January. To read more about the exhibition and book tickets please visit here.

Thornton Education Trust Inspiring Future Generations 2023 Awards 08.12.23

AHMM has been awarded a Thornton Education Trust Inspiring Future Generations Award in the Social Value category for our work connected to Tower Hamlets Town Hall over the past seven years. Our project for the London Borough of Tower Hamlets has transformed the Georgian listed former Royal London Hospital into a publicly accessible town hall with space for the council’s community, democratic and administrative services, and our work on it has included social value commitments. We created a social value programme engaging young people with the building and its purposes throughout the design process. As part of this, we ‘adopted a school’ in 2016 working with the Design Technology department at Swanlea secondary school in Whitechapel, and supporting Key Stage 3, 4 and 5 school students aged 11-18.

The resources and knowledge we have shared with the school have changed and adapted in response to teacher requirements, student feedback and curriculum changes. The school’s first request was for support on their Super Learning Days which introduced high achieving Year 8 girls to architecture and encouraged them to choose Design Technology as a GCSE option. From 2018, the school asked us to provide GCSE Design Technology coursework mentoring. We have also provided activities including one week work experience; careers fair attendance and routes into the profession talks; building and workplace visits; architectural drawing and modelmaking workshops; portfolio reviews and design brief challenges; and places on our annual Summer School and Open studio afternoons for young people.

We aim to create innovative, responsive social value that is specific to communities, location and contexts where our projects are sited. AHMM is delighted to received this award from Thornton Education Trust celebrating initiatives, organisations, and individuals who are bridging the gap between architecture and young people.

World Architecture Festival Awards 2023 01.12.23

Belgrove House has won a World Architecture Festival (WAF) award, with Tower Hamlets Town Hall and Montacute Yards both being highly commended in the built Civic and Community category and the built Office category respectively.

Winning a WAF Future Project award in the Commercial mixed-use category, Belgrove House is a new-build specialised laboratory office building for the life-sciences sector to be occupied by MSD as a UK Discovery Research Centre and HQ located on Euston Road opposite King’s Cross and St Pancras stations. Designed to be innovative, highly sustainable and an example of carbon emissions reduction in construction, operation, and future refurbishment, the project offers an excellent opportunity to enhance the surrounding area.

Tower Hamlets Town Hall transformed the Grade II listed Royal London Hospital into the new headquarters for the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. Consolidating a number of the council’s offices into one location, the new town hall offers a broad range of public services to the borough’s residents, in a more accessible location in Whitechapel.

Montacute Yards, an innovative collaboration between AHMM and Ben Adams Architects, creates tailored workspace that balances contemporary working styles with a strong sense of community on Shoreditch High Street. A project of urban reconnection that turns a closed ‘back yard’ site into a permeable piece of the city, Montacute Yards explores different construction techniques, from its steel exoskeleton that draws inspiration from the warehouses of Shoreditch and gives depth and legibility of making to the façade, to its smaller CLT buildings to the north.

Design changes approved for Botanic Place 29.11.23

Design changes have been approved by Cambridge City Council for Botanic Place, a new office scheme with planning permission being developed by Railpen and Socius.

Adjacent to Cambridge University Botanic Gardens, the scheme comprises of an existing office building, Botanic House, the historic Flying Pig Pub building and an adjacent new 500,000 sqft workspace scheme designed by AHMM, which will see the delivery of the most sustainable and intelligent workspace in the UK, outside of London.

The amendments to the plans will significantly reduce the carbon impact of construction, shorten construction time by 21 months, improve energy efficiency and increase the amount of publicly accessible green space to over 2,000sqm. In line with the City’s Councils Climate Change Strategy, the new plans will also promote active travel with greater accessibility and priority for cyclists with two dedicated entrances placed in the centre of the scheme, increasing the number of cycle parking spaces to over 1,500 and reducing the number of car parking spaces available.

The plans for Botanic Place have incorporated feedback from the local community and will see over 200 local jobs created, the development of cafes, restaurants, and a market hall, within a thriving knowledge-led economy with a commitment to sustainable development.

Civic Trust Awards 2024 shortlist 28.11.23

Four AHMM projects have been shortlisted and selected as Regional Finalists for the 2024 Civic Trust Awards, and will now be considered for National Awards or high commendations.

Tower Hamlets Town Hall has transformed and extended the Grade II listed former Royal London Hospital complex on Whitechapel Road to create a new, more accessible headquarters for the council, including a range of spaces for a new Council Chamber to smaller offices, meeting rooms and breakout spaces. The project embodies the Council’s vision to create a healthy, sustainable and flexible work environment for their staff combined with open and welcoming front facing facilities for their residents.

Soho Place is an enormous urban jigsaw that builds on the arrival of the Elizabeth Line to bolster the large-scale regeneration of Oxford Street’s eastern end. The landmark ten-storey, two tier building to the north, situated above Tottenham Court Road station houses retail and office space. The nine-storey south building contains the first new-build West End theatre to open in 50 years with independent office space above.

The Rowe provides 150,000 square feet of office space with retail and public space at ground floor within the retained and extended former Central House building that previously housed the London Metropolitan School of Art, Architecture and Design close to the Whitechapel Gallery in east London. An equal volume is added to the existing six storey building with the tension between to old and new highlighted by an inhabited gap, marked by a playful piece of public art by Yinka IIori.

1 New Park Square is the first landmark project for the wider vision of a low carbon community of working, living and leisure at Edinburgh Park by developer Parabola on the western fringes of the Scottish capital. Bringing a new office typology to the Edinburgh market, the new four-storey building provides 87,500 square feet of commercial office space above a ground floor majoring on public functions knitted into a new civic fabric developed in collaboration with Dixon Jones and Gross Max.

Architecture Today Awards 24.11.23

At last night’s (23 November) awards ceremony Burntwood School received an Architecture Today Test of Time Award in the educational category.

Our RIBA Stirling Prize-winning redevelopment of Burntwood School consists of six new educational buildings-as-pavilions and a new landscape plan for the campus. The original swimming pool and gymnasium building and main assembly hall, designed by Sir Leslie Martin, were retained and refurbished, while other buildings no longer fit for purpose were demolished. Overall, the scheme increased the school’s capacity by more than 200 pupils to 2,000, in addition to 200 staff.

In line with its Modernist Heritage, Burntwood School is experienced as a campus, exploiting the views and spaces between the buildings and enabling the green spaces beyond to be appreciated from the heart of the campus. The six new pavilions include four curriculum buildings for business skills, arts and technology, communications, and maths and science. With each, classrooms and ancillary accommodation are arranged along a central corridor with voids and double-height spaces at each end to increase daylight and outdoor connection. A new sports hall is located next to the original pool building a new performing arts building with a ground floor dining hall extends out to an external terrace.

A range of facilities, including the sports centre and assembly hall, double as community resources out of school hours, while the general teaching spaces and learning support functions are available on a managed basis for adult learning. The structural grid and services design provide flexibility, which has already been implemented, with two meeting rooms off the library being adapted to a SEN (special educational needs) resource base for young people with SEMH (social emotional mental health) needs.

The judges said “What made Burntwood School the winner, after much deliberation, was the way it built boldly and skilfully on a campus that represented Modernism at its best, with an ambition that has become a rarity in school buildings. Eight years after completion, the client’s and architect’s faith in continuing this legacy and reinterpreting it for the 21st century have very much stood the test of time.”

AJ Architecture Awards 23.11.23

1 New Park Square received an AJ Architecture Award in the Workplace Project (£20 million and over) category last night (22 November) at the annual awards ceremony.

Designed by AHMM for the Dixon Jones masterplanned Edinburgh Park located on the western fringes of the Scottish capital, 1 New Park Square is a carefully designed development bringing a new office typology to the Edinburgh market.

The four-storey building features an impressive array of social spaces, including a café, restaurant, 200-seat conference centre and events venue which overlooks a new civic square. Flexible office spaces with generous floor-to-ceiling heights and an exposed concrete structure maximise daylight, thermal comfort and reduces energy use over time.

The project was praised by judges as a radical and appealing approach to the post-Covid workspace, demonstrating deep thinking around public spaces and ‘how to improve and maximise the experience for everyone’. They went on to say that 1 New Park Square was ‘doing so much good that others are completely missing’, thanks to the ambition of its client and architect. The connection between the building’s interior and the outdoor and green spaces ‘was really beautifully done’ with a ‘manner and simplicity that made it easy to connect’.

Dr Craig Robertson made Honorary Associate Professor 21.11.23

Dr Craig Robertson, AHMM’s Head of Sustainability, has been made an Honorary Associate Professor at UCL’s Bartlett School of Environment, Energy and Resources (BSEER).

This is in recognition of the research work Craig has been involved with over the past ten years with AHMM and the Bartlett, particularly the Institute of Environmental Design and Engineering (one of the four institutes of BSEER), investigating how AHMM can shift industry towards a sustainable, zero carbon future. This includes AHMM’s recent Knowledge Transfer Partnership project that produced our Guide to Delivering Net Zero and accompanying toolkit.

BSEER are home to four Institutes with a shared mission to address the challenges of global sustainability and to generate sustainable solutions across the built environment, energy, resources and heritage. Through world-leading research, partnerships and by educating future sustainability leaders, the School facilitates each Institute’s work by providing strategic leadership and institutional citizenship opportunities with an aim to build a better future and rise to the challenges of the climate crisis, creating a more sustainable, equitable world.

WorkTech23 London Conference 20.11.23

AHMM’s Simon Allford will be speaking at WorkTech23 London. This conference, held on Tuesday 21 November and Wednesday 22 November, is for all those involved in the future of work and the workplace as well as real estate, technology and innovation. It brings together innovative ideas and inspiration to the workplace community through inter-disciplinary speakers and learning experience to enhance creativity and move thinking forward.

Simon will be having a discussion with Jeremy Myerson, Director, WorkTech Academy and Research Professor at 9:40 on Wednesday 22 November examining the global challenges we face, addressing the design and reinvention of the working, playing and living environment in the long life, loose fit, low carbon future.

Please see here to find out more about the conference.

Concrete Society Awards 2023 16.11.23

Last night (15 November) One New Park Square received a Concrete Society Award as the Outright Winner.

The first landmark project for the wider vision of a low carbon community of working, living and leisure at Edinburgh Park by developer, Parabola, One New Park Square is a carefully designed development bringing a new office typology to the Edinburgh market.

Four storeys of a total 87,500 square feet of commercial office space sit above a ground floor majoring on public functions knitted into a new civic fabric developed in collaboration with Dixon Jones and Gross Max. A conference room is located to the northern end of the building where the main reception is sited adjacent to the tram stop. At the southern end, a set of linked spaces containing a café and bakery, restaurant and events venue overlook a new civic square.

The building’s design and construction are defined by robustness and efficiency. A flexible office floorplate provides a net to gross of 86% with an exposed concrete structure and opening windows to maximise natural ventilation, daylight and thermal mass.

The decision to use exposed concrete was made in collaboration with the client. It enabled simplicity in terms of fire compartmentation and structural efficiencies, and significantly contributed to lowering operational energy. It’s also a self-finished material, which is enjoyed aesthetically and lowers wastage upon completion when future tenants alter the internal finishes.

London Build 2023 Expo 13.11.23

AHMM’s Ash Goyal, Craig Robertson and Ceri Davies will be speaking at this week’s London Build 2023 Expo on Wednesday 15 November and Thursday 16 November.

With over 30,000 registered visitors from contractors, architects, civil engineers, developers, local councils, housing associations and construction professionals, this two-day conference is the UK’s biggest Festival of Construction. 500 inspiring speakers will be discussing various topics across eight conference stages, including Future of Construction, BIM & Digital, Fire Safety, Sustainability, Diversity & Inclusion and more.

Ashwin Goyal, Associate Director, is a speaker for “Designed to Last: Balancing the Old and the New” at 11am on Wednesday 15 November.

Craig Robertson, Head of Sustainability, is a speaker for “Sustainability Leaders Discussing the Key Principles of Sustainable Design” at 11am on Thursday 16 November.

Ceri Davies, Director, is a speaker for “Attracting, Developing and Training a Gen Z Workforce in Construction” at 2pm on Thursday 16 November.

Register for your free ticket to hear our experts speak, along with a great programme of speakers and talks here.

Delivering Net Zero in Use Toolkit 08.11.23

AHMM have launched a new toolkit which enables users to coordinate and visualise a project’s carbon data across all disciplines and over its full life cycle, allowing teams to mitigate its environmental impact as early as possible and set realistic targets.

The ‘Delivering Net Zero in Use Toolkit’ complements the ‘Delivering Net Zero in Use: a guide for architects’ which was first published in November 2022 as part of AHMM’s Knowledge Transfer Partnership with University College of London’s (UCL) Institute for Environmental Design and Engineering. Funding for the KTP was provided by Innovate UK and AHMM. An updated version of ‘Delivering Net Zero in Use: a guide for architects’ has been issued with the release of the toolkit.

The toolkit was developed in response to a need to coordinate and visualise a project’s carbon data across all stages and disciplines of a building project, something that was not previously available. Users can input predicted carbon data from multiple consultants into the Excel based programme, which will generate two graphic outputs: an interactive ‘waterfall’ diagram which shows carbon emissions, and a ‘carbon square’ which ranks carbon alongside time, cost and quality drivers. The Toolkit will also identify where missing data is required and will set targets for the gaps based on best practices.

Developed as an open-source resource that can be used for buildings of different typologies, the toolkit enables the entire client and consultant team to look at information collectively to understand the impact of the individual disciplines and develop realistic targets together.

Download the toolkit here.

Transformation of Bristol Temple Quarter 07.11.23

AHMM has been appointed as part of the expert team, led by Prior + Partners, to help develop proposals for the transformation of Bristol Temple Quarter.

The team of specialists, which also include Arup, Spacehub and Bristol-based Nudge Studio, will lead a ‘Social Value Taskforce’. Using new and established local connections, this taskforce will ensure genuine social value, including employment and educational opportunities, are baked into the masterplanning process from the start.

Additional practices forming part of the masterplanning team include AHR, Alan Baxter Associates and Newsteer.

The masterplan will build on the high-level of principles for change in the Temple Quarter Development Framework, which was endorsed by Bristol City Council’s Cabinet in May 2023. It will explore how connectivity in, out and through Temple Quarter could be improved, while creating a framework for how the future development of the area could come forward.

Alongside the Prior + Partners team, the Temple Quarter Partners have appointed The Place Bureau to help define the sort of place Temple Quarter should become. This ‘Placemaking’ commission will develop a place strategy that can ensure Temple Quarter becomes somewhere people want to live, work and spend time, while reflecting the best that the city-region has to offer.

Both the masterplanning and placemaking commissions will be based upon extensive public engagement, helping to ensure views from across the city-region are heard and reflected in the plans for Temple Quarter as they develop.

Marvin Rees, Mayor of Bristol, said, ‘Temple Quarter is one of Europe’s biggest urban regeneration projects. We’re aiming to deliver 10,000 new homes, 22,000 new jobs and a range of new public spaces alongside a transformed Temple Meads station. We’re clear, though, that this isn’t simply a housing or infrastructure project. We want to create a sustainable, genuinely mixed-use place that works for the city-region as a place to live, work and spend time. We want Temple Quarter to be easy to get around, reflective of Bristol’s history and future, and an example to the world of what 21stcentury regeneration can look like. These two commissions will work hand in hand to help us deliver on these aspirations to create a place that people in Bristol and the West of England can share in the success of.’

Belgrove House Breaks Ground 23.10.23

Last Tuesday morning (17 October) main contractors MACE officially broke ground at the Belgrove House site in Camden. A ceremony was held, attended by the client, Precis Advisory, Camden Councillors, key partners, and project team members. The group then relocated to Camden Town Hall for a discussion on how investment in science can help save and improve lives around the world. Faaiza A.Lalji, Director of Planning and Development at Precis Advisory, gave opening remarks followed by key remarks from Terry Spraggett, Managing Director - Public & Life Sciences at Mace; Dr Angela Kukula, CEO of Medcity; and closing remarks from Dean Y.Li, Executive Vice President and President of Merck Research Laboratories; and Ben Lucas, Managing Director at MSD UK. This was followed by a panel discussion which included AHMM’s Simon Allford; Darren McKerrecher, Executive Director and Head of Chemistry at MSD; Alex Neal, Partner at Gerald Eve; Jo Paisani, Board member at London & Partners; and was chaired by Robert Gordon Clark, Partner and Senior Advisor at London Communications Agency. The discussion centred on the importance of innovative buildings and investment in sustainable infrastructure, combining to bring facilities of global note to central London.

Located on Euston Road opposite King’s Cross and St Pancras stations, Belgrove House is a new-build specialised laboratory and office building for the life-sciences sector to be occupied by MSD as a London Discovery Centre and HQ. The scheme is designed to be innovative, highly sustainable and an example of carbon emissions reduction in construction, operation, and future refurbishment. The building’s configuration emerges from a clear arrangement of uses on the site. Life-sciences research laboratories are located on the largest floorplates at floors 1-3, providing animation to the facades and a public window into the research activity within, whilst offices will be located on floors 5-9 and the fourth floor will serve as a dedicated ‘collaboration hub’.

The Citizen tops out 19.10.23

The Citizen team in Oklahoma City recently celebrated the toping out of the building at a ceremony on site, with client JRB Citizen LLC, and the project team.

Situated on a sensitive site overlooking the Oklahoma City National Memorial, the new 12-storey building will deliver 175,000 square feet of workplace with restaurant and banking hall uses at ground floor which will enliven the streetscape. The elevations are inspired by neighbouring 1930s architecture, and the detailing is an abstraction of their characteristic paired window arrangements and strong vertical emphasis. The generous openings are designed with flexibility in mind, accommodating the disparate functions envisaged now, but also with the ability to flex to different uses in the future. With its well-mannered exterior, and its offering of mixed public and private functions, the building itself is conceived as a citizen of the city.

The project is due to complete in 2024.

Estates Gazette Awards 2023 18.10.23

Last night (17 October) Audley Property & our clients CO--RE, received an Estates Gazette, London Deal Award, in recognition of the signing of a full pre-let to Blackstone for their European headquarters at Lansdowne House, which has been designed by AHMM.

Located at the southern end of Berkeley Square in Mayfair, the landmark Lansdowne House site is being transformed into a new commercial building which has been carefully designed to last for generations to come, and to achieve the highest possible standards for sustainability and wellbeing, targeting BREEAM Outstanding and WELL Platinum. The scheme won a World Architecture Festival Award for Future Office in 2022.

The redevelopment will provide 225,000 square feet of premium modern office space across 10 storeys and 14,000 square feet of ground floor retail and restaurant, with units in Lansdowne Rowe purposely sized to attract smaller local retailers, serving the needs of residents and local workers. New amenities for modern occupiers will be provided throughout the building, including an outdoor rooftop terrace that incorporates greening and biodiversity, and balconies on every floor overlooking Berkeley Square.

Significant improvements to the public realm will reconnect the building to the historic square with pedestrianised areas revitalised and more public space provided.

Metropolis tops out 16.10.23

The Metropolis team recently celebrated the topping out of the building at a ceremony on site, with clients General Projects and Henderson Park Capital partners, and the project team.

The scheme extends and refurbishes the nine-storey Woolworth House on Marylebone Road, originally designed by Richard Seifert in 1955 as the UK headquarters of the US retailer F.W. Woolworth. Through carefully considered interventions, the proposals create over 174,000 square feet of office space, with external amenity space on every floor, alongside a stepped courtyard extension and rooftop office pavilions on level 8 and level 5 respectively. A central atrium space provides several internal amenity and break-out areas and supplies natural daylight deeper into the plan.

The design employs a low embodied carbon approach, with the majority of the existing building fabric being retained, including the load-bearing masonry facades, concrete frame, and masonry cores. The extension areas are being constructed from a lightweight steel and CLT hybrid. 

The project is due to complete in summer 2024.

BCI Awards 2023 12.10.23

Last night (12 October) Soho Place received a British Construction Industry Award in the Commercial Property Project of the Year category. Magna Square was also highly commended in the Residential Project of the Year category.

Soho Place is an enormous urban jigsaw that builds on the arrival of the Elizabeth Line to bolster the large-scale regeneration of Oxford Street’s eastern end. The landmark ten-storey, two tier building to the north, situated above Tottenham Court Road station houses retail and office space. The south nine-storey building contains the first new-build West End theatre to open in 50 years with independent office space above. Soho Place constitutes a new destination in the city and is the first new street name to be created in Soho for 72 years. It serves a new pedestrianised connection between the station entrance pavilions set within Centre Point Plaza, and the heart of Soho via Soho Square.

Magna Square is a new development in the Runnymede borough of Surrey which combines new retail, a cinema, 101 new residential homes and student accommodation across four new buildings, around a pedestrianised public realm, creating a gateway from Egham Station to the town centre. The changing retail and economic patterns have left their marks on Egham with little concern for its historic fabric, which over recent years has seen the decline of the Hight Street. The development was designed to act as a catalyst for regeneration and usher in a new era of retail, entertainment and arts whilst providing new homes which reflect the character of the Conservation Area.

Bristol Open Doors 2023 10.10.23

As part of this year’s Bristol Open Doors festival, AHMM is welcoming visitors to its new Bristol office, One Portwall Square, which was recently named the BCO Commercial Development of the Year. Close to Bristol Temple Meads railway station the site was originally part of 100 Temple Street, a large office building designed by John Wells-Thorpe during the 1970s. The scheme, designed for independent developer Nord, replaces a disused squash court with a six-storey freestanding office that delivers new levels of innovation, sustainability and office design, combining modern flexible floorplates with generous light and space. You can sign up for guided tours led by our project architects and see behind-the-scenes of our Bristol studios.

AHMM will also be giving guided tours around Assembly Bristol, a mixed-use development in the centre of Bristol which reinvents a cleared site that has lain empty since 2008. Three new buildings provide a variety of flexible commercial floorplates, with an assortment of retail, restaurant and flexible units at ground level. A new pedestrian connection reinstates a historic route through the site, complemented by a new public space that capitalises on the riverside location.

For more information about Bristol Open Doors and to sign up for the tours please visit here.

Moorland Road receives a Housing Design Award 05.10.23

At last night’s (04 October) ceremony in Sheffield, Moorland Road in Cardiff received a Housing Design Award in the project category.

One of three ‘Community Living’ schemes that are being developed concurrently by Cardiff Council, Moorland Road threads together thirteen one and two bed independent living apartments, a community centre and shared garden into a tight corner site within the dense Victorian neighbourhood of Splott.

The design responds to the specific housing requirements of its users, with the core principles established by HAPPI (Housing our Ageing Population Panel for Innovation) being used to guide the process. The building is arranged as three distinct pitched volumes rising from three stories adjacent to the existing residential context to four stories at the street corner. All apartments benefit from dual aspect living spaces with views into the shared garden and private recessed balconies. The new community centre is located on the ground floor and benefits from direct access to the shared garden, while also providing a visual link to this space from the street.

Established in the 1940s, the Housing Design Awards celebrate exemplary housing design in the public and private sectors. Earlier this week, Bream Street also received an award at the London event.

BCO National Awards 2023 04.10.23

Last night (03 October) at the annual British Council for Offices (BCO) National Awards ceremony AHMM received two awards: the Commercial Workplace award for One Portwall Square and the Test of Time award for White Collar Factory.

One Portwall Square is a new-build office for independent developer Nord on a site close to Bristol Temple Meads railway station. The site was originally part of 100 Temple Street, a large office with a raised squash court and parking below, designed by John Wells-Thorpe. The scheme replaces a disused building with a six-storey freestanding office, set back from Portwall Lane to create a lively pocket square at ground floor level. In response to the latest Grade A office standards, Covid-19 pandemic and the need to maximise occupant comfort and amenity for staff attraction and retention, the building delivers new levels of innovation, sustainability and office design, combining modern and flexible floorplates with generous light and space.

White Collar Factory is the product of an eight-year research project led by AHMM and Derwent London, and comprises a complex of six buildings at Old Street Yard including offices, studios, incubator space, restaurants and apartments set around a new piece of public realm, with a sixteen-storey tower at its heart. Together, these buildings provide a bold new marker for Old Street as well as creating a new more permeable section of the city that references the alleys and passageways of the historic urban grain. Featuring long spans, flexible floor plates, openable windows, generous volumes and robust construction, the tower represents a new type of office building that takes its cue from the multi-level factory typology and uses concrete in several ways.The Test of Time Award revisits previous recipients of BCO National Awards, White Collar Factory having won the Innovation Award in 2018.

AHMM shortlisted in Bristol competition for a 100% affordable housing scheme 02.10.23

AHMM has been named as one of the five finalists competing to redevelop a site on Midland Road in the Bristol’s Old Market Quarter, along with BDP, Pick Everard, Ferguson Mann Architects and Alec French Architects.

The two-stage competition sought ‘innovative and solutions-focused’ proposals for a new 100% affordable housing development of approximately 70 dwellings on a constrained brownfield site north of Bristol Temple Meads station.

Part of the Bristol Housing Festival and backed by Bristol’s largest independent housing association, Brighter Places, the brief asked for designs that ‘complement the local area, is as climate smart as possible to reduce costs for residents and supports the city’s climate goals’.

An overall winner of the commission, which covers up to RIBA stage 3 and full planning submission, will be announced in December 2023.

Bream Street receives Housing Design Award 29.09.23

Last night (28 September) Bream Street received a Housing Design Award at the London Ceremony.

Located at the edge of the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in Stratford, Bream Street provides 202 new homes that are designed to include a good proportion of 3-bedroom homes for families. Being a social housing provide, the client London and Quadrant, ensured that 50% of the family homes are assigned to the affordable rent tenure.

The masterplan delivers seven new buildings which are set around three shared gardens and a new internal public street while positively engaging with the wider context including the canal, site permeability, existing trees, street frontage and key views. The architecture, aesthetic and character of each building is different, thereby adding to the richness of the masterplan and the Fish Island area.

The gardens were designed to be communal and accessed via the east-west pedestrian route (Navigators Walk). The character of these gardens is more intimate and specific to their use which includes organised play, informal play, relaxation, communal meeting spaces, growing areas, or ornamental green spaces. The project team also agreed with the client to extend the landscape works outside the project boundary to include an area adjacent to the Lock, which provided amenities for the boating community and improved the canal’s infrastructure.

By creating a special place to live and work, Bream Street contributes to the wider regeneration of East London.

Montacute Yards receives commendation 29.09.23

Montacute Yards received a commendation at the Structural Steel Design Awards ceremony last night (28 September).

An innovative collaboration between AHMM and Ben Adams Architects, the scheme creates tailored workspace that balances contemporary working styles with a strong sense of community on Shoreditch High Street.

A project of urban reconnection that turns a closed ‘back yard’ site into a permeable piece of the city, Montacute Yards explores different construction techniques, from its steel exoskeleton that draws inspiration from the warehouses of Shoreditch and gives and depth and legibility of making to the façade, to its smaller CLT buildings to the north. These different techniques, and an emphasis on providing generous volumes create spaces of different scale and character to ensure flexibility for future adaptation and gives the buildings resilience.

The Structural Steel Design Awards celebrate the excellence in the field of steel construction, demonstrating its potential in terms of efficiency, cost effectiveness, aesthetics, sustainability, and innovation. The structural engineer for the project was HTS.

Tower Hamlets Town Hall receives a Government Property Award 28.09.23

Tower Hamlets Town Hall has been awarded a Government Property Award in the Project of the Year category.

In their fourth year, the Government Property Awards celebrate projects and initiatives from across the public sector. The Project of the Year is awarded to an outstanding project that has made a significant improvement to government property with a positive impact on the user and the wider public.

The project has transformed the Grade II listed Royal London Hospital into the new headquarters for the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. Consolidating a number of the council’s offices into one location, the new town hall offers a broad range of public services to the borough’s residents, in a more accessible location in Whitechapel.

The new building embodies the Council’s vision to create a healthy, sustainable and flexible work environment for their staff combined with open and welcoming front facing facilities for their residents.

Queen's Quarter features in NLA Research: Housing Londoners' 25.09.23

AHMM project Queen's Quarter features in the recently published NLA research paper “Housing Londoners: Innovation in Delivery and Design”, which demonstrates how, as a collective, the built environment is in a position to enact positive change on London’s housing sector. Informed through widespread industry engagement, this paper outlines the latest market trends, best practice projects, and solutions being trialled across the capital, and presents a series of recommendations to ensure new housing best responds to the needs of London’s citizens.

Located on the former Taberner House site in Central Croydon, Queen’s Quarter comprises four blocks of 35, 21 and 13 storeys providing 513 two- and three-bedroom apartments, arranged around a publicly accessible garden. The popular Queen’s Gardens has been reimagined by landscape architect Grant Associates in collaboration with interested local stakeholders, resulting in a new larger, easily accessible public space with play areas for children of all ages. Similarly, client HUB Residential facilitated extensive community engagement and public consultation, working closely with the members of the Croydon community to shape plans for the scheme. The aim was to create an inclusive space that would benefit the whole community not just the residents. Placing the human being at the centre of the design, we have created carefully designed new homes with extended outdoor spaces for activities for individuals and communities which give joy and satisfaction to them.

For more information about the research please visit here.

Wheeler Condos awarded an AIA Oklahoma Award 21.09.23

Wheeler Condos has been awarded the Merit Award for Residential Architecture in this year’s AIA Oklahoma Design Awards.

Located within the growing Wheeler District of Oklahoma City, Wheeler Condos is a three storey new build condominium scheme providing ground floor and retail office space with four two-to-three bedroom homes above. Large balconies provide protected amenity space and downtown views for each residence.

The judges commented “While multi-family housing is often predictable and formulaic, this project provides an example of a sophisticated, restrained alternative that sits comfortably within its context without pandering to ill-considered notions of contextualism. Three simple gestures – void, glass and brick lattice panels – are modulated like a masonry Rubik’s Cube to create an unexpectedly playful, human-scaled composition, mediating between adjacent commercial and single-family residential scales. Generously scaled balconies lined in wood soften the hard masonry shell and provide contrast at its permeations, animating the street.”

New London Awards 2023 shortlist 12.09.23

Six AHMM projects have been shortlisted for this year’s New London Awards across multiple categories.

Montacute Yards, shortlisted in the built workplace category, is an innovative collaboration between AHMM and Ben Adam Architects which creates tailored workspace that balances contemporary working styles with a strong sense of community on Shoreditch High Street. The project is one of urban reconnection that turns a closed ‘back-yard’ site into a permeable piece of the city that celebrates and builds on the character of London.

Soho Place, shortlisted in the built mixed-use category, is an enormous urban jigsaw that builds on the arrival of Crossrail to bolster the large-scale regeneration of Oxford Street’s eastern end. The landmark ten-storey, two tier building to the north, situated above Tottenham Court Road station houses retail and office space. The south nine-storey building contains the first new-build West End theatre to open in 50 years with independent office space above.

Tower Hamlets Town Hall, shortlisted in the culture category, transforms the Grade II listed Royal London Hospital into the new headquarters for the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. Consolidating a number of the council’s offices into one location, the new town hall offers a broad range of public services to the borough’s residents, in a more accessible location in Whitechapel.

The Rowe, shortlisted in the built workplace category, is the refurbishment and extension of the former London Metropolitan School of Art, Architecture and Design to create modern office space. Located opposite the Whitechapel Gallery, it takes inspiration from Rachel Whiteread’s Fourth Plinth, adding to the existing six storey building with an equal volume above.

No.1 Blackhorse Lane, shortlisted in the unbuilt mixed-use category, will redevelop the existing site in northeast London for Scape Living, delivering innovative co-living accommodation across 272 residential apartments with a series of shared residential amenity spaces, ground floor public café, ground floor retail unit for a convenience shop, and a purpose-built music and comedy venue for Waltham Forest, The Standard.

Millennium Mills, shortlisted in the unbuilt retrofit category, is an iconic industrial former flour mill that sits proud and civic ad the centrepiece to the Royal Docks. Originally built in 1905 and partially rebuilt and extended in the 1930s and 50s, the Mills is to be sensitively restored and extended as part of The Silvertown development to create a 225,000 square foot ecosystem of flexible workplace, with ground floor retail and food and beverage at roof level.

Winners will be announced at the New London Awards Annual Lunch on the 15 November.

Open House 2023 11.09.23

Over this weekend (16-17 September) you can come and visit two AHMM projects as part of the Open House Festival.

If you are in Whitechapel, drop in and see the transformation of the Grade II Listed Royal London Hospital into the new headquarters for London Borough of Tower Hamlets. Tower Hamlets Town Hall consolidates a number of the council’s offices into one location and offers a broad range of public services to the borough’s residents. You can sign up here for guided tours led by our project architects across both Saturday 16 September and Sunday 17 September and a special family activity running on the Saturday.

Then just down the road you can go and take a look around The Rowe, the refurbishment and extension of the former London Metropolitan School of Art, Architecture and Design. Guided tours, which you can sign up for here, will be led by our project architects on Saturday 16 September; they will you lead you through this new office building which takes inspiration from Rachel Whiteread’s Fourth Plinth, adding to the existing six storey building with an equal volume above. A visual break between old and new is highlighted by an inhabited gap, marked out by a playful piece of public art by Yinka Ilori visible from the street to create a visual break.

Find out more about Open House London and browse the full programme here.

17 Southgate Place receives planning 30.08.23

17 Southgate Place has received planning from Bath and North-East Somerset Council.

Originally designed for British department store Debenhams, 17 Southgate Place was the anchor retail offer for the SouthGate Bath masterplan. Completed in 2009, the building was part of the still thriving mixed use development, owned by Aviva and British Land, within the Bath Conservation Area and World Heritage Site.

Following Debenham’s transition to an online only offer and within the context of the changing nature of the retail, new thinking was required to restore this bespoke building. On behalf of our joint-venture clients, British Land and Aviva, AHMM explored a range of different design solutions for the structure, before developing a mixed-use scheme with retail, offices, and lab enabled space.

To minimise the embodied carbon of the refurbished building, the design intelligently re-uses and reinvents the existing building fabric. The proposals maximise the high ceilings, generous floorplates, and robust concrete structure, and reuse the staircases and lift shafts. Natural ventilation and access to daylight will be improved by creating new openings in the stone facades, and the empty roof space will be converted to provide additional accommodation with access to outdoor terraces and roof gardens.

The Building Awards 2023 shortlist 24.08.23

Tower Hamlets Town Hall and Magna Square have both been shortlisted in this years Building Awards.

Shortlisted in the retrofit/refurbishment project of the year category, Tower Hamlets Town Hall is the new headquarters for the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, encompassing the restoration of the Grade II listed former Royal London Hospital building, and the addition of a significant new build extension. The project embodies the Council’s vision to create a healthy, sustainable and flexible work environment for their staff combined with open and welcoming front facing facilities for their residents.

Magna Square, shortlisted in the housing project of the year category, comprises of four mixed-use buildings providing retail, a cinema, 101 new residential homes and student accommodation. A new town square and wider pedestrianised public realm brings the buildings together. The development was designed to act as a catalyst for regeneration and usher in a new era of retail, entertainment and arts whilst providing new homes and referencing the local context within the design.

AJ Architecture Awards 2023 Shortlist 23.08.23

Seven AHMM projects have been shortlisted for the 2023 AJ Architecture Awards across multiple categories.

10 Lewis Cubitt Square, shortlisted in the mixed-use category, is an office-led development designed and delivered for developer Argent and occupied by Meta, which includes retail and provision for a 600-seat theatre within the universal building frame.

Magna Square, shortlisted in the mixed use category, is a new development in the Runnymede borough of Surrey which combines new retail, leisure, residential and student accommodation across four buildings, around a pedestrianised public realm, creating a gateway from Egham Station to the town centre.

One Portwall Square, shortlisted in the workplace (up to £20 million) category, the new base for the AHMM Bristol office, is a 6-storey freestanding building which replaces a disused squash court of a large 1970s office building designed by John Wells-Thorpe, originally part of 100 Temple Street.

No.1 New Park Square, shortlisted in the workplace (£20 million and over) category, is one of the first buildings to complete within the Dixon Jones masterplan which redevelops Edinburgh Park and provides 87,500 square feet of new office space with a ground floor café/music venue which opens out onto a new public square.

The Rowe, shortlisted in the workplace (£20 million and over) category, provides 150,000 square feet of office space with retail and public space at ground floor within the retained and extended former Central House building that previously housed the London Metropolitan School of Art, Architecture and Design close to the Whitechapel Gallery in east London.

Montacute Yards, shortlisted in the workplace (£20 million and over) category and entered jointly with Ben Adam Architects, creates two new flexible office and retail buildings which celebrate the industrial heritage of the Shoreditch area with a new street market underneath the East London Line extension viaduct and a curated public space forming a vibrant heart to the development.

Tower Hamlets Town Hall, shortlisted in the Civic category, has transformed and extended the Grade II listed former Royal London Hospital complex on Whitechapel Road to create a new, more accessible headquarters for the council, including a range of spaces for a new Council Chamber to smaller offices, meeting rooms and breakout spaces.

76 Upper Ground contractor appointed 17.08.23

Multiplex has been appointed as the main contractor for 76 Upper Ground.

Designed by Sir Denys Lasdun and completed in 1983 as an office and client marketing building for IBM, the building no longer meets modern-day occupier requirements. AHMM’s proposals sensitively remodel, refurbish, and extend the Grade II listed building delivering 300,000 square feet of flexible and highly sustainable office space with 50,000 square feet of outdoor terraces providing occupants panoramic river views.

Delivered with developer Stanhope, the scheme will create a new pedestrian focussed entry sequence in place of the first floor car drop off, retain the existing iconic buildings structure and façade and provide a long-term future for the building, greatly improving and enhancing it setting within the South Bank conservation area. With exceptional sustainability targets, the building will become a noteworthy example of low carbon office design, with a commitment to achieving Net Zero Carbon in both construction and operation. Targeting BREEAM Outstanding certification, the proposals maximise off-site fabrication of key building elements such as façade and MEP systems to minimise waste on-site, prioritise the procurement of re-use steel and incorporates biophilic landscaping within the terraces, enhancing the connection to nature.

Works have started on site, with requisite enabling works underway and completion set for Q4 2024.

Design Your Life Podcast with Paul Monaghan 16.08.23

Vince Frost, CEO and Executive Creator of Frost*collective, invited Paul Monaghan to join him on the Design Your Life podcast. In this series, Vince speaks to leading creatives about their lives and the role design has played in shaping the success of their brands and careers.

In the latest episode, Paul shares his thoughts about designing ‘everyday buildings’ and the role this type of architecture plays in making cities special. The pair also discuss Paul’s life and career, including anecdotes about growing up in Liverpool in the sixties and playing with his dad’s set squares in the living room. Paul also discusses ideas he is passionate about, such as the power of being able to sketch an architectural idea by hand and supporting young people from diverse backgrounds access the architecture profession.

Frost*collective is a strategic creative group dedicated to designing a better world through human- centered design. Its goal is to design experiences that enrich lives by combining specialist skills to tackle complex challenges and drive superior results.

Listen to the full ‘Designing diversity in Architecture with Paul Monaghan’ podcast here.

The Plan Awards 2023 Shortlist 08.08.23

Three diverse AHMM projects have been shortlisted for The Plan 2023 Awards, an international award of excellence in architecture, interior design and urban planning.

The Alder Centre, shortlisted in the built health category, is a unique centre providing bereavement counselling for families who have had a child pass away as well as a national telephone helpline and general counselling for hospital staff.

Soho Place, shortlisted in the built mixed-use category, is an urban jigsaw creating a mix of uses across two new buildings framing a new civic plaza including retail and office space and the first new-build West End theatre to open in 50 years.

Lansdowne House, shortlisted in the un-built office and business category, will be transformed to provide modern office and retail space within a new carefully designed and sustainable commercial building which reconnects to the historic Berkeley Square.

Brick Awards 2023 shortlist 03.08.23

Tower Hamlets Town Hall has been shortlisted for a 2023 Brick Award.

The new headquarters for the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, restores the Grade II listed former Royal London Hospital building and includes a significant new build extension providing six upper levels of open plan office accommodation.

Brick plays an integral role in the scheme and is the predominant material for the cladding to the new extension at the rear, complementing the fabric of the old building. A significant number of reclaimed London stock bricks were also used in the repair and alteration of the retained building.

AHMM 2023 Summer School 01.08.23

Last week AHMM held their annual summer school at our London and Bristol offices.

Aimed at young people aged 16-18 years old, the Summer School is an important part of our Partnerships work to support the future architecture profession, and help to ensure it is diverse.

The topic of this year’s Summer school was ‘Feeding Cities’, with students considering underused spaces within dense urban environments, urban farming, addressing food poverty and creating ways to make space for urban food growth.

Over the week the students participated in workshops introducing them to new ways to observe and explore the space surrounding us, including architectural drawing, CDM, modelmaking, routes into architecture, site visits, sustainability, collaborative creativity, and daily mentoring.

The Architecture Series 24.07.23

For the 30th installment of The Architecture Series, architecture magazine The Plan visited AHMM in London to find out more about our studio, projects, and ideas.

The series takes The Plan around the world, going behind the scenes in architecture practices to find out about their lives, work, and aspirations.

The Architects Series – A documentary on: AHMM is followed by a lecture given by Simon Allford and Q&A with Nicola Leonardi, Co-Founder of The plan at the Iris Ceramica Showroom.

Concrete Society Awards 2023 shortlist 18.07.23

Three diverse AHMM projects have been shortlisted for a 2023 Concrete Society Award.

1 New Park Square in Edinburgh is the first landmark workplace project for the wider vision of a low carbon community of working, living and leisure at Edinburgh Park by developer Parabola. The building echoes this philosophy through robust long-lasting materials and low energy in-use, supported by the use of an exposed concrete frame.

10 Lewis Cubitt Square is a mixed-use building and a key part of the King’s Cross Masterplan, completing an area of the developing neighbourhood and complementing an established public realm. Its distinctive aggregated pre-cast concrete façade forms a civic backdrop to the public realm and surrounding buildings. Beyond the façade, concrete technologies are used throughout – from the slip-form core to pre-cast plank floor construction and stair flights.

Tower Hamlets Town Hall involves the reinvention and extension of the Grade II listed former Royal London Hospital into the headquarters for the Council. The versatility of concrete has been harnessed in a variety of exciting, sustainable and innovative ways – both within the historic fabric and in the new build extension.

Read the full shortlist here.

Main construction work to begin at Brain Yard 14.07.23

Enabling site works and demolition is coming to a conclusion at AHMM’s Brain Yard site with the main construction work due to commence this Summer.

Brain Yard reinvents and extends three buildings in the Hatton Garden conservation area in Bloomsbury, London, to create 14 new apartments alongside 85,000 square feet of workplace and retail space. The new scheme adapts, transforms and sensitively retains much of the existing fabric to preserve its historic character and provide substantial savings on the projects embodied carbon. Extensive use of temporary works facilitate this complex retrofit and refurbishment of a Victorian warehouse within a constrained inner-city site, reusing existing fabric including the shopfront facades of 160-164 Gray’s Inn Road.

The project is due to complete at the beginning of 2026.

Soho Place Highly Commended 13.07.23

Soho Place has been highly commended at the Building London Planning 2023 Awards in the best mixed-use scheme category.

The project regenerates the east of Oxford Street creating a mix of uses across two buildings including retail, office, the first new-build West End theatre to open in 50 years and a new civic plaza.

Read more about the award outcomes here.

WAF Awards 2023 shortlist 10.07.23

Five AHMM projects have been shortlisted for this years World Architecture Festival Awards.

Belgrove House, a new specialised laboratory and office building for MSD as a UK Research Centre and HQ on Euston Road opposite King’s Cross and St Pancras Stations, has been shortlisted in the future projects, commercial mixed-use category.

Tower Hamlets Town Hall, the restoration of the Grade II listed former Royal London Hospital building, with the addition of a new build extension as the new HQ for the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, has been shortlisted in the completed building, civic & community category.

Soho Place, a new regeneration development combining retail, office and the first new-build West End theatre to open in 50 years, has been shortlisted in the completed, mixed-use category.

Magna Square, a new mixed-use development in the Runnymede borough of Surrey combining retail, leisure, residential and student accommodation, has been shortlisted in the completed, mixed-use category.

Entered jointly with Ben Adam Architects, Montacute Yards, two new flexible office and retail buildings celebrating the industrial heritage of Shoreditch through the creation of a new type of warehouse, has been shortlisted in the completed, office category.

All projects will be presented live to a panel of judges at the festival in Singapore in November.

Please see here for the full list of shortlisted projects.

2023 Architecture Today Awards shortlist 07.07.23

Burntwood School and The Barbican Arts Centre have been shortlisted for a 2023 Architecture Today Award. 

The RIBA Stirling Prize-winning transformation of Burntwood School pieces together a 1950s modernist education campus with six new educational buildings-as-pavilions and a new landscape plan. The original swimming pool and gymnasium building and main assembly hall, designed by Sir Leslie Martin, were retained and refurbished, while other buildings no longer fit for purpose were demolished. The new development increased the school’s capacity by more than 200 pupils to 2,000, in addition to 200 staff.

As part of a working partnership with the Barbican spanning more than 20 years, AHMM’s redevelopment of The Barbican Arts Centre redevelopment interwove the past, present, and future into a recharged piece of architecture. From first opening to the public, the original building was characterised by notoriously difficult navigation, compounded by the lack of street address, the incomplete high-walk system, and years of accumulated clutter. Our masterplan respected the original design while confronting its failings head on through a number of interventions.

Launched in 2022 the AT awards are designed to showcase, celebrate, and share knowledge about buildings that have stood the test of time with eligible projects having to have been in use for at least three years and that can demonstrate a strong track record for delivering on their environmental, functional, community and cultural ambitions.

The architecture teams will now present the projects to the judges with the winners announced at the awards ceremony in November. 

Please see here for the full shortlist. 

Liverpool Townhouse 2023 Competition 06.07.23

Steve Rotheram, Mayor of the Liverpool City Region, has announced the winners of The Liverpool City Region Townhouse of the Future 2023 Competition.

Launched in 2021, this competition showcases how design can transform the built environment, activate residential properties, and bring communities back to life. Organised by the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority and the City Region Design Champion, AHMM’s Paul Monaghan, with the support of Liverpool City Council and Housing and Regeneration group, Torus, this year’s competition invited Architects from the Liverpool City Region and Warrington to submit innovative design solutions to refurbish a row of eleven vacant terraces houses in the Wavertree area of the city. The proposals were required to prioritise Mayor Rotheram’s net zero by 2040 target and Lifetime Homes standards as part of the residential redevelopment.

Harrison Stringfellow Architects was named First Prize winner, for their ‘Liverpool School of Building’ concept which combined training in green skills for individuals with a sensitive redevelopment, to improve social, economic, and environmental sustainability. Second place was awarded to Mors + Harte Architects, whose design focussed on homes that had ample access to outside space and structures that could adapt over time.

The Liverpool City Region Combined Authority will promote the winning design with the aim of securing the opportunity to deliver the designs and collaborate with Liverpool City Region Housing Association on future commissions.

Victor Kite Prize 2023 03.07.23

This year the Victor Kite Award for Design Technology has been awarded to Ariel Alper and Sammy Doublet. The award for students at The Bartlett School of Architecture recognises the best work in Design Technology (year 2) and is awarded at the school’s annual summer show opening ceremony.

The award was established in 2013 by former AHMM staff member and Bartlett tutor, Scott Batty, in memory of architect Victor Kite. Victor was a mentor to Simon, Jonathan, Paul and Peter as Part III students, and later to many others at AHMM, playing a significant role in the practice and its work.

This year’s Bartlett Summer Show is available to explore online in their virtual exhibition space.

Men Shed 2023 30.06.23

A group from St Luke’s Community Centre Men’s Shed visited AHMM’s 1 Finsbury Avenue with Associate Tom Wells for a tour of the building.

Men shed at St Luke’s is a place for men aged 55 and over living in south Islington and the city of London to socialise and have fun. The Shed is a relaxing space for men to share interests, offering a programme of activities and trips out and about.

AHMM’s Partnership group have been silver level corporate supporters of St Lukes for more than eight years through workshops, food bank donations and supporting their Job Club programme, providing one-to-one support to people in the local community who are searching for work.

BCI Awards shortlist 2023 29.06.23

Three AHMM projects have been shortlisted for the 2023 British Construction Industry Awards.

Soho Place, an urban jigsaw of two new mixed-use building framing a new civic plaza, has been shortlisted for Commercial Property of the Year. Designed for developer Derwent London, the north building houses 33,000 square feet of retail space across three storeys and 191,000 square feet of office accommodation across nine storeys; whilst the south building contains the first new-build West End theatre to open in 50 years with 18,000 square feet of independent office space with superb views across London above.

The Rowe, the refurbishment and extension of the former London Metropolitan School of Art, Architecture and Design has been shortlisted for Commercial Property of the Year. Creating over 150,000 square feet of office space this scheme, designed for Frasers Property, adds an equal volume above an existing six storey building with the tension between old and new highlighted by an inhabited gap, marked by a playful piece of public art by Yinka Ilori visible from the street to create a visual break.

Magna Square, a new mixed-use development in the Runnymede borough of Surrey has been shortlisted for Residential Property of the Year. Designed for Places for People, four mixed-use buildings combine new retail, leisure, residential and student accommodation, around a pedestrianised public realm, creating a gateway from Egham Station to the town centre.

Winners will be announced at the annual awards ceremony on 11 October 2023. Read more about the awards and shortlist here.

AHMM in Sheffield 28.06.23

Urban Splash has been selected as preferred bidder for the redevelopment of Sheffield’s former Cole Brothers building, with AHMM working as part of the team on the proposals. The plans will transform the building into a mixed-use space with substantial areas of the building reopening for the public. At the core of the proposal is an ambition to re-establish the building as a place to meet, eat and shop in the city centre, with the ground floor filled with lively retail, food and drink and the upper floors providing flexible workspace for Sheffield’s growing business base. The transformed building will offer a wealth of opportunities for employment and create a vibrant destination which complements the ongoing work in the Heart of the City.

Following a marketing process led by CBRE, six proposals were received and considered. The Council’s Strategy and Resources Committee met on Wednesday 28th June and unanimously agreed to proceed into detailed negotiations with the developers.

AHMM’s Simon Allford, who has a particular connection to the building and its history, said “The refurbishment of the Grade 2 Listed Cole Brothers building is perhaps the key project in the ongoing reinvigoration of the Sheffield city centre. We have worked with the Urban Splash team for many years and we look forward to collaborating with both them and the City of Sheffield.

“My connections with Sheffield, and this building, run deep and far back. My family is from the city, my father was born there, and we both studied architecture at the University of Sheffield. While I often visit Sheffield for personal reasons (and, of course, the football), I am looking forward to working in the city to help the client team reinvent this Sheffield icon, which was designed over sixty years ago by a son of Sheffield, my father David Allford!”

2023 Refugee Week 23.06.23

AHMM is taking part in Refugee Week for the first time with a small exhibition of work by artists from the New Art Studio in the Morelands refectory in our London office. An element of the exhibition has also been installed in our Bristol office.

A group of artists from New Art Studio also visited one of our on-site projects, Brain Yard, for a sketching workshop.

The New Art Studio is a unique therapeutic art studio for asylum seekers and refugees based at the Islington Arts Factory. AHMM’s Partnerships group has supported the studio for more than six years through workshops, knowledge sharing and donations.

2023 Structural Steel Design Awards Shortlist 21.06.23

Montacute Yards has been shortlisted for a 2023 Steel Design Award.

A project of urban reconnection that turns a closed ‘back yard’ site into a permeable piece of the city, Montacute Yards reinstates a closed historic passage way, restores two existing terrace buildings – one of them Grade II listed – and creates three new flexible office and retail buildings on a brownfield site.

The project explores different construction techniques, form its steel exoskeleton that draws inspiration from the warehouses of Shoreditch and gives a depth and legibility of making to the façade, to its smaller CLT buildings to the north. These different techniques, and an emphasis on providing generous volumes, create spaces of different scale and character to ensure flexibility for future adaptation and give the buildings resilience.

The Structural Steel Design Awards celebrate the excellence in the field of steel construction, demonstrating its potential in terms of efficiency, cost effectiveness, aesthetics, sustainability, and innovation.

Please see here to view this years shortlisted projects.

Pedelle 2023 20.06.23

Three cyclists Hazel Joseph, Esther Worthington and Ella Smith, have completed PedElle, a three-day event for women in the construction industry. Organised by Club Peloton, the event, now in its 10th year, raises money for the charities Coram, Cyclists Fighting Cancer, Tom AP Rhys Pryce Memorial Trust and Multiple Atrophy Trust. Starting in the beautiful capital city of Ljubljana, the peloton of 58 riders covered 396km, a climb of 5,949m, towards the Adriatic Coast and to the final destination, medieval town of Piran.

The team was generously supported by its sponsors Stanhope Plc, Arup, MRG Studio, Heyne Tillett Steel, and Dolphin Solutions Ltd along with colleagues, friends and family.

Special performance from Chickenshed at Hawley Wharf 19.06.23

Children and young people from the charity and inclusive theatre company, Chickenshed, have created a performance using movement, music and dance to explore the newly created public space in AHMM's designed Hawley Wharf in Camden Market as part of this year's London Festival of Architecture. Utilising their own diverse, lived experience, they will celebrate how the space is welcoming and accessible to all. Chickenshed have worked together with AHMM and LABS Group to create this special performance.

This free event takes place from 2-2:30pm this Saturday, 24 June. 

For more information about the performance please visit the London Festival of Architecture website here.

Applications Open for AHMM summer school 2023 16.06.23

AHMM is inviting applications for its 2023 Summer School, a week-long programme based at AHMM’s offices in London and Bristol for young people aged 16-18 from Monday 24 July to Friday 28 July.

Over the week students will be set tasks introducing them to new ways of observing and exploring the space surrounding us. They will also take part in activities and information sessions each day and, as an important part of the Summer School, benefit from daily mentoring from one of the AHMM architecture team. At the end of the week students will have a series of pieces that will strengthen their portfolio, including an architectural model of their own design. They will also be given an in-depth understanding of the profession to inform their future interest in architecture as a career.

To apply for a place on the course please complete this application form and return to cwint@ahmm.co.uk by Monday 03 July 6pm. The summer school is free and materials are provided. Please note that places are competitive and we receive a large number of applications.

2023 Open Studio for young people at AHMM 15.06.23

As part of London Festival of Architecture AHMM hosted an Open Studio in our Morelands office on Wednesday 14 June.

Sixty 15–19 year-olds from several schools and organisations across London took part in various activities throughout the afternoon, giving them a quick insight into an architectural practice and the profession. They met an Architect, allowing them to have an informal chat about personal experience and routes into the profession, ask any questions and get some interview tips; participated in some roof top sketching; and battled it out with Lego, seeing who could build the tallest towers and the strongest bridges.

UEL School of Architecture Show and summer placement 12.06.23

On Thursday, 08 June, AHMM’s Paul Monaghan gave a speech to the students and staff at the University of East London School of Architecture and Interior Design Summer Showcase Exhibition opening. Paul gave a few words of advice and wisdom to the graduating students about the journey that they are about to embark on and congratulated all the prize winners.

AHMM continues in its UEL engagement as part of the Broadgate Framework, with this year’s design competition being to reimagine the two-storey Retail Arcade and design of the Changing Places facilities. Entries were judged against four categories: Brief, Technical, Understanding, Innovation and Sustainability. Shortlisted student groups presented their ideas to a panel which included representatives from AHMM, Sir Robert McAlpine, British Land and UEL at 3 Broadgate in February 2023. Winning teams were presented with a bursary and four students were selected to interview for a three-month placement at AHMM this summer, with Cristian-Luca Serbu being awarded the position.

For more information and to visit the exhibition please visit here.

Tottenham Hale North Island achieves practical completion 09.06.23

Last Friday, 02 June, Tottenham Hale North Island achieved practical completion.

The first of three AHMM buildings delivered as part of Argent Related’s wider Heart of Hale masterplan, a mixed-use regeneration scheme creating a new centre for Tottenham Hale, North Island is an 18-storey residential development providing 136 new homes including 80 shared ownership apartments.

Congratulations to all involved.

Berkeley Street Achieves Practical Completion 08.06.23

No.1 Berkeley Street has achieved practical completion, creating a vibrant 210,000 sqft mixed-use development containing offices, retail and a 181-bedroom hotel. Located opposite The Ritz Hotel on Piccadilly, this project involves the re-use of two 1970s buildings, retaining 90% of the existing frame, and façade elements along the two main elevations.

The scheme has transformed the site, and an extension at the corner of Piccadilly and Dover Street reinstates the historic building line and provides an updated identity to this prominent corner, with contemporary Portland Stone elevations engaged with those of the adjacent existing façade.

Dover yard, a new publicly accessible garden courtyard for building users and incidental commuters alike has been created within the site. This space maintains an existing public route and is enlivened by hotel and retail spaces at its fringe. A new annex building forms a fourth side to the courtyard, and provides offices for our client, Crosstree.

FOOTPRINT+ 2023 Conference 07.06.23

On Wednesday, 07 June, AHMM’s Paul Monaghan and Susie Le Good shared insights and key findings from our ‘Delivering Net Zero in Use – A Guide for Architects’ in their presentation ‘Architecture, Re-Use and Net-Zero Carbon’ at the FOOTPRINT+ conference in Brighton.

The guidance, developed as part of AHMM’s Knowledge Transfer Partnership with UCL’s Institute for Environmental and Engineering, has been written to define net zero in such a way to help architects rise to the challenge of designing net zero buildings. Reducing carbon emissions is a matter of urgency and the guidance aims to improve people’s knowledge, distill thinking, and ultimately change the design process to that end.

AHMM is sponsoring FOOTPRINT+ to support this important forum which brings together our industry around the critical issue of carbon reduction.

For more information about the conference please visit here.

Study tour: The Rowe 06.06.23

This Thursday, 08 June, AHMM’S Ash Goyal, Associate Director, and Francesco Mazza Pungetti from Robert Bird Group, will be leading the architectural discussion of NLA’s and Frasers Property UK Study Tour of The Rowe.

A refurbishment and extension of the old London Metropolitan University’s School of Art, this AHMM project creates over 150,000 square feet of office space adding to the existing six storey building with an equal volume above. The new build element mimics the horizontal branding and the rhythm of the panels of the 1960s concrete building but contrasts this with a steel structure and dark metal palette. Tension between old and new is highlighted by an inhabited gap, marked by a playful piece of public art visible from the street to create a visual break.

The morning event will begin with breakfast in the Rowe’s reception at 8:30am.

For more information and to book tickets please visit here.

1 Keskidee Square Achieves Practical Completion 30.05.23

On Friday 26 May 1 Keskidee Square achieved practical completion, delivering one of the final pieces of the King’s Cross Central masterplan by Argent LLP.

Located around the corner from another AHMM building, 10 Lewis Cubitt Square, this ten-storey office building creates over 185,000 square feet of flexible workspace spread across nine floors of warehouse-like floorplates offering maximum volume, natural light and extensive external amenity – all connected by a staircase visible from each floor.

The building form is broken into three distinct blocks, each responding to their immediate context – be it the gentle curve of Canal Reach to the west, a shared servicing yard to the east, or two key new pieces of public space in Chilton and Keskidee Squares to the north and south.

A combination of active and passive measures delivers a highly flexible and sustainable building, achieving BREEAM ‘Outstanding’.

Construction was by BAM with architectural delivery by Bennetts Associates, as part of an ongoing collaboration following completion of the Meta HQ on the site opposite. Works started during the March 2020 lockdown, and the entire building was pre-let prior to starting on site. Work will now be commencing on the surrounding landscaping and internal fit out.

2 Ruskin Square achieves practical completion 24.05.23

On Friday 19 May 2 Ruskin Square achieved practical completion.

Conceived during Covid lockdown during 2020, this ten-storey office development in east Croydon is the second office building to be delivered as part of the Stanhope and Schroders masterplan which connects East Croydon station to the town centre.

Creating 340,000 square feet of flexible office space, with a ninth-floor landscaped roof terrace and four retail units at ground level, this project has achieved one of the lowest embodied carbon figures of any of AHMM’s major projects with a figure of 558kg/C02/m² (WLCA A1-A5). With highly ambitious environmental and social goals, the project has been designed for ease of adaptability and re-use and minimises operational energy use as a Design for Performance pioneer project, targeting NABERS UK 5*.

The entire building was pre-let prior to the start on site. As the extensive planting surrounding the building beds in, work is now commencing on the internal fit out of the workspace.

2023 AJ1OO Sustainability Initiative of the Year Shortlist 23.05.23

AHMM’s ‘Delivering Net Zero in Use – A guide for architects’ has been shortlisted for this year’s AJ100 Sustainability Initiative of the Year.

Developed as part of AHMM’s Knowledge Transfer Partnership with UCL’s Institute for Environmental Design and Engineering, this new guide for architects and those who are interested in reducing carbon emissions in the built environment, has been written to share AHMM’s experiences of the challenges of designing net zero carbon buildings.

The guide works in four parts. First by defining criteria to assess in the journey to net zero, then outlining the key considerations of the changing contexts which you must continuously review, then offers key resources to tool up a team; and finally, uses lessons from a case study for guidance.

The guide will shortly be complemented by an excel based tool, allowing users to calculate their projects life cycle carbon through an iterative design process.

Please download the guide here.

Palmerston Court Tops Out 19.05.23

Palmerston Court has reached its highest point with a topping out ceremony held on site with the client, Urbanest and fellow project team members including AHMM.

Located opposite the new Battersea Power Station development, Palmerston Court is a highly sustainable development including carefully designed student accommodation targeting PassivHaus accreditation and a new commercial building targeting BREEAM Outstanding. Acting as a gateway building at the northern edge of the wider masterplan for Battersea’s new Design and Tech quarter (BDTQ), the development’s bold colours and glazed terracotta facades draw on the industrial heritage of the site.

Shepherd’s Bush Market submitted for planning 18.05.23

A planning application for the regeneration of Shepherd’s Bush Market and the adjacent Old Laundry Yard site, for our client Yoo Capital, has been submitted to Hammersmith and Fulham Council.

Following two years of consultation with Shepherd’s Bush Market traders and the local community, the proposals combine an upgraded shopping environment with increased retail space for existing and future traders to grow, with new public realm and landscaping, co-working spaces, a life science incubator and affordable homes.

Supporting Yoo Capital’s pledge to retain the rich cultural identity of Shepherd’s Bush Market, thoughtful improvements have been made throughout the site, including new entrances to improve the flow through the markets, an upgraded canopy with inbuilt lighting to support the traders year round, and investment into new and existing units to support growth opportunities within the market.

The future plans for the Old Laundry Yard site are expected to accommodate approximately 1,780 jobs within the designed workspace building, and a life science incubator, the largest of its kind in London, will be operated by Imperial College London to drive start-ups and SMEs in science, technology and engineering. The wider proposal features 40 new high quality and affordable homes, which have been designed in conjunction with the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham and will be transferred to the council to own and manage following completion.

For more information please click here.

2023 BCO Awards South Winner 17.05.23

One Portwall Square received a British Council for Offices (BCO) South of England and South Wales Regional Award in the Commercial Workplace category at last night’s ceremony in Cardiff. Designed and delivered for independent developer Nord, this 6-storey freestanding office replaces the disused squash court of a large 1970s office building designed by John Wells-Thorpe, which was originally part of 100 Temple Street. In December 2022 One Portwall Square became the new base for the AHMM Bristol office, with the practice letting the ground and first floor of the building.

The project will now be considered for a BCO National Award which will be revealed in October 2023.

The Great Bristol Run 2023 16.05.23

Thirteen AHMM staff from our Bristol office successfully completed the 10k and half marathon distances at the Great Bristol Run on Sunday (14 May) in support of Wiggly T, a small not for profit company who gift specially designed t-shirts and baby vests for children in treatment for cancer.

Wiggly T is AHMM’s Bristol Charity of the Year for 2023. Please click here if you would like to read more about the work they do. 

If you would like to contribute to our fundraising page please click here. 

2023 RIBA London Award Winner 15.05.23

Park Central West and East, part of Lendlease’s Elephant Park regeneration project, has been announced as a winner of this year’s RIBA London Awards.

Located on the site of the former Heygate Estate, Park Central West and East consists of 11 buildings, including a 25-storey tower, containing 829 homes of a mix of different tenures, linked by a one storey podium containing residential amenity spaces and retail units. The buildings are formed with the combination of nine different brick patterns using yellow, red and dark brick type playfully combined and inspired by the local architectural palette.

Judges noted that overall the project has created a ‘vibrant welcoming place with good-quality homes accessible to a wide range of people’.

Read more here.

Housing Design Awards 2023 Shortlist 09.05.23

Five AHMM projects have been shortlisted for the 2023 Housing Design Awards. Bream Street, Magna Square and Queens Quarter have been shortlisted in the Completed Buildings category; while proposals for the former Holloway Prison site in London and for Moorland Road in Cardiff have been shortlisted in the Projects category.

Bream Street provides 202 new homes at the edge of the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park across seven residential blocks. Magna Square is a new mixed-use development in the Runnymede borough of Surrey combining new retail, leisure, residential and student accommodation. Queens Quarter revitalises the popular Queen’s Gardens and delivers 513 new homes both for sale and rent in Central Croydon. Meanwhile AHMM’s proposals for Holloway Prison will create 985 new homes on the site of the former women’s prison, 60% of which will be affordable, including 415 for social rent, arranged around a 1.4 acre public park that retains many of the existing trees. The scheme also includes a Women’s Building, which will include a café, laundry and a creche. Finally, Moorland Road Day Centre, one of three ‘Community Living’ schemes that are being developed concurrently by Cardiff Council as part of their Older Persons Housing Strategy, threads 13 one and two bed independent living apartments, a community centre and shared garden into a tight corner site within the dense Victorian neighbourhood of Splott.

Assessment will take place over the next few weeks, with judges visiting each built shortlisted project before the announcement of the winners at the annual awards ceremony in summer.

Planning approval for Development House 05.05.23

Hackney Council’s planning committee has voted unanimously to approve AHMM’s revised proposals for the redevelopment of Development House in Shoreditch, London.

The proposed scheme for Melvale Holdings Ltd will replace a tired and almost empty existing 1950s building along Leonard Street and Circus with a new ten storey office building with retail at ground floor. Key improvements from the previous planning approval include increased urban greening and biodiversity, energy efficiency via air source heat pumps, a fully electric building, enhanced indoor quality, and increased cycle provision. The client aims to begin site work in Autumn 2023.

NLA Tall Buildings breakfast event 05.05.23

AHMM’s Senior Building Performance Architect Simon Hatherley is speaking at the NLA Tall Buildings Survey: Towards a sustainable skyline breakfast event on Friday 12 May. Since launching in 2014, the NLA London Tall Buildings Survey has provided a comprehensive review of tall building in London driving the debate on how high-density development can contribute to the city, analysing key trends and providing insights into policy, construction and design.

Under the theme “Sustainable Skylines”, this year’s survey will present best practice in the planning, design and construction of sustainable high-density developments.

For more information please see here.

Architizer A+Awards 2023 Finalist 03.05.23

The Alder Centre is an Architizer A+Awards 2023 finalist in the Hospitals & Healthcare Centers category.

Located in Liverpool, The Alder Centre provides bereavement counselling for families who have had a child pass away as well as a national telephone helpline and general counselling for hospital staff. The architecture is simple with a series of seven council rooms, each with their own private garden, configured around a large communal space with a lounge and kitchen. There is a flexible training room, office and dedicated room for the ‘Child Deathline’ where volunteers answer phone calls from parents to a national helpline.

Recycling at Belgrove House 17.04.23

Enabling works at Belgrove House are well underway. The existing building, located on Euston Road opposite King’s Cross and St Pancras Stations, has been demolished and the site is being prepared for the construction of a new-build specialised laboratory and office building for MSD as a UK Research Centre and HQ.

Designed to be highly sustainable, one of the key ambitions of the scheme is to be an example of reducing carbon emissions in construction. From the initial design stages, we have planned to recycle and salvage the materials of the existing building. Following on site materials testing, it was established that the existing bricks of Belgrove House were in good condition and suitable for reuse in the facades of a nearby linked project, Acorn House.

Also by AHMM, Acorn House is a new residential building which will create 33 affordable homes along with affordable office space, a community room, play space and a ground level retail unit for local business.

In total 60,575 bricks have been salvaged during demolitions, and are now stored off-site, awaiting re-use.

Planning Approval for Twyford Abbey 06.04.23

A derelict Grade II Listed manor house and walled garden on Historic England’s Heritage at Risk Register in Ealing, west London, is to be saved and restored as part of AHMM’s Twyford Abbey Masterplan approved by Ealing Council. The project will deliver 30 homes in the restored Twyford Abbey and 296 homes in new residential buildings, 50% of which will be affordable homes for local people. 

The Abbey’s historic grounds will be opened up to the public for the first time, improving connectivity with the canal and wider area along with a new 1.2-acre public park, while new community grow gardens and an orchard will be provided within the historic site’s restored walled garden for residents and visitors.

A landscape-led approach has been adopted with the new residential buildings carefully placed within the grounds to respect the most significant trees and the setting of listed buildings, with the architectural approach inspired by the Gothic character of Twyford Abbey.

The masterplan is for our clients, Latimer, the development arm of Clarion Housing Group who will deliver the new homes, and Redington Capital who will sympathetically restore Twyford Abbey.

Construction on the site is expected to begin later this year with the first homes to be delivered in 2025.

Breaking Ground in Oklahoma City 05.04.23

Enabling works are now well underway at The Citizen in Downtown Oklahoma City, with vertical construction scheduled to start in May.

Once complete the 12 storey building will deliver, 175,000 square feet of workspace with restaurant and retail at ground level. 

The Citizen occupies a sensitive site in the city, overlooking the Oklahoma City National Memorial, that honours the victims, survivors, rescuers, and all who were affected by the Oklahoma City bombing. The elevations are inspired by neighbouring 1930's architecture, and the detailing is an abstraction of their characteristic paired window arrangements and strong vertical emphasis. The generous openings are designed with flexibility in mind, accommodating the disparate functions envisaged now, but also with the ability to flex to different uses in the future. With its well-mannered exterior, and its offering of mixed public and private functions, the building itself is conceived as a citizen of the city.

Civic Trust Awards 2023 03.04.23

10 Lewis Cubitt Square has been Highly Commended at this year’s Civic Trust Awards, announced last Friday (31 March). Judges praised the building at King’s Cross as ‘a new landmark building that creates a stunning civic backdrop to Lewis Cubitt Square.’ Designed and delivered for developer Argent and occupied by Meta, the mixed-use, office-led development includes retail and provision for a 600-seat theatre within the universal building frame.

The Civic Trust Awards were established in 1959 to recognise outstanding projects that improve the built environment for us all through design, sustainability, inclusiveness and accessibility, and also to reward projects that offer a positive cultural, social, economic or environmental benefit to their local communities. This year, 62 projects received either Awards or High Commendations from over 250 national and international entries. Read more about this year’s winners here.

Planning approval for 02 Centre site 03.04.23

Camden Council’s Planning Committee has resolved to grant planning permission for masterplan proposals for the O2 Centre site in West Hampstead.

The AHMM scheme for developer Landsec will deliver around 1800 new homes for this part of north west London, 35% of which will be affordable, together with 180,000 square feet of retail, leisure and community space; the plans will create around 1000 new job opportunities for local people. Three large new public spaces and a linear park designed by landscape architect East will prioritise pedestrians and transform an expanse of car parking, with over 50% of the site to be dedicated to public realm.

The planning application – the largest in the borough since Kings Cross – is a hybrid with the detailed element consisting of three central plots containing 607 homes, a community centre, affordable workspace and small commercial units. The first phase will also include the delivery of a Central Square and the first stretch of the new linear park.

The remainder of the proposals will be delivered in outline and will be controlled through parameter plans and detailed design codes. The eastern part of the masterplan will increase permeability to Finchley Road opening on to a new Town Square. The western part of the masterplan connects to West End Lane and will provide a large community green space and a new health centre.

AHMM Poet in Residence 27.03.23

AHMM have embarked on an exciting new project with multi-disciplinary artist and Poet Rhael ‘LionHeart’ Cape, our first Poet in Residence.

Over the course of a month LionHeart will deliver a bespoke residency programme, investigating how spaces and the built environment affect us and how we feel. LionHeart has already delivered two group workshops in both our London and Bristol offices focusing on techniques, writing exercises and challenges, prompts and readings. As well as the group workshops LionHeart will run a series of 1-1 sessions, that will inform new work created for the practice.

Rhael ‘LionHeart’ Cape is a Multi-Disciplinary Artist, Poet, BBC Radio London Presenter and an Honorary Fellow of the RIBA. He is one of the first Associate Artists of The Royal Albert Hall in over 150 years, Poet in Residence at 180 The Strand, and the first Poet in Residence at the Saatchi Gallery.

AHMM’s artist in residency programme has been initiated by the practice’s Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Group. This programme is one of several projects initiated by the group that recognise and celebrate our differences, and the diversity of our practice.

A win at Brooklands Automobile Track 23.03.23

Planning for Member’s Hill Weybridge, an independent retirement community for Amicala, has been approved by Elmbridge Borough Council’s planning committee. The residential scheme in Surrey will create an independent retirement community on a site that was once part of the former Brooklands Automobile Track.

AHMM’s masterplan will retain and repurpose much of an existing five storey office building, and replace a car park with two new residential buildings. The development will create 205 two and three bed homes across four buildings set around a communal village square.

Tower Hamlets Town Hall opens 15.03.23

Tower Hamlets Town Hall – the new home for Tower Hamlets Council and the services it provides to the public – has completed and welcomed the council’s staff as well as opening its doors to residents of the borough.

The project, which has been more than seven years in the making, has transformed and extended the Grade II listed former Royal London Hospital complex on Whitechapel Road to create a new, more accessible headquarters for the council, including a range of spaces from a new Council Chamber to smaller offices, meeting rooms and breakout spaces. In addition to the complete refurbishment of the listed structure, parts of which date from the 1700s, a new build extension provides six floors of open plan, flexible office space, its contemporary design complementing the historic fabric. Read more about the new Town Hall here. 

AHMM was appointed to the project in 2016 following a competitive tender process. The wider team includes heritage consultant Richard Griffiths Architects; civil and structural engineer Elliott Wood; MEP, fire and environmental consultant Atelier Ten; facade engineer Eckersley O’Callaghan; access consultant Probyn Gibbs; cost consultant Exigere; landscape consultant Kinnear and Levitt Bernstein; planning consultant Gerald Eve; and acoustic designer Gillieron Scott. Bouygues was the main contractor.

UVA wins Architecture Today Test of Time Award 02.03.23

AHMM’s transformation of the University of Amsterdam’s Roeterseiland Campus has won the Architecture Today Test of Time Award in the International category.

Awards judge Farshid Moussavi praised the project as ‘a wonderful example of a conversation between old and new, between two architectural practices across a wide span of time. It is bold, yet sensitive to the urban setting as well as the original design. It shows us that preserving what exists does not need to deny us our contemporary needs and aspirations and that buildings can be approached as works in progress.’

The Roeterseiland Campus, completed via two phases in 2017, was transformed from an unfinished postwar masterplan by Norbert Gawronski through remodelling, reconfiguring, retention and renewal to create a new home for the University’s Faculties of Law and Social and Behavioural Sciences; the campus has been reconnected with its neighbourhood through new public spaces and canalside promenades. The project has previously won an RIBA Award for International Excellence, the AJ Retrofit Award for International Innovation, and the AJ Retrofit Overall Winner Award.

The AT Test of Time Awards, given to buildings that have been in use for at least three years, aim to ‘represent a cultural shift away from celebrating newness and towards a focus on longevity’, and buildings have been judged on their environmental performance, functional effectiveness, and cultural and community contribution. In their inaugural year, the awards have been presented in nine categories. Read more about them here.

The Pioneer launches in Newcastle 02.03.23

Proposals for The Pioneer, a 100,000 sq ft landmark office development within the emerging Stephenson Quarter next to Newcastle Central Station, have been launched today (2 March). Designed by AHMM for Stephenson Works LLP, a joint venture between Newcastle City Council and PfP igloo, The Pioneer will be located on the site of George and Robert Stephenson’s first purpose-built locomotive factory, in a prominent position at the gateway to Newcastle’s historic city centre. The ten-storey building will offer flexible, adaptable indoor and outdoor workspace to accommodate changing, more agile working practices. Designed to target BREEAM Excellent accreditation and promote occupant wellbeing, it will benefit from features including a double height reception space, outdoor terraces to every floor and a rooftop terrace with 360-degree panoramic views of the city and the River Tyne. View a film of the proposed development on the project website.

AJ Retrofit Awards shortlist 2023 23.02.23

The Rowe has been shortlisted for an AJ Retrofit Award in the Workplace (£10m and over) category. The project, which has retained and extended the former Central House building that previously housed the London Metropolitan School of Art, Architecture and Design close to the Whitechapel Gallery in east London, was completed last autumn and now provides 150,000 square feet of office space with retail and public space at ground floor and improvements to the surrounding public realm. The Rowe also includes a specially commissioned artwork by Yinka Ilori which delineates the old and new elements of the building.

Organised by the Architects’ Journal, the Retrofit Awards celebrate retrofit and reuse in the built environment, and previous AHMM winners have included Television Centre and the University of Amsterdam. This year’s winners will be announced on 30 March; read more here.

RIBA London shortlist 2023 16.02.23

Three diverse AHMM projects have been shortlisted for RIBA London’s 2023 regional awards. AHMM’s studio at White Collar Factory has transformed a lower ground floor space within the practice’s 2018 RIBA London award-winning White Collar Factory to create an additional workspace for its own team; while in south London, Park Central West and East have together delivered 829 new homes within two plots as part of the Elephant Park masterplan. Finally, Bream Street in the Fish Island area of Hackney Wick in east London has delivered a residential-led mixed use masterplan of seven buildings together with new and improved public spaces and connections.

Assessment will take place over the next few weeks, with judges visiting each shortlisted project before the announcement of all regional award winners in May.

Regional award winners are then considered for national awards, with shortlisted projects visited by national award judges ahead of winners being announced in June; from these winners, a shortlist will go on to be chosen for the RIBA Stirling Prize. Read more about the RIBA Awards here.

Cycle to MIPIM 2023 15.02.23

Four AHMM cyclists are in the midst of training for this year’s Cycle to MIPIM, which takes place 8-14 March. This year, Rebecca Nixon will be a Ride Captain and will be joined on the AHMM team by Associates Craig Robertson, Barry Cho and Paul Jones. Leaving London on Thursday 8 March, they will ride more than 1400km over seven days to Cannes, where the annual MIPIM property fair will be taking place.

Started in 2006, Cycle to MIPIM is organised by charity and cycling network Club Peloton. As a team challenge, endurance event and networking opportunity, the ride also crucially raises money for Tom AP Rhys Pryce Memorial Trust, Cyclists Fighting Cancer and the Multiple System Atrophy Trust. AHMM will once again be supporting the event with sponsorship of snacks and refreshments to keep all cyclists fuelled along the route.

Find out more about Cycle to MIPIM here and support Rebecca, Craig, Barry and Paul via JustGiving.

Net zero: lessons from practice 10.02.23

AHMM’s Head of Sustainability and Building Performance Dr Craig Robertson and senior building performance architect Dr Simon Hatherley have published an article in the CIBSE Journal, which outlines the key aims and lessons from Delivering Net Zero: a guide for architects. The guidance, published in November 2022 and made available to all professionals working in the built environment, is the major output from a collaborative Knowledge Transfer Partnership between AHMM and UCL’s Bartlett Institute for Environmental Design and Engineering. It proposes reframing our design and procurement processes to place more focus on carbon, and uses Canada Water Zone F as a case study; this large-scale, mixed-use building designed for British Land in south London offers vital opportunities to inform the design of complex commercial developments with ambitious carbon goals.

UEL School of Architecture Broadgate Prize 09.02.23

As part of the practice’s role in the ongoing redevelopment of Broadgate, AHMM’s Tom Wells and Rochelle Dalphinis were judges for this year’s Broadgate Prize awarded to students at the University of East London School of Architecture and Interior Design. Responding to a brief to reimagine the two-storey Retail Arcade and design the Changing Places facilities, the shortlisted student groups presented at 3 Broadgate to a panel which also included representatives from Sir Robert McAlpine, British Land and UEL. Entries were judged against four categories: Brief, Technical Understanding, Innovation, and Sustainability. Winning teams were presented with a bursary and four students were selected for interviews to be held in April for a three-month placement at AHMM starting this summer.