Q3 2022 Review
Matthew Chamberlain
8 November 2022
The last three months have brought project milestones, exciting new commissions and the arrival of some talented individuals to bolster the team. This all sits in the backdrop of another series of globally significant events we’ve all experienced in our personal and professional lives.
The death of Queen Elizabeth II was not something I would’ve expected to effect my sense of well-being, but her passing removes a presence providing serene permanence and predictability in the national consciousness. The counter point to this has been the actions of a government that can only be described as temporary, whose behaviour has exacerbated the cost of living challenges and undermined our national climate objectives in a way that will take significant time to undo.
‘People’ has always been a pillar integral to our ethos but in current circumstances the breadth of what this covers is ever expanding. As we start to consider the inevitable challenges we face heading into 2023, our focus is very much on how the success of the Practice can allow us to best support our team and contribute to society.
With the confidence that we are now in some sort of post COVID world, we’ve invested a great deal of effort working on how the Practice operates and improving internal communication. This has been brought about through personal reflection, training and mentoring too. The creation of more opportunities to share ideas, thoughts and knowledge across the Practice has harnessed power from the whole team. An exercise to work through next is the refinement of our ambitions and mission, it’s an exciting time as it feels like the Practice is at the beginning of another new chapter.
I feel great pride at the quality and diversity of work in the studio at present, there are so many projects worthy of mention. We’ve completed our conceptual design for the Luanzhou grandstand and hospitality centre, which has now been handed over to the technical delivery partner with the aim of starting to build next year. Detailed design continues on our major urban housing schemes in Richmond and Stratford, our Coliving project in Guildford has broken ground and construction is progressing towards completion in Cardiff, Sheffield and Hackney.
We’ve recently been instructed to design an education and residential masterplan in Hammersmith, and we are close to securing other major masterplanning commissions in Greenwich and Reading. Our international opportunities have also continued to flow, with enquiries from Europe and the Middle East.
The energy of the team has been exceptional over the last few months as we’ve worked through all the complexity we’ve faced, bringing creativity and value to our clients. As the days grow shorter though, I’m sure the end of the year will be upon us before we know it. Outside the Practice I look forward to a hopefully boring last couple of months to 2022 to counter balance the back to back headlines up to now, I’m sure I’m not the only one! Take care out there, it’s wild…