Elspeth Beard founded Elspeth Beard Architects in 1998, some 15 years after she became the first English woman to motorcycle solo around the world.

The practice, based in Godalming, specialised in unusual and listed building conversions as well as new build and extensions.

Her first solo architecture project was the conversion of Munstead Water Tower into her home. The tower, near Godalming, had been derelict for decades.



 

Over seven years, she converted the 40m-high brick tower into a three-bedroom house spread over six floors.

The conversion, which has featured on several TV shows including Grand Designs, won five prizes, including an RIBA Regional Architectural Award in 1994.

Her other work includes converting a Grade II-listed former Salvation Army Hall in Godalming into offices, and six new build houses within the curtilage of the town’s Grade I-listed 1622 Almshouses.

The number of staff at the practice peaked at eight in the early 2000s, but none were remaining when liquidators were appointed this week.

Beard, 66, told the AJ she had been looking to wind down the practice for several years, and the interruption of the Covid pandemic gave her the opportunity to slow down her work.

‘I do other things now, and I want to enjoy having the time to do [them],’ she said. ‘I do a lot of motorcycling events, do book events and I travel all over the world, and I just want to have more time to do that.

‘It’s quite difficult to do all that in a stress-free way when I constantly have to check my emails to see what’s going on on my jobs and my building sites.’

She added that the prospect of potential new taxes was also off-putting, and said the industry was now harder to work in than before, citing building regulations and low-carbon requirements.

‘As a small business owner, times are really tough,’ she said. ‘Every way you turn is just hard work. I’ve been doing it for 30 years, I’ve done my bit.

‘It is sad. It’s the end of an era for me, but the start of a new one.’

Beard said she might return to architecture to carry out consultancy work in future.

In 1982, at the age of 23 and after three years of studying, Beard left her family and friends in London and set off on a 35,000-mile solo adventure on a motorbike.

After travelling from New York to Los Angeles and on to Sydney, Australia, she ran out of money and spent seven months working for a practice there, living in a garage, before she could continue the two-year trek.

In 2018, she published the book Lone Rider, which chronicled her journey.

Motorcycle magazine Overland described the ‘extraordinary’ book as ‘hard-hitting and packed with excellent descriptions’.