Tom was previously head of design for Transport for London\u2019s commercial development arm, Places for London<\/a>, a role originally facilitated through Public Practice<\/a>. Before that he was an associate at Burd Haward Architects<\/a> and a Design Council expert. Alongside practice, he\u2019s always been involved in community organisations and continues to run sessions for Urban Design Learning.<\/p>\n
This combination of client-side leadership, design-led practice and hands-on work with community organisations shapes how we approach projects today.<\/p>\n
Leah and Rory have also worked across a range of thoughtful practices, including Design Storey<\/a>, Pentan and WT Architecture<\/a>. Their experience of community, Passivhaus and housing projects brings extra technical depth, and they\u2019ve both got strong roots in their communities.<\/p>\n What kind of work do you specialise in? That might mean a whole new community centre, a growing garden on a street corner, infill housing on backland sites, design guides, affordable workspaces in railway arches, learning kitchens or retrofitting existing community buildings. The scale varies, but the thread running through is the same.<\/p>\n What work do you have and what kind of projects are you looking for? By far and away our happiest work development is through the small sketch study that unlocks a project we can continue to support. We\u2019ve found that our background as a client has meant our early-stage deliverables are unlocking projects, and we\u2019ve learnt that getting a project moving is about much more than the design inputs.<\/p>\n We do tender for some work. We\u2019ve won four out of the five GLA Small Sites Small Builders tenders we\u2019ve entered, and recently we have also won a couple of tenders for feasibility studies for new housing and community assets. This has given us more confidence in competitive processes.<\/p>\n But tendering can be a significant bureaucratic drain, so we\u2019re selective about when we enter.<\/p>\n When we\u2019re choosing projects, our biggest concern is social impact. We find ourselves asking: \u2018Does this have the potential to build community? Will it bring people together? If the answer\u2019s yes, that\u2019s usually a good sign.<\/p>\n Stroud masterplan by Common Works<\/p>\n What are your ambitions? \u2018We run on a nine-day fortnight on full pay\u2019<\/p>\n This sits alongside another thing we care about, which is upending the idea that architecture requires some kind of pact with the devil in terms of commitment.<\/p>\n We run on a nine-day fortnight on full pay, have six days of volunteering leave, three days of research time and extra holiday all built into our contracts because these things are what socially minded work is about: looking outward from the studio and connecting with the world, and then bringing those experiences back in as new knowledge and new ways of seeing an architects\u2019 contribution.<\/p>\n We\u2019d like to grow slowly and sustainably over the next few years. As a studio out of London, we need to be thoughtful about how we do that. We know the way we work is unusual, so finding the right people is key. We\u2019ve also taken lessons from Public Practice\u2019s recruitment process that have really helped build the team we have now.<\/p>\n Our value to clients is our ability to give new life to traditional briefs: the community hub, the village hall, the council office, the backland site. Often, those clients are looking for something specific to them, to respond to their particular needs, rather than something generic or off-the-shelf.<\/p>\n We thrive on this. We try to avoid repeating process for the sake of it, looking for those special moments that bring a project to life, get people excited.<\/p>\n It may not always be the most streamlined route, but our experience is that the most \u2018efficient\u2019 places are also the least human. Built form tends to follow process.<\/p>\n What are the biggest challenges facing you as a start-up and the profession generally? \u2018Our biggest challenges are bullshit procurement processes\u2019<\/p>\n The other challenge is geography. Outside of London, the level of design resource in the public sector is lower. While the provinces may work well for commercial boshers and private resi firms, it\u2019s a different challenge for design-led public sector firms like ours. At the moment, we\u2019re enjoying this challenge as we\u2019re able to differentiate ourselves, but we still find it hard to get projects where we could do the most good.<\/p>\n Which scheme, completed in the last five years, has inspired you most? We\u2019re also continually learning and testing new approaches to community engagement, from participatory budgeting workshops to photography masterclasses. Daisy Froud\u2019s work has been a particular inspiration.<\/p>\n Our other biggest inspiration is the shit developer housing that crops up all around us like weeds. These dreadful non-places are diluting the souls of their host settlements, and we are fighting for the chance to intervene to undermine these.<\/p>\n New community centre proposals \u2013 model<\/p>\n Are you using any new design techniques, such as AI? In our experience, clients get better outcomes when we apply our full attention and thinking to the problems in front of us, rather than delegating too much of that process and losing the insight that comes from doing the work.<\/p>\n How are you marketing yourselves? Ultimately, nothing beats a face-to-face conversation and a short walk around a bit of town to share enthusiasm and values.<\/p>\n
Projects that put communities first, delivering schemes for public sector clients, community organisations and values-led developers.<\/p>\n
Current work includes the retrofit of a doctors\u2019 surgery into a council office and community hub, which has just started on site; a community composting site; affordable workspaces in railway arches; and clusters of intricate housing on small sites.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/05-Stroud-masterplan.jpg\")
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Our biggest ambition right now is to get a shop front. We love talking about good places and good design, and see the potential of a big bit of window on a high street as an amazing opportunity to share that thinking more openly. We make so many beautiful things, think so hard about our projects, care so deeply about this work that it can feel almost painful that it\u2019s hidden away in a studio.<\/p>\n
Our biggest challenges are bullshit procurement processes that are counter to clients\u2019 actual ambitions. To that end, we\u2019ve prepared a series of presentations on quality-led procurement for public sector and community clients, and we\u2019ve been sharing these as widely as we can. It\u2019s not about getting us to do more projects (we\u2019re not big enough!), but just to help people get better results when they do look for architects.<\/p>\n
We love collaging projects over our sites to get an immediate sense of scale and complexity. Bringing together snippets from practices like Peter Barber<\/a>, Ash Sakula and Proctor & Matthews in the early stages of a housing scheme is always an inspirational way to begin.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/14-New-community-centre-crop-1024x447.jpg\")
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We use a little bit of AI now and then, but we still value the legwork. One of the misconceptions around automated workflows is that production itself isn\u2019t worthwhile. For us, that\u2019s often where the learning happens, when we draw something out or try to put it clearly into words.<\/p>\n
A bit of LinkedIn, speaking at conferences to our core client groups, and getting out and meeting people face to face as much as possible. Often, prospective clients aren\u2019t yet familiar with the value our process can bring, so we try to make our way of seeing the world tangible, helping them to feel confident in taking the step to appoint us.<\/p>\n
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