Haworth Tompkins has been named AJ100 Practice of the Year 2022, for the second time in three years. Read the full story here from AJ's Emily Booth:
"Judges were fulsome in their praise of the practice, the overwhelming winner of this year’s AJ100 Practice of the Year accolade. ‘It’s a forward-thinking, genuine practice and a well-deserving winner – impressive on all fronts,’ they enthused.
Accountability was mentioned time and again: ‘It is aligning with all its principles to create an authentic environment where people prosper and thrive – and it is holding itself to account with its move to an Employee Ownership Trust,’ said one judge. ‘It has a comprehensive and accountable approach,’ said another.
No stranger to the Practice of the Year award (the studio won in 2020, when it was also named New Member of the Year), Haworth Tompkins has proclaimed a ‘bumper’ 30th anniversary year, with turnover increasing from £7 million to £10 million and its headcount of qualified architects rising from 53 to 62.
It has implemented a successful hybrid working model and an important strategic change has been to improve its gender split at leadership level with the appointment of two new female directors (Lucy Picardo and Joanna Sutherland) and a new female associate director. Forty-two per cent of its architects are women. Nearly 10 per cent are from a black or minority ethnic background. As a founding signatory of Architects Declare, it plays an active role in the organisation.
Project-wise, Haworth Tompkins has diversified its international work, with new commissions in Perth in Western Australia and Bergen in Norway, in addition to work in New Zealand, the USA and Sweden. It has won work in its core sectors of performing arts, housing and education – and, importantly, also in new sectors of masterplanning (Queen Mary University), industrial densification (Albert Island in the Royal Docks) and workplace.
Completed project highlights range from its Theatre Royal Drury Lane refurbishment right down to the small Punchdrunk temporary theatre in Woolwich. Projects currently on site are diverse, including housing (Wood Street and Blackwall Reach) and work for Pembroke College and Barking Industria (a stacked industrial brownfield development).
Addressing the climate emergency is central to the practice’s thinking. Its approaches are significant and include: a sustainability and regenerative design working group which produces and reviews its in-house toolkit; all projects being designed to meet net zero by 2030; and publishing its post-occupancy evaluation reports on its website. It assesses the whole-life carbon in projects and guides clients to use this is as part of the services engineering scope of work. It advocates that all clients appoint an ecologist on projects.
Haworth Tompkins has also firmly embedded equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) into its business plan. Among myriad initiatives, it monitors the demographics of applicants so it can tailor job adverts as required, proactively advertises via diverse networks, and has developed a transparent recruitment process. The studio carries out an annual diversity report with recommendations and targets, has established EDI groups, and has signed up to the NLA Diverse Leaders Pledge and the RIBA Inclusion Charter. It is an active member of the Architecture Race Forum.
Quite simply, as our judges said: ‘It’s a comprehensive approach to practice management and excellence.’"
Haworth Tompkins is working closely with Colchester City Council and LCR on a masterplan for St Botolph’s Quarter in Colchester, including a new piece of LUF-funded public realm centred around the ruins of the 11th century St Botolph’s Priory. The masterplan builds upon years of ongoing development within the area, to create a scheme which improves connectivity and access to Colchester’s heritage and supports the vibrant and diverse local neighbourhood.
HT is leading a multi-disciplinary team, including landscape architects LDA and Colchester-based HAT projects, working towards a planning application this year for the public realm, which forms the first phase of the wider masterplan. The scheme will create a new walking route directly from Colchester Town station, through a new public square into St Botolph’s Priory Gardens, and then on to Castle Park to the North.
Newham Council Planning Committee has unanimously approved our proposals for 600 high-quality new homes within the Prior and Partners designed-masterplan Silvertown. The development is a key part of the regeneration of Silvertown, which is being led by The Silvertown Partnership, (LB Newham, The Guinness Partnership, the Royal Docks and Lendlease) in conjunction with the GLA and Homes England with the vision to create a new community inspired by the industrial heritage of the Royal Docks, and will provide thousands of new homes, community facilities and creative employment opportunities.
Our work was informed by our expertise in connecting to the character of a place, with a design that looks to reference Silvertown’s rich industrial history and celebrating the character of its dockside and waterside setting and adjacency to the Grade II listed Silo D. The vision is to deliver high-quality homes around high quality residential courtyards designed in collaboration with Landscape Architects CTF, and the proposals will provide:
- 600 high-quality, mixed-tenure homes (Shared Ownership, London Affordable Rent, and Private)
- Commercial space
- New public spaces and public realm including two pocket parks
- Active and welcoming street frontages
- Enhanced landscaping and places to relax, socialise and play
- Improved connections to Grade II Silo D
- Secondary staircases added to all the buildings improving residential fire safety
Construction is due to commence early 2026.
We recently celebrated the completion of high-quality residential homes within our Wood Street Families and Homes Hub project for the London Borough of Waltham Forest. This mixed-use scheme provides 67 new, affordable homes (29 for social rent and 38 for shared ownership) a café and a community hub which when complete will provide much needed space for local residents to access family and housing services.
In response to Waltham Forest Council’s declaration of a climate emergency, the project endeavours to exceed conventional sustainability standards and demonstrates our approach to designing high-quality homes regardless of tenure. This benchmark project for Waltham Forest sets a high standard for the design of future affordable housing. A big thank you to Waltham Forest, Hill Group and the wider design team for their contributions to this exemplar project and ensuring a collaborative spirit throughout. Read more about the project here.
The redevelopment on Atlip Road for client Atlip House Ltd has received unanimous approval by LB Brent. This residential led mixed-use development will transform an underused commercial site and provide much needed new homes, community facilities and new green public realm. Overall, the scheme comprises of:
- 885 high-quality new homes – including co-living, affordable and private housing
- A new community centre
- Creative commercial and co-working space
- Communal courtyards and play space
- Significant new public realm
This is the largest residential project to date to be approved for Haworth Tompkins. It showcases our ability to provide high-quality homes at high density using innovative construction methods and materials.
Our project for Pembroke College, Cambridge has won several awards at the CFCFI Awards. These awards recognise the very best of the buildings that are shaping Cambridge - whether through trailblazing sustainability, exemplary restoration, or community impact.
- Winner: Best Refurbishment over £3m
- Winner: Craftsmanship Award
- High Commendation: David Mackay Award for Engineering & Sustainability
- High Commendation: Contractor (Cocksedge Building Contractors)
We are honoured that the judges have recognised Pembroke Mill Lane for its innovation, design excellence, craftmanship and complexity in both design and delivery on what is a highly complex site in the historic city centre of Cambridge. We want to extend our congratulations and thanks to the whole design team – these awards recognise the importance of collaboration between all members of the client and design team – architects, contractors, structural and civil engineers, services engineers and landscape designers – in delivering ambitious and pioneering sustainable design.
The judges commented that “The project needed to apply a vast range of craft skills due to its size, complexity and multi-faceted nature. The Mill Road complex presented huge challenges, and we were awed and impressed by the quality, detailing, diversity and beauty of what has been created. We particularly commend the recycling of materials, including timber and brick; the careful sourcing of new timber; the fact that where possible historic features have been left to add character and personality; and the clever integration of new features, such as the forged grille at the street entrance.”
Theatre Royal Bath – Venue 4 has received planning and listed building consent. Venue 4 is a new community theatre located on St John’s Place and will serve as the home for the Theatre’s Engage adult participation programme and provide a dynamic space for local residents to create, rehearse and perform new shows.
Planned as a 40-seat, intimate, fringe-style venue, complete with its own foyer, it will be geared towards local grass-roots performers as well as the Theatre Royal Bath’s Engage programme, supporting local festivals and broader community initiatives, creating an exciting new piece of Bath’s cultural offer.
HT Director Lucy Picardo is joining the NLA Expert Panel on Culture 2025 to investigate how the rich and unique culture and character of the capital can be maintained, celebrated and enhanced. Lucy has considerable experience in the performing arts and cultural sectors including the refurbishment of the Grade I listed Theatre Royal Drury Lane and the restoration and renewal of the Grade II* Chichester Festival Theatre.
She is currently leading on the redevelopment of Theatr Clwyd, the extension of the Old Vic Theatre in Waterloo, the redevelopment of Grade I listed St George’s Guildhall, King’s Lynn, the Hexagon Theatre Studio in Reading, a masterplan for the London Museum Docklands and the redevelopment of Grade I listed De La Warr Pavilion.
Collated with thought leaders from across the industry, each of the 15 NLA expert panels will address the critical challenges facing London and champion bold ideas and initiatives to future-proof our industry and help drive London towards equity, sustainability and prosperity. Read more here - https://nla.london/topics/culture
2024 was a busy year at HT and as we settle into 2025, we have been reflecting on all that was achieved through the collective efforts of our team, clients and collaborators. We celebrated the completion and launch of The Warburg Institute, Lambeth Archives in Brixton, 67 affordable new homes for local people at Wood Street in Waltham Forest and the first phase of Pembroke Mill Lane in Cambridge.
Our projects won another batch of awards including a RIBA London Award for Fish Island Village, a high commendation for Pembroke Mill Lane Phase 1 at the Wood awards, Industria won a NLA Workplace award and Commercial project of the year at The London Construction Awards and National Theatre – NT Future won the Religion & Culture category at the 2024 Architecture Today, buildings that stand the test of time awards. We were also named as one of 6 inaugural AJ100 Champions for our continued commitment to sustainability and ‘all-round excellence’.
We continue to win new commissions across all our major sectors in the UK and across Europe including theatres in Stockholm and Vienna, masterplan visions at York Central, St Botolph’s quarter in Colchester and the London Museum Docklands, new buildings at Swindon Science + Innovation park and new neighbourhoods - Holloway Park in Islington and Dagenham Green Phase 2 for Peabody, we also won the Hackney New Homes Programme Design Competition which will deliver much needed council housing.
Planning permission was received for several projects - St George’s Guildhall, King’s Lynn, Bromley-by-Bow Industrial Park, Birmingham Smithfield and Hexagon studio theatre in Reading. Several projects continue to make progress on site - A.R.T in Harvard, Wembley North East Lands, the Court Theatre in New Zealand, ECU City Campus in Perth Australia, Theatr Clwyd, our first Passivhaus project Greenhill Centre in Newham, Pier Road in Bexley, The Old Vic Annex, TEG Olympia, Canning Town Old Library & Sentralbadet in Bergen.
High points for the studio include launching our first Level 6 & Level 7 apprenticeship scheme and welcoming our first two apprentices to HT. We continued to strengthen our commitment to embedding regenerative design principles across the practice with the appointment of a new sustainability designer and continued our support of the Architects Declare movement and became an inaugural sponsor of ACAN.
As a studio we celebrated a series of significant promotions from both our architectural and studio support teams rewarding the valuable contribution they have made and recognising their leading roles within the studio, work on key projects, business development and practice wide initiatives. Other highlights include Director Lucy Picardo being appointed to join the NLA Expert Panel on Culture and Associate Director Ken Okonkwo being selected as Town Architect for the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham by the Mayor of London.