Studio Review of the Year 23.12.21

Despite its many challenges, 2021 has been a year to celebrate. We mark our 30th anniversary with a Monograph covering the work we have completed in our first thirty years, pictured above, which will be launched early next year. We welcomed two new directors – Joanna Sutherland and Lucy Picardo – whilst Steve Tompkins, received an MBE for services to architecture and the arts in the Queen’s Birthday Honours and we saw our studio grow to over 100 strong.

The year saw the successful completion of four projects - Theatre Royal Drury Lane, Gardner Close, Donmar Warehouse and Fish Island Village and we received awards for four others - Kingston School of Art, Bristol Old Vic, Battersea Arts Centre and Kingswood.

We won a number of new commissions including for Lendlease as part of the first phase of the Birmingham Smithfield masterplan, and masterplans for Queen Mary University London, for the Western Gateway at the Royal Docks, and for co-location masterplans for sites in Harringay and Barking.

Planning permission was received for a number of new projects including Wood Street, a housing and community hub for LB Waltham Forest; Greenhill, a housing and gym for LB Newham; two housing plots at Wembley NW Lands for Quintain; Albert Island and Barking Industria, industrial intensification projects for L+R and BeFirst respectively. In addition we have submitted planning for three blocks at Canada Water for British Land and for Maydew House and the Bede Site Redevelopment for LB Southwark

Several projects started on site such as King's Cross Church, Barking Industria and the first phase of our projects for Pembroke College, Cambridge.

We are working on a wide range of performing arts project including with Trafalgar Entertainment Group on a new theatre at Olympia, for the Old Vic Theatre on a new Annex, with Theatr Clwyd on a radical working of their 1970s building and a new home for Punchdrunk in Woolwich. We have continued to develop our work internationally adding a performing arts complex in Australia for Perth-based Edith Cowan University to our portfolio of projects around the world including the American Repertory Theatre in Boston, USA; The Court Theatre in Christchurch New Zealand; Stadsteater in Malmö, Sweden and Sentralbadet in Bergen, Norway.

The year has reinforced the importance of the collective wellbeing of our staff, our society and our planet and as such our resolution for the year ahead is to find new and better ways to work that will support and sustain the social and environmental ecosystem of which we are part.

We are looking forward to 2022 and wish all our staff, clients and collaborators a very Happy New Year.

More News

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Last week, Haworth Tompkins received the Dewi-Prys Thomas Award for our work on Theatr Clwyd in Mold, North Wales. The award celebrates the role of design in improving quality of life and supporting regeneration across Wales.

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Planning approval has been granted for two new residential developments at Regents Court and Orwell Court & Welshpool Street, marking a significant milestone in the ongoing Hackney New Homes Programme.

Following the announcement of £10m investment from the Arts Council England and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) to undertake critical infrastructure repairs to the Grade I listed Royal Festival Hall, we are delighted to announce our appointment to work with the Southbank Centre on the next phases of this landmark project.

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