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.
Haworth Tompkins is working with lead architects and masterplanners Maccreanor Lavington alongside Sergison Bates, Architecture Doing Place and East on the regeneration of the Aylesbury Estate in Southwark. The vast 28.5 hectare estate, one of Europe's largest, is being regenerated over a 30-year programme, providing 3500 new homes, of which over 50% will be affordable and prioritised for existing and former Aylesbury Estate residents.
Our appointment, through the Notting Hill Genesis Framework, delivers over 200 homes as part of Phase 2B, alongside a new neighbourhood park, with play areas, landscaping, and spaces for community use. Our plot includes a 25 Storey tower designed to maximise dual aspect homes.
Cllr Helen Dennis, Cabinet Member for New Homes and Sustainable Development, said: “I’m delighted to see these new high-quality, safe, and warm homes given the green light to go ahead on the Aylesbury Estate. It is vital that the estate renewal continues to progress, delivering affordable, decent housing and green spaces for Southwark residents, including existing Aylesbury residents and those on our housing waiting list."
Haworth Tompkins has been appointed by LDA Design to join the team shaping the new St George’s Gateway Framework – a major initiative to reimagine one of Liverpool’s most significant cultural and civic quarters. The project is being delivered in collaboration with Liverpool City Council, Liverpool John Moores University, and National Museums Liverpool, alongside a multidisciplinary team including WSP, Pegasus Group, Hatch, PLACED, and AspinallVerdi.
The framework will guide future development and investment across this vital city centre area, maximising public benefit and enhancing Liverpool’s unique cultural and heritage assets. It builds on recent transformational projects, such as the removal of the Churchill Way Flyovers, and seeks to place high-quality placemaking at the heart of the city’s future growth.
Lucy Picardo, Director at Haworth Tompkins, said: 'We’re delighted to be working with LDA Design and the wider team on such a significant piece of city-making. Liverpool holds a special place for us through our work on the Everyman Theatre, and we’re excited to bring our experience in cultural and heritage-led regeneration to this project. St George’s Gateway is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to shape a truly inclusive and vibrant civic space.'
Following our winning competition submission in summer 2024, Haworth Tompkins has been working closely with London Museum Docklands to explore opportunities at its site on West India Quay in Canary Wharf. London Museum Docklands is housed within a Grade 1 listed Georgian warehouse and is home to the Port & River collection, telling the long history of the capital as a port through stories of trade, enslavement and migration.
“We are thrilled to have been awarded this opportunity. It’s been a pleasure to work together with the team at London Museum Docklands over the last 6 months.” Lucy Picardo - Director, Haworth Tompkins.
Our design of the @sohoplace auditorium is embedded at the heart of the building and is the first new build West End theatre for 50 years. Responding to impresario Nica Burns’ vision for a truly adaptable, intimate 600 seat West End auditorium, Haworth Tompkins, Charcoalblue, Arup and TAIT designed an intense, sumptuous room with multiple possibilities for artists and audiences to explore.
The judges commented that 'one of the project’s highlights is the studio theatre auditorium space designed by Haworth Tompkins and managed by Nica Burns. This intimate space is protected from the cacophony of exhaust air from a Crossrail energy plant and yet the noise reduction measures mean that it is quieter than many of the capital’s grander theatres.
The exquisitely proportioned volume provides accessibility for small productions that would otherwise struggle to secure central London venues. Lobbies and circulation spaces wrap the auditorium box and break with theatre tradition through glass facades that intersect with chrome-clad columns to emit and reflect the theatre of movement into the surrounding streets.
Haworth Tompkins was delighted to attend an opening event last weekend in celebration of Pembroke College’s transformative Mill Lane development, marking the culmination of a nine-year journey in collaboration with the College. As architects for this significant project, we are incredibly proud to have led the design and to have played a part in shaping the College’s diverse new facilities. It was fantastic to see the landscaping in bloom and the HT designed spaces being used for performances, exhibitions and talks, demonstrating the flexibility and versatility of the new and refurbished spaces.
The event brought together the Dolby family, alumni, and supporters to celebrate this milestone. The day began with a ribbon-cutting ceremony led by Dagmar Dolby, her sons Dave and Tom, and other family members, before guests explored the new spaces, including the stunning Dolby Court. Throughout the day, the College also hosted a series of conversations in the new Auditorium, compered by Anna Lapwood and Alex Macqueen.
Pembroke Mill Lane is the most significant expansion of the College since the fourteenth century, providing a range of public and collegiate spaces within new and existing buildings on a complex site in the historic city centre. The development includes enhanced teaching, residential, administrative, and communal facilities, arranged around new gardens and courtyards. Publicly accessible elements include a gatehouse, exhibition space, foyer, and a flexible auditorium within a Grade II-listed former church, supporting music performance, lectures, and events.
This project, years in the making, is a true reflection of the College's commitment to both academic excellence and a forward-looking, inclusive vision. We are honoured to have contributed to such a transformational development, which will serve the College and its community for generations to come.
Haworth Tompkins is proud to be part of the world-class architectural team announced for the transformative £2.5 billion York Central regeneration project, one of the UK’s largest and most ambitious city centre developments.
Working alongside masterplan lead Allies and Morrison and an acclaimed group of architects and landscape designers including Grant Associates, Sheppard Robson, Cartwright Pickard, Corstorphine & Wright, 3DReid & Re-Form Landscape, Haworth Tompkins will take the lead on designing the affordable housing for the site. Our focus will be on delivering high-quality, sustainable homes that are accessible to all and designed with long-term community value in mind.
This project reflects our ongoing commitment to creating inclusive, beautifully designed places to live, and we are excited to help shape a vibrant new neighbourhood at the heart of York’s future.
We are excited to join the Bridgewater Triangle design team, including Allies and Morrison, Archio and LDA Design, for our client LLDC and Ballymore.
The residential-led masterplan will be a family focused neighbourhood with a diversity of accommodation designed to promote community and healthy life styles across different age groups, with a range of high-quality play opportunities, public realm and shared courtyards. We will be designing a number of low-to-mid-rise blocks providing much needed high-quality, low energy homes across all tenures.
We are working with @ hoarelea to align our proposals with the LLDC's, preparing for a 1.5 degree future design guide, which sets out a vision and aspirations for designing buildings within the context of the climate emergency.
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.