2023 Judges

Senior Environmental Designer
Etude

Andrea is an Associate and Team leader of the Energy and Carbon team at Greengage Environmental. She has worked international as an Architect and Environmental Designer for over 10 years, delivering low carbon and energy buildings through sustainable strategy proposals.

Andrea’s background is in architecture and since 2013 she has been providing sustainable development advice for major projects from a consultancy perspective.

Projects, focusing primarily on historic buildings.

She is a specialist in the field of ‘Sustainable retrofit’ and has co-authored publications on the subject: Sustainable Refurbishment: a toolkit for going green (for GBI), MEES and Heritage Properties: Mitigating risks through the procurement and interpretation of EPCs (with BBP), Minimum Energy Standards: Time to get ready (for RIBA).

Key areas of expertise include:

• Embedding net zero thinking into organisational and corporate decision making through capacity building of staff and teams to be ready for net zero legislation.

• Designing and communicating bespoke organisational sustainability strategies at a corporate level to enable organisations to reduce the carbon emissions of their projects throughout the building life cycle. This includes considering both operational and embodied carbon elements.

• Calculating Whole Life-Cycle Carbon emissions from buildings and developing an approach which reduces all associated carbon emissions, including identifying ‘big ticket’ and ‘quick win’ items.

• Developing effective strategies and delivery tools for multi-use developments, including embodied carbon, circular economy, carbon reporting and sustainability frameworks.

• Assessing occupant comfort and experience through monitoring and qualitative analysis and using this information to inform future strategies.

Throughout Andrea’s career she has developed the ability to effectively translate client necessities into practical solutions through engagement with stakeholders. During this time, she has gained an in-depth knowledge of the multi-disciplinary nature of large projects, ensuring her advice is always compatible with any additional progressive aspirations.

Director
Elliott Wood Partnership

Andy Downey is a Director at Elliott Wood. An engineer with a desire to make simple, elegant and innovative structures that work well. Andy applies a detailed but practical approach to sustainable design solutions, which has helped to conceive and craft beautiful and award-winning buildings in the UK.

Director of Projects
Buckley Gray Yeoman

Anna joined Buckley Gray Yeoman in 2023 as their Director of Projects to look at delivery of projects across the office after a 25 year career delivering award winning projects mainly in the education and residential sectors. Her particular passion and expertise is sustainability in its broadest sense, which she focuses on as a director of a community energy organisation and a steering group member of Architect’s Declare among other activities.

Director
Dow Jones

Biba founded Dow Jones Architects in 2000 with Alun Jones. Recent projects include Maggie’s Cardiff, the Garden Museum and Grand Junction. She is a design review panel member, an architectural awards assessor, and an external examiner.

Director
Whittaker Parsons

Camilla is Director at Whittaker Parsons, an award-winning architectural practice based in east London, interested in the ethical and sustainable craft of building. The studio has recently been featured in the Architecture Foundation’s ‘New Architects 4’ publication and prides itself on making bold yet carefully considered interventions. Clients include private homeowners, leading artists, and international retailers.

With a background in cultural master planning and architectural conservation, Camilla is interested in bringing new life to existing buildings and spaces, exploring how materials and craftsmanship come together to make spaces for the long term. Before forming the studio in 2015, Camilla gained a wide range of experience in the conservation, cultural, education, and residential sectors. Whilst at Burd Haward Architects, she worked on the RIBA award-winning Mottisfont Abbey Visitor Centre for the National Trust and the cultural master plan for the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh. She also worked on the master plan for the Royal Observatory Greenwich and was part of Purcell’s conservation advisory team for the Natural History Museum central hall program.

Camilla has been a guest critic at numerous schools of architecture and enjoys running architectural talks and workshops in east-end schools.

Director + Founder
Assorted Skills + Talents*

Chris has worked in architecture for twenty years, after studying at the Glasgow School of Art and Bartlett he quickly rose to director level at two of the UK’s largest practices and was until recently a board level Design Director at Capita|ESA with over 200 staff. He led his team there to an RIBA National Award and four Civic Trust commendations. In Autumn of 2017 he founded Assorted Skills + Talents* a practice which crosses boundaries between architecture, property strategy, and digital creative consultancy. He believes in using BIM + VR to bring clients into his designs from the outset.

Associate Director
WilkinsonEyre

Conor is an Associate Director at WilkinsonEyre with over 15 years’ experience, working across a range of sectors including bridges, retail, commercial and hospitality. He led the One Barangaroo hotel in Sydney which encouraged a fascination with urban regeneration. Since returning from Australia, Conor has headed up a number of the practices commercial schemes including the regeneration of the 25 Canada Square tower which has proved to be a great project to explore the potentials of futureproofing larger buildings without the need for demolition.

Lecturer
The Bartlett School of Architecture

Daisy Froud is a strategist specialising in community engagement and participatory design. She devises tools and processes that enable diverse voices to meaningfully contribute to design decision-making, and to shaping the future of places in intelligent, imaginative and equitable ways. From 2003 to 2014 Daisy was a founding director of architecture practice AOC, where she was shortlisted in 2014 for The AJ’s inaugural Emerging Woman Architect of the Year Award. She is a Teaching Fellow at The Bartlett School of Architecture, where she lectures on the history and theory of spatial politics, sits on design review panels for the London Boroughs of Barking & Dagenham and Croydon, chairs the London Borough of Ealing Community Design Review Panel and the London Borough of Camden’s Euston Resident Advisory Group, and is a Mayoral Design Advocate for the Mayor of London.

Gallerist/Architect
Velorose

David Rosenberg directs the multi-disciplinary architecture practice, design firm, and art gallery Velorose from the ground floor of a small residential development which was designed by the practice in the Barbican, London.

At any one time, Velorose will be designing a residential project, establishing the feasibility of realising a large-scale art installation, developing a retail brand, staging an exhibition of art with an architectural focus, and arranging a related dance performance in nearby Charterhouse Square.

David has worked for Venturi Scott Brown, Foster + Partners, taught at UCL, and been a visiting critic at a variety of UK schools of architecture. He has often appeared on radio, TV, and once on the fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square. He leads popular architecture and art tours, and is a trustee for a listed brutalist house, in Central London, and of Firstsite, in Colchester - Museum of the Year 2021.

Director
Holistic Sustainability

Dr Dorte Rich Jørgensen is founding director of Holistic Sustainability Ltd. Dorte is a Sustainability Leader with extensive experience from working within world-class and global engineering design and consultancy businesses in the built environment. Experience includes winning work, delivering projects, and leading sustainability teams.

As a sustainability design manager, and chartered engineer of CIBSE, Dorte has a demonstrated track record in embedding sustainable solutions and delivering cutting-edge and award-winning projects like a commercial refurbishment, Cambridge Children Hospital, London 2012 Olympics, and Chiswick Park.

With a national profile, Dorte collaborates with, and influences, leading industry practitioners and businesses, academics and Universities, government representatives, professional institutions, and industry bodies. Dorte was sponsored by the Royal Academy of Engineering to act as a Visiting Professor of Innovation at Heriot Watt University in 2011-2015. She acted as Industry Director for the Royal Academy of Engineering Centre for Excellence in Sustainable Building Design in 203-2015. Dorte has multiple publications, both through the industry and the press, and is a key-note speaker.

Dorte is a BREEAM Accredited Professional, BREEAM NC 2018 qualified and a CEEQUAL assessor. Dorte is undergoing training in regenerative buildings certification.

Founder & Climate Literacy Champion
BakerBrown Studio & University of Brighton

Co-founder of BBM Sustainable Design, Duncan has worked on projects as diverse as 'The Greenwich Millennium Village' with Ralph Erskine and HTA, and more recently the multi-award-winning New Country House at Hadlow Down. Author of ‘The Re-Use Atlas: a designer’s guide towards a circular economy’, Duncan has practiced, taught and researched around issues of sustainable development for over 25 years. He is perhaps best known for a series of thought-provoking ‘house’ projects including The Brighton Waste House (2014) and 'The House that Kevin Built’ (2008).

Head of Design
Old Oak & Park Royal Development Corporation
Associate Principal
Grimshaw

Elyse is an Associate at Grimshaw and has worked for the practice for 15 years since graduating from the University of Bath. She has established a diverse experience of complex projects in the transport, education, and leisure sectors. She has a particular fondness for working with historic buildings, including Grimshaw’s own recently converted Herman Miller Factory in Bath.

Other projects include laboratory buildings for the University of Southampton’s Boldrewood Campus and the Oman Botanic Garden which is currently on site. In addition to her practice work, she is a third-year design tutor back at her alma mater.

Most recently she has taken a sabbatical from the practice to complete her Masters in Building History at the University of Cambridge, which has led to her working at Historic England as a Heritage at Risk Projects Officer for the last nine months.

She is an accredited RIBA Conservation Architect and in 2020 she was named in the AJ’s 40 under 40.

Principal
Eva Jiřičná Architects and AI Design

Eva Jiricna’s long career in Britain began with a job at The Greater London Council followed by 10 years at The Louis de Soissons Partnership working on the Brighton Marina project. In1980 she joined The Richard Rogers Partnership, where she was responsible for some of the exterior and all of the interior design packages for the Lloyds HQ building. Later on in 1984 Eva founded her practice - EJAL and in 1999 with Petr Vagner AI Design in Prague. Recent projects completed in the UK include the implementation of the Masterplan at the V&A and the new Bollinger Jewellery Gallery, Fine & Designer Jewellery halls for Harrods, and schemes for Boodles in prestigious locations throughout the UK. In 2014 a modern intervention in the West Wing of Somerset House including a new Miles Staircase woven into the historic fabric of the building. In 2017 EJAL completed the new Tiffany Gallery for NYHS in New York and a new Faculty of Humanities - a building which joined previously constructed large development of The Cultural Centre and Bata’s University in Zlin.

Eva Jiricna and her London and Prague practices have won numerous international design awards. Its clients include major corporate and public organizations such as Amec plc, Jubilee Line Extension, Andersen Consulting, Boodles Jewellers, the Royal Academy of Arts, Selfridges, Harrods, Victoria and Albert Museum, Somerset House and The New-York Historical Society and many others.

Over the years, Jiricna’s contribution to architecture and design has been recognised with many prestigious awards, among others the Jane Drew Prize, she was introduced into the American Hall of Fame and honoured by Doctorates and Professorships by many Universities. Eva has a strong commitment to architectural education, giving frequent talks and workshops to students as well as being an External Examiner at several Universities. She participates frequently on architectural juries and Lectures on her work internationally .

Co-Founder
Connolly Wellingham Architects
London Studio Lead (Architecture & Masterplanning)
Atkins

Gabi has over twenty years of international architectural experience across multiple sectors. She currently leads a London Studio of 130 architects, masterplanners, landscape and interior architects and designers which sits as part of the wider Building Design Practice within Atkins. She is responsible for both setting the strategic direction of the London studio as well as developing people and projects in the entire London region.

She has a strong track record of designing, delivering and managing large, complex projects and her additional qualifications as a Project Manager inform her functional and efficient approach to the design process. Notable projects include the award-winning Gardens by The Bay in Singapore and the Wellcome Collection Development Project as well as leading the Euston Masterplan for HS2 and the 1.3 million sqft, 44-storey tower refurbishment for Citibank in Canary Wharf.

Gabi is passionate about supporting the next generation of architects and industry professionals and in addition to her role as a Professional (RIBA Part III) Examiner, during her 15 years at WilkinsonEyre, she founded both the Annual Mentoring Programme, as well as the WECollective – a diverse forum of proactive individuals promoting positive change, creativity, intellectual stimulation and a supportive environment for career development across the practice.

Associate
Ian Chalk Architects

Giles is an Associate and Project Architect at Ian Chalk Architects. Since he joined in 2014, he has worked on a number of projects across the ‘heritage’ and ‘arts and culture’ sectors with a particular focus on adaptive re-use of buildings and cross laminated timber. He was the Project Architect on Raine House Community Centre; the careful repair and refurbishment of a 1719 former charity school in East London, and more recently Chart Street Studios; the adaptive re-use of a 1930’s furniture warehouse in Hackney, winner of an RIBA London Awards, the NLA Retrofit Award and overall winner of the 2022 AJ Retrofit of the Year Awards. He is currently leading the refurbishment and extension of the Grade II listed Cambridge Arts Theatre, Cambridge.

Giles studied as the University of Liverpool and later at the Cass / London Metropolitan University and has as kept an active role in education since. He has taught at the University of Liverpool since 2018 with Studio Pen & Inc a unit focusing on the creation of livable citeies and more recently the regeneration of the post covid high streets.

Associate
Feilden Fowles

Ingrid joined Feilden Fowles in 2011, after graduating with Distinction from the Architecture School of Versailles. While completing her Masters, Ingrid studied at the Mackintosh School of Architecture and the Kyoto Institute of Technology, looking at housing typologies in Japan. At Feilden Fowles, Ingrid has worked on a range of projects across the arts and culture, education and heritage sectors. She was project architect on the recently completed scheme at Pinewood School and the multi-award winning, Grade 1 listed extension to Carlisle Cathedral, The Fratry. Ingrid is now overseeing Feilden Fowles’ new graduate accommodation and student facilities at Green Templeton College, University of Oxford. She also led the winning bid in the National Railway Museum’s Central Hall Design Competition, which includes a £16.5 million centrepiece exhibition building due for completion in 2025, Feilden Fowles’ largest cultural project to date.

Ingrid plays a key role in the management of the practice, heading up business development, strategic planning and resourcing within the team. Ingrid ran a design unit with Edmund Fowles at London Metropolitan University for three years, focusing on new models of education buildings. She maintains an active role in education, with regular lectures and mentoring. Ingrid was selected as one of the RIBA J’s 2020 Rising Stars in recognition of her talents and achievements. Ingrid is also a finalist in the MJ Long Prize, as part of the W Awards 2021, and named RIBA North West Architect of the Year 2022.

Principal
Jas Bhalla Architects

Jas is a qualified Architect, Town Planner and Urban Designer with over 13 years of experience in masterplanning, strategic urbanism, and architectural design at all scales. His practice is currently undertaking a range of projects, including domestic extensions, infill housing schemes and large scale urban extensions. In 2020 he was recognised as one of the Architect Journal’s “40 under 40”.

Jas Bhalla Architects have a growing reputation for affordable housing design and policy, having won the William Sutton Prize in 2019 and the Housing for a Better World competition established by Brick by Brick and the Stephan Lawrence Trust in 2020.

He is a member of design review panels for Essex, Hounslow and Redbridge. Prior to establishing the practice Jas held positions at Kohn Pederson Fox, Adjaye Associates, and Allies and Morrison. Uniquely, Jas studied at the Bartlett School of Planning before completing his architectural education at Yale University as the recipient of the prestigious Fulbright Scholarship.

Associate
Henley Halebrown

Jennifer is an Associate at Henley Halebrown. She has led a number of the studio's commercial projects, including a refurbished and reconfigured hotel, One Hundred Shoreditch, and Barge House, a new 5-storey office building currently on site. Her experience has led her to engage with a variety of clients on a diverse range of project types across all stages of development.

Prior to joining Henley Halebrown, Jennifer gained varied professional experience working for Moshe Safdie Architects in both the USA and China, along with residential expertise working in London.

Jennifer has a passion for building a diverse profession, leading Henley Halebrown’s EDI Working Group and is key to running the studio’s outreach programme, including the “Introduction to Architecture” schools programme.

Co-founder
O’DonnellBrown

Jennifer is co-founder of O’DonnellBrown, a Glasgow based practice on a mission to bring about positive change in the communities they work with.

Under Jennifer’s leadership the studio has gained early and critical recognition, as the only UK finalist in 2019’s Architectural Review Emerging Architecture Awards, as a ‘stand-out practice’ in The Architect’s Journal 40 under 40, which recognises architecture’s brightest up-and-coming talent, and as a featured practice in The Architecture Foundation’s ‘New architects 4’, a major publication surveying the best British architectural practices established in the past ten years.

Jennifer has recently joined the Design Council’s network of experts and is looking forward to supporting the Design Council in their mission to make life better by design.

A graduate of the Mackintosh School of Architecture, Jennifer has maintained links with Glasgow’s architecture schools, both as visiting critic and design tutor. She is passionate about using these roles to help educate the next generation about the built environment and the social responsibility that comes with shaping it.

Senior Lecturer
University of West of England, Bristol

Dr. Jill Zhao is a Senior Lecturer in Architecture at UWE Bristol. Previously she has held academic positions at University of Lincoln and University of Edinburgh, in addition to working in international practices in Beijing, Edinburgh and London. Jill's expertise lies in low carbon design and technology, comfort and occupant behaviour. She also has a special interest in Passivhaus.

Director & co-founder
Fourth Street

Jim has more than 25yrs experience advising clients across the leisure, culture and heritage sectors throughout the UK and internationally. During this time, Jim has honed his skills and expertise on the re-purposing of historic buildings and spaces, with a focus on the long-term sustainability of the businesses that occupy them. Notable successes include the National Waterfront Museum in Swansea, the Giant’s Causeway, Cyclopark in Kent, The Etches Collection in Dorset and Farsons’ Old Brewhouse in Malta. Jim was one of the founding directors of Fourth Street that is now part of the Place Capital Group of companies.

Architect / Director
Editional Studio

Jo is co-director of Editional Studio a Manchester based architecture and design shop that celebrates sustainable, considered design. We work from our high-street shop, on projects of all scales and with a diversity of people, embracing the chance encounters that come with shopkeeping. The studio is profiled in the Architect’s Journal 40 under 40 “a who’s who of the nation’s next generation of boundary-pushing designers and innovators” and we are featured in the Architecture Foundation’s ‘New Architects 4’ showcasing the best practices in British architecture of the last 10 years.

Jo completed her RIBA Part 1 at Manchester School of Architecture with a First Class Honours and her Parts 2 and 3 at London Metropolitan University and the Architecture Association, graduating from both with Distinction. She continues to work in academia, running a masters studio at The University of Sheffield researching retrofit and re-use. She has been a guest reviewer at The University of Cambridge, London Metropolitan University and The University of Nottingham. She has previously given talks with MatriArch and UrbanistasNW and continues to be advocate for a more representative industry.

Developer
TOWN

Jonny Anstead is founding director of TOWN, a developer with a mission to create good places for better lives. TOWN’s first built project, the multi-award-winning Marmalade Lane in Cambridge, was one of the country’s first purpose-built cohousing developments, and has featured extensively in best practice and guidance as a model of good design and community-building. Jonny is Chair of the Quality of Life Foundation, a charity established to promote health, wellbeing and sustainability within the built environment.

Director
Fathom Architects

Justin founded Fathom Architects and leads the design direction of the practice with a combination of his inquisitive nature, creativity and proven technical skill.

His architecture career spans over 30 years. During 11 years at Foster+Partners, Justin worked on a series of international projects including Beijing International Airport, leaving as Project Director in 2004 to become one of the original Partners of Make. Here he led a team focused on heritage, residential and higher education for 12 years, delivering high profile projects such as Grosvenor Waterside, St James’s Market and The Big Data Institute for The University of Oxford.

Justin has been a Built Environment Expert for Design Council. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, a trustee of the Westminster Society and an active member of Design South East’s Oxford and Brighton’s Design Review Panels tasked with supporting communities, local authorities and developers in the delivery of high-quality design. He is a Freeman of the City of London as a Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Chartered Architects.

He trained at the University of Bath and The Royal College of Art. As a member of the RIBA Education Review Practice Committee, Justin helps develop the agenda for changes in the structure, content and delivery of UK architecture education. He has been a tutor at UCL’s Bartlett School of Architecture and is an examiner at Greenwich and Westminster universities.


Head of School of Art, Design & Architecture
De Montfort University

Kate Cheyne is the Head of Leicester School of Art, Design & Architecture at De Montfort University, previously leading the architecture programme at the University of Brighton’s School of Architecture and Design. Educated at the Glasgow School of Art and the Bartlett, UCL, she worked in architectural practices in London, Israel and Sri Lanka, predominantly focussing on healthcare and housing projects, before co-founding and jointly directing the female-led, award-winning practice, Architects in Residence (AiR). At AiR, Kate led on innovative off-site construction (winner of the 2007 Wood Awards off-site construction category) and novel material investigations (2009, ‘Structural Pleats’ at Innovate UK, KTN Future Zone). In 2010 Kate worked with Development Workshop France in Haiti, as consultants to Save the Children USA, designing transitional schools that incorporated safer construction methods. Since 2011 she moved her practice knowledge into research and studio-based education, where she uses situated practice to investigate the collective self and gain a deeper understanding of place. The work explores cultural landscapes, rural industries, community networks, traditions, customs and folklore. Through their growth and adaptation, she, and her students, evolve spatial and material innovation for a rural condition with a regional focus on Isle of Portland, East Sussex and more recently, Leicestershire. A particular focus has been with an inter-disciplinary research group evaluating the textile industry and the potential for novel woven materials within the built environment including a proof-of-concept structural health monitoring textile for application to the built environment.

Previously the deputy head for learning and teaching at Brighton’s School of Architecture & Design, the impact of her leadership in teaching was acknowledged by being awarded a Higher Education Academy Senior Fellowship (SFHEA). She retains external practice-based links through involvement with Planning Design Review Panels. She is a member of the Standing Conference of Heads of Schools of Architecture (SCHOSA), a board member of RIBA Validation Boards for UK based and International visits and an invited external examiner at a number of Universities ensuring she remains ahead of academic trends within the subject of Architecture.

Head of School / Director
Manchester School of Architecture / the space studio

Professor Kevin Singh is a Chartered Architect with a career in higher education that spans almost 30 years and is Head of the Manchester School of Architecture (www.msa.ac.uk) , a joint school between Manchester Metropolitan University and the University of Manchester of circa 1300 students which is ranked 5th in the QS world rankings for Architecture. The School currently offers RIBA Part 1, 2 and 3 courses, a Master of Landscape Architecture, MA Architecture + Urbanism, and MA Architecture + Adaptive Reuse, and a Foundation in Architecture.

He co-founded a practice the space* studio in 2000 alongside his academic career (www.tkaspacestudio.com), a small design-led practice which works across new build, refurbishment, and interiors in a number of sectors for an impressive client base. Notable projects are the interior of the English National Ballet, numerous concept designs for Manchester City Football Club, and new build social housing with Wayne Hemmingway.

He chairs RIBA Visiting Boards in the UK and internationally, is a member of the Manchester Society of Architects, and is currently an External Examiner at the Bartlett School of Architecture, University College London, and the Mackintosh School of Architecture at the Glasgow School of Art. He also mentors an SME practice in Birmingham.

Associate
Karakusevic Carson Architects

Kieren is an Associate at Karakusevic Carson Architects in their Birmingham studio where she leads public sector-led housing projects in the Midlands, London and in the South. She has extensive experience and knowledge of housing design and residential-led masterplans for government and regional authorities, and regularly works on initiatives with public sector collaborators, such as the West Midlands Combined Authority, Design Council and Homes England, including the West Midlands Design Charter. As an advocate for greater diversity in architecture and the built environment and her work to elevate key issues in the sector, Kieren was named a 2018 RIBA Rising Star, and was featured as part of the RIBA’s Award Winning BAME architect’s programme.

Design Director
AKT II

Kieron is a design director at the design-led engineering practice AKT II, with leadership of the firm’s projects across several sectors. Having originally joined the practice as a CAD technician, Kieron’s drive and ambition has ultimately propelled him to the role of director within just 15 years; he’s regarded as one of the industry’s future designers – as underscored by his receipt of the BCO NextGen Rising Star Award in 2022.

Founder
Barker-Walsh

Property expert, writer & broadcaster Kunle Barker began his construction career whilst studying for a MA at the University of Leeds. In 2004, Kunle set up Illustrious Homes, an award-winning Construction and Design Management Company, specialising in delivering high profile projects. To date, Kunle has delivered over a thousand residential refurbishments, education and sports centre refits, and countless high-end private renovations.

Kunle & Illustrious Homes have won many awards including ‘2018 Property Expert of the year’ and ‘Design & Build company of the year’. As one of the country’s leading construction and housing experts, Kunle has also consulted with the government, meeting with Secretary of State Matthew Hancock to discuss the countries construction challenges.

From a broadcast perspective, Kunle’s expertise has seen him co-present high profile TV formats alongside Alan Titchmarsh and work with Sarah Beeny. He is also a regular host and speaker at Grand Designs & UK Construction week alongside Kevin McCloud and is part of the expert line up for Ideal Home Show with Charlie Luxton & Phil Spencer.

Kunle writes a regular construction and building Q&A column for Grand Designs Magazine and is a monthly columnist at Architects Journal. He is also COO of Melt Property and the non-executive director of Studio Anyo.

Most recently, Kunle has presented Grand Designs Live from Home, an Instagram Live show over 16 Episodes, alongside working with the team at Grand Designs live 2021 to curate the content for this year’s event.

Senior Associate
Reiach and Hall Architects
Architectural Assistant Part 2 - Currently undertaking Part 3
New Makers Bureau

Laura Keay is an architectural assistant at New Makers Bureau, a London-based architecture practice, that makes low-carbon buildings with a focus on the inherent value of materials; be they natural, reused, recycled or repurposed.

A graduate of The Bartlett, her work (and that of the NMB) explores an integrated approach to the reuse of materials in construction, combining the best of old and new technologies, using hyper-local materials. That enables a focus on sustainable local development while preserving the cultural heritage of regional construction knowledge.

First year co-lead and design studio tutor
Sheffield School of Architecture

Laura Mark is an award-winning architecture critic, curator, editor and filmmaker based in London.

She is the Keeper of Walmer Yard and runs the Baylight Foundation, where she curates a number of cultural programmes and projects which look at how we experience architecture. Laura is currently undertaking a PhD at Newcastle University which looks at our experience of domestic spaces and the museumification of the home through an autoethnographic study of Walmer Yard.

She is the co-lead for the first year undergraduate course at Sheffield School of Architecture and has previously taught at the Bartlett School of Architecture, University of Greenwich and the Birmingham School of Architecture and Design. She also runs a unit at the annual summer programme – Studio in the Woods. At the beginning of lockdown, Laura launched a series of events titled the Virtual Unit, designed to support students who were now completing their studies at home. Laura has been a guest critic at numerous schools of architecture including Sweden’s UMEA University, Sheffield School of Architecture, Reading School of Architecture, Bartlett School of Architecture, Central St Martins, and the Royal College of Art.

Trained as an architect, Laura spent five years in architectural practice before joining the editorial team of the Architects’ Journal. She went on to become the magazine’s Digital Editor, where she oversaw a comprehensive redesign of its digital offering. Later she became the magazine’s Architecture Editor, looking after every aspect of its coverage. During her time at the magazine, Laura won numerous awards for her work including IBP’s Multi-Media Journalist of the Year in both 2015 and 2016. Laura now writes freelance for a number of publications including RIBA Journal, Dezeen, Icon, The Developer and the Architectural Review. She has also edited books and website texts for practices including Robin Lee Architecture, Feilden Fowles, Gort Scott and ZCD Architects.

She has directed a number of films including the documentary Zaha: An Architecture Legacy (2017) which has been shown at festivals in London, Milan, New York and Miami. Laura is currently working on a new series of films entitled Practice, which follow the studio culture of architects from Piers Taylor and Sam Jacob to Mary Duggan and O’Donnell and Tuomey. The first episode, which was released in February 2020, has been shown at the Dezeen Virtual Design Festival, Palm Springs Architecture, Design, and Art Film Festival and New York Architecture Design Film Festival.

In 2020, Laura was named by the London Festival of Architecture and the Design Museum as one of ‘an emerging generation of voices in architecture who are expanding the parameters of what architecture can be, who London is for and what its future holds’.

Associate Director
Squire and Partners
Principal
Populous

Maria is a Principal at Populous. Since joining the practice in 2013, she has proved her design leadership on several large-scale sports and entertainment buildings. In 2019 she was awarded RIBA Journal’s Rising Star.

Her crowning achievement has been the design and delivery of the new Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, for which she was the lead designer, responsible for maintaining the highest standards of design from concept through to completion; a five year journey. In addition to this, she was also Project Architect for the multi-use Tottenham Experience building as part of the wider stadium development.

Maria now splits her time between Populous and the Bartlett, where she teaches an Undergraduate Unit, having taught for 8 years.

Architect & Partner
Studio PDP

Marion is an architect and author who has designed and delivered many large scale, complex projects. She collaborates with key developer clients and estates in central London, placing her passion for low energy design at the centre of her work. Part of the NLA Net Zero panel, she approaches sustainability with a pioneering attitude, her book ‘Residential Retrofits, 20 Case Studies’ followed the delivery of the award winning Princedale Road project which was the first certified PassivHaus retrofit in the UK. Most recently, she has been involved in the Chelsea Barracks development, the restoration of The Garrison Chapel and the contemporary and sensitive upgrade of Eighty Strand.

Senior Associate
Townshend Landscape Architects

Martha Alker is a Landscape Architect who has had extensive experience of the planning and delivery of a wide range of projects from small roof terraces through to substantial masterplans both abroad and in the UK. Her experience includes residential, commercial, mixed use and education. She has considerable experience of outline, detailed and hybrid planning applications and of working in the context of listed buildings. Her interest lies in the creation of places for people of all walks of life and the integration of the built and natural environment. She is a design review panel member and an examiner for the Landscape Institute Pathway to Chartership.

Co-founder
Dress for the Weather
Co-founder / Director
nimtim architects

Nimi is director and co founder of nimtim architects, starting the practice in 2014 alongside Tim. Nimi brings energy, positivity and sense of adventure to everything she does. She has been appointed as an External Examiner for Manchester University, a judge for both Surface Design Awards and British Homes Awards and is on the steering group for RIBA Guerrilla Tactics conference.

Nimi is a qualified garden and landscape designer and leads our nimtim landscapes department. A UK qualified architect since 2008, she has worked for some of London’s most highly regarded practices including Penoyre & Prasad and Hawkins/ Brown where she was a project architect for Corby Cube and other significant developments such as Metropolitan Wharf in Wapping.

Nimi has helped lead nimtim architects to become one of the most recognised and celebrated young architecture practices in the UK. Nimtim have been named as part of the Architecture Foundations ‘new architects 4’, *Wallpaper’s ‘20 practices to watch in 2020’ and one of The Architect’s Journal’s ‘40 under 40’. Most recently nimtim have won places on two lots as part of the London Mayor’s Architecture and Urbanism (A+U) framework.

Nimi is a member of the Design South East Panel and Frame Design Review Panel for a number of London Boroughs. These multi-disciplinary panels of leading construction professionals provides a clear, constructive and consistent voice on design quality in the built environment for Local Authorities and across SE England.

Director
NOOMA Studio

Nooma Studio founder, Ramsey Yassa, is an architect from North London. He was born and raised in inner London in the City of Westminster. His mother is an author of children’s books and his father is a restaurateur, they both emigrated to England at a young age from Egypt in the 1970s. Ramsey’s upbringing is reflected in his exploration of play and narrative through design.

Ramsey spent a number of years working as a lead designer on complex, international projects such as Stadia and hospital design whilst working at HOK. Prior to this he worked on different tenure-type housing schemes for Glas Architects, with experience of all RIBA Design Stages 0-7. Before founding NOOMA Studio, Ramsey joined Terrence O’Rourke as an Associate Director to spearhead numerous housing schemes for Berkeley group and Crest from stages 0-4 ranging in scale from 100-3000 units. Notable projects include the redevelopment of the Horlicks Factory in Slough.

As founder of NOOMA studio, Ramsey has developed a specialist approach to human-centric design. NOOMA studio has been nominated as a RIBA Journals Rising Stars for ‘innovation in collaborative practice’ and listed on the Architects’ Journal’s 40 Under 40 as ‘one of architecture’s brightest up and coming talents’

Founding Director
Threefold Architects

Renée Searle is a founding director of RIBA award-winning architectural practice Threefold. With a focus on the strategic vision of housing and the creation of effective, harmonious neighbourhoods, Renée has led Threefold’s mixed use and housing schemes for private and local authority developers across London boroughs including Haringey, Croydon, Harrow and Barking & Dagenham. She is dedicated to designing inclusive and transformative homes, workplaces and public spaces and has taught and lectured on design and sustainable housing at UCL, UAL and Syracuse University. Renée is a member of Ealing & Bromley Design Review Panels and OPDC Place Review Group.

Architect
The National Trust

Rob is an Architect working for the National Trust in the Midlands and East of England, working on heritage and conservation projects across the National Trust region alongside new visitor facilities with a focus on sustainable solutions and climate change.

Previously, Rob spent 9 years in architecture practice, most recently being an Associate Director at an award winning architecture practice working on domestic, commercial, and heritage projects. A number of commercial and domestic projects Rob worked on won regional and national awards.

Rob is a visiting lecturer at the University of Nottingham, having completed his Part 3 studies, and is involved with over judging panels and events.

Fellow
Cullinan Studio

Robin Nicholson is a Fellow of the cooperative architecture practice, Cullinan Studio, which he joined in 1979. He is Convenor of the multi-disciplinary built and natural environment think-tank, The Edge; he chairs the Cambridgeshire Quality Panel and is an Hon. Prof. at the University of Nottingham.

Previously he was a Vice-President of the RIBA (1992-94), Chairman of the Construction Industry Council (1998-2000), a founder member of the Movement for Innovation Board (1998-2001), a CABE Commissioner (2002-10) and a Non-Executive Director of the NHBC (2007-14)

Director
RCKa

Russell is a founding director of RCKa, a London-based architectural practice that specialises in innovative residential, community and commercial projects. RCKa was winner of the inaugural RIBA London Emerging Practice of the Year in 2015 and has won two Housing Design Awards, once in 2011 and again in 2018.

Russell is also a founding director of Project Compass CIC, a not-for-profit research organisation that campaigns for better procurement of public buildings, a trustee of the Architecture Foundation, a member of the LLDC Quality Review Panel, Croydon’s Place Review Panel and a Mayor’s Design Advocate.

Architect and Partner
Cullinan Studio

Sahiba Chadha is an architect and partner at co-operative practice Cullinan Studio. She is interested in the intersection between socially and environmentally responsible design. She also works with Open City to deliver Accelerate, a widening participation programme for students from underrepresented backgrounds. Sahiba has broadcast experience appearing on CBBC’s The Dengineers, as a current host of Open City’s Londown Podcast, and is part of the RIBA Rising Star 2018 cohort.

Director Collaborative Practice
The University of Sheffield

Satwinder Samra is an award winning architect and educator. After graduating with a first class honours and distinction from Sheffield University he went on to work with Urban Splash, Proctor and Matthews and founded Sauce Architecture. He is currently Director of Collaborative Practice at the Sheffield School of Architecture. He often supports leading architectural practices as an advisor and collaborator. Satwinder is also an onscreen Designer with ‘The Degineers’ on CBBC, an RIBA Role Model and Trustee of S1 Artspace.

Architect, Educator and Researcher
Deft Space/UAL

Shade Abdul is an architect, educator and researcher. She leads an interdisciplinary practice called Deft.Space, which works across architecture, research and participation. Her work focuses on participatory action research and inclusive regeneration that address socio-economic inequality. She is driven by design that is led by an in-depth understanding of not only the physical fabric, but also the social and economic conditions.

Shade currently teaches BA Architecture at Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London. She is a member of Southwark Council’s Land Commission, the first of its kind in London and only the second in England. She is a member of Newham Council’s Design Review Panel and a member of the Urban Design London’s Environmental Design Review Panel. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.

Managing Director
Targeting Zero

Simon Sturgis AADip RIBA is an environmental specialist focusing on embodied carbon in the built environment. He has written official Policy on Embodied and Whole Life Carbon for the RICS, the RIBA and the GLA’s new London Plan. He is an advisor to government departments, UKGBC, EU Commission, the CIC, and the RIBA Stirling Prize. His book ‘Targeting Zero – Embodied and Whole Life carbon explained” is a standard work on the subject. He advises commercial and residential clients eg: British Land, Schroders, and Google. He has spoken at many international conferences, including COP 24, and is currently fighting several new build schemes by promoting retrofit alternatives. Simon was recently appointed Special Advisor to the Environmental Audit Select Committee.

Senior Associate and Head of Sustainability
Morrow + Lorraine

Stephanie’s role at Morrow + Lorraine focuses on establishing and implementing regenerative design principles and promoting circular-economy solutions in the built environment. Leading the practice’s sustainability agenda, Stephanie is actively spearheading the conversation on designing buildings and spaces which help deliver low carbon, zero-waste and biodiverse construction schemes. She is instigating the RIBA 2030 Climate Challenge metrics, outlining sustainable design principles for projects, undertaking embodied carbon assessments on new schemes, pushing for post-occupancy evaluations, and promoting climate literacy in the office.

Stephanie is a certified Passivhaus Designer and a coordinator of the ACAN Natural Materials working group. She mentors a range of younger architects and is engaged in practice leadership.

Director
EPR Architects

Stephen is a director at EPR with over fifteen years of experience. He specialises in the design and delivery of workplace, residential and mixed-use buildings in the City of London, Westminster and the West End. Stephen is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and is judge for architectural awards across the sectors. He also mentors architecture students within EPR to achieve their professional status. Stephen’s interests lie in how non-architectural influences can be incorporated within buildings; pushing boundaries sustainably, culturally, technologically and aesthetically. He is actively involved in all stages of projects from initial design to delivery.

Director
Webb Yates Engineers

Steve founded Webb Yates Engineers with Andy Yates in 2005.

He started his career as a site engineer for the Jubilee Line Extension, gaining first-hand experience of site issues and subterranean construction in London. He went on to work at Whitby Bird and Sinclair Knight Merz and Santiago Calatrava, where he worked on prestigious projects including Wembley Arena and the Turning Torso tower in Sweden, a 58 storey residential tower with a dramatic twisting form achieved with a hybrid steel and concrete frame.

Steve has pioneered the practice’s approach to innovation and sustainability. Encouraging the use of non-conventional materials, from cast iron to cork and from inflatables to stone, to design low carbon and environmentally conscious structures.

In 2020 Steve was awarded the Milne Medal, for continuously challenge and redefine what is considered possible in structural design.

Steve also regularly lectures at universities and events, has taught at the AA, RCA, and the Bartlett, has written for industry magazines including BD and the RIBAJ, and has judged various awards including for the RIBA and iStructE.

Director
Ecologic Architects

Sumita is an architect, teacher and writer with awards including the UIA:UNESCO, Women In Business and Atkins Inspire. Sumita founded Architects For Change, the Equality forum at RIBA and is past Chair of Women In Architecture. Sumita has served on many RIBA committees for over 25 years, including the professional standards panel. She is a non-executive Director of Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. Sumita is a trustee of Architects Benevolent Society, Waltham Abbey Royal Gunpowder Mills and Commonwealth Association of Architects; and founding director of Charushila, an environmental design charity. She has also taught sustainable design for over 25 years and is a visiting Professor at the Politecnico di Milano. Sumita is the author of several books on architecture and sustainable design.

Director
tp bennett
Senior Advisor
Pollard Thomas Edwards

Teresa is one of Pollard Thomas Edwards’ senior equity partners. She has over 30 years’ experience in the housing, mixed-use and regeneration sectors and has designed and delivered a series of successful and award-winning projects. She is known for her close attention to detail and has a particular enthusiasm for complicated, messy, redundant sites. In 2015 Teresa was awarded AJ Woman Architect of the Year 2015.

Director
DSDHA

Tom Greenall is an architect, educator and Director of DSDHA. His experience covers a range of scales and sectors, from landscape design for the Royal Albert Hall and the British Library to public realm frameworks for the West End, Mayfair, Broadgate and Loughborough Junction; and from residential and commercial schemes in central London through to education projects in Sheffield and Doncaster.

Since 2011, Tom has taught an architectural design studio at the Royal College of Art. He is also a Part 3 examiner at the University of Westminster, an external examiner at the Architectural Association, and was previously a visiting tutor at the Sandberg Institute in Amsterdam, where he taught as part of the founding faculty of an experimental, tuition-free masters programme.

He is currently a member of the of the UK Architects Declare Steering Group, the Chair of the Wandsworth and Richmond Design Review Panel, Co-chair of the Brent Quality Review Panel, and a member of the Ealing Design Review Panel. In 2019 he guest-edited an issue of AD magazine titled ‘The Business of Research: Learning and Knowledge Redefined in Architectural Practice’. With colleagues from DSDHA, he recently published “Towards Spatial Justice: A guide for achieving meaningful participation in co-design processes”.

Former RIBA Head of Awards
Freelance

Tony Chapman is not a trained architect but in 2011 the RIBA made him an Honorary Fellow for his contributions to architecture as a writer, film-maker and for his work as the RIBA’s Head of Awards.

Previously he made BBC documentaries about architecture. He has judged many architecture awards including the Mies van der Rohe Prize. He is author of 20 books including two on the Stirling Prize, a children’s book on architecture and three novels. He is currently doing an MA in creative writing and working on a book with Peter Zumthor and another on competitions.

Architect & Director
Transition by Design

Wongani Mwanza is an architect and director at Transition by Design Cooperative, an architecture and design community interest company based in Oxford. He specialises in community-led design and research projects with an environmental and social justice focus. In 2021, Wongani was selected to be a Design Council Associate Expert on the built environment. He has worked internationally for multi-award winning Krook & Tjäder in Stockholm, Sweden. Wongani is passionate about the circular economy and has researched architectural systems driven by principles of repair and reuse, with his work exhibited in the 2019 RIBA ‘Industrialised’ exhibition at Portland Place, London and hosting an RIBA podcast on the circular economy in 2023. He was a special guest and co-curated Modern Art Oxford's 2022 Adapt Transform Stories, a thematic series on community responses to urban design and creativity. He is an associate lecturer at Oxford Brookes School of Architecture and a mentor for POC in Architecture, which celebrates and supports final year undergraduate architecture students from diverse backgrounds.

Founding Director
Xanthe Quayle Landscape Architects

Xanthe Quayle is a chartered landscape architect with experience across landscape architecture and urban design. With 25 years in practice across the UK whilst at LDA Design (Oxford), Capita Lovejoys (London), and ECUS (Sheffield) she has led the independent design studio in the Pennines, West Yorkshire, for over ten years - since the practice’s evolution from the founding partners of Camlin Lonsdale through to the relaunching in 2019 as Xanthe Quayle Landscape Architects (XQLA). Her expertise has evolved through involvement in a broad range of regeneration and community schemes at national, regional and local levels, commonly with public realm at their heart. Most recently at Holland Park, London (Civic Trust Award 2021) and Sowerby Bridge Vision, Calderdale. She is appointed at a national level as a Design Council expert (2021) High Street Task Force expert, mentor and facilitator (2020) as well as sitting on the HS2 Independent Design Review Panel. She also sits on regional/local design review panels including PlacesMatter, Integreat Plus and DesigNE.