This summer we were pleased to welcome Oxford Brookes University student Maria Fernanda Almeida to the studio for a six-week paid work experience placement.

The opportunity arose through our commitments to the Oxford Covered Market project, as part of our ongoing programme of placements for students from Oxford Brookes. The internship enables students to gain experience of practice across a range of live projects and design stages.

During her placement, Maria Fernanda contributed to digital modelling and drawing work, research for Design and Access Statements, and attended consultant meetings. The experience offered an introduction to the collaborative processes behind architectural projects, from early research and planning through to design development and coordination.

Reflecting on her time with us, Maria Fernanda said:

“From my first day, I was made to feel like a member of the team, which allowed me to engage openly with the practice and gain a genuine insight into the profession.”

“Being able to apply SketchUp and Vectorworks to live projects allowed me to move beyond my academic understanding of the software and begin to recognise how digital modelling and drawing form part of a much wider architectural workflow. I was also fortunate to attend consultant meetings, which gave me valuable insight into the collaborative nature of architectural practice.”

Thank you, Maria Fernanda, for your contribution to the practice.

This summer, our team visited 71 Gloucester Place and 5 Fitzhardinge Street, two Grade II listed Georgian townhouses in Marylebone, where refurbishment works are now on site for The Portman Estate.

Located within The Portman Estate’s historic network of townhouses and garden squares, the buildings are being renewed to provide sustainable, high-quality serviced workspaces with shared amenities.

Our proposals balance sensitive repair and restoration with practical upgrades for contemporary working life. Original features — including fireplaces, cornices and wall panelling — will be retained, refurbished or reinstated where required, while the internal layouts are being reimagined to support a range of workplace needs.

A key ambition is to improve the buildings’ environmental performance while respecting their historic fabric. Measures include upgraded glazing, photovoltaic panels and a transition from gas heating to electric heat pumps. 

The projects are due for completion in early 2027.

We have been appointed alongside Haptic Architects and a multidisciplinary team to explore Floating Residential at Royal Victoria Dock West.

Over the next nine months, we’ll help develop proposals for floating homes, residential moorings and shared community infrastructure — considering how this first phase could support a welcoming, inclusive and climate-resilient waterside neighbourhood.

Local voices will be central to the process, with the first round of public engagement taking place this October.

Scott Derben, Managing Director of Royal Docks Waterways, said: “We were impressed by the way Haptic Architects, Gort Scott and the wider team approached this project. They are well placed to help us to understand whether and how to take forward a first phase of Floating Residential. And they’ve also identified how this project is a catalyst for the holistic improvement of all of Royal Victoria Dock West – carefully balancing public good with private investment to deliver London’s most welcoming, open and vibrant water-place. We’re looking forward to working with the team over the coming months to bring that thinking to life.”

Client: Royal Docks Waterways
Lead, Architect, Client Design Advisor: Haptic Architects
Architect and Principal Designer: Gort Scott
Business Case and QS: Stace
Commerical Advisor: Oakridge
M&E and Sustainability: Max Fordham
Structures, Civils and Marine Engineering: Price and Myers
Planning: Newmark
Engagement: Make:Good

Image: Royal Docks Waterways
 

Silver Street public toilets in Cambridge’s historic city centre have been officially opened to the public by the Mayor of Cambridge, Cllr Maria Cleminson, and the Leader of Cambridge City Council, Cllr Katie Thornburrow.

Gort Scott was commissioned by Cambridge City Council to refurbish and partially replace the existing Silver Street public toilets in Cambridge. The facilities, located largely beneath the street at river level, had previously been closed to the public due to maintenance issues and poor, congested access. 

Silver Street Bridge, opposite Queens’ College and overlooking the Mill Pond, is a listed location which attracts many visitors to the city, and the new toilets have been carefully designed to meet the needs of many thousands of international visitors each year and to fit in seamlessly with their historic surroundings.

Cllr Martin Smart, Cabinet Member for Nature, Open Space and City Services, said: 
“The new Silver Street toilets really enhance the cityscape in this historic and much-visited part of the city, and will provide a modern, well-managed facility for thousands of the visitors we welcome to Cambridge each year. The design prioritises safety, accessibility, and user confidence in its busy city-centre setting and demonstrates how high-quality contemporary design can successfully integrate with a sensitive historic setting while delivering lasting civic, environmental, and social value.”

The Old Oak Masterplan Framework has been shortlisted for this year’s NLA Awards in the Neighbourhoods & Masterplans ‘Unbuilt’ category.

Old Oak presents a unique opportunity for exemplary city-making at the strategic intersection of the Elizabeth Line and HS2, creating a major new urban district of local and national significance.

With connections extending across London, the UK and beyond, it is set to become a vital part of the capital’s future growth. Spanning the boroughs of Ealing, Brent and Hammersmith & Fulham, the district encompasses the area adjacent to the future Old Oak Common Station, from Harlesden to North Acton.

Approximately 8,000 new homes (including affordable) and 200,000sqm of commercial and community space will be delivered alongside new parks and green spaces, enhanced connectivity, and social infrastructure including a new primary school, leisure centre, nurseries, and cultural and community spaces. A series of distinctive neighbourhoods, varying in scale and character, will be carefully integrated into the wider context, connecting with Park Royal’s industrial heartland and Creative Enterprise Zone, Wormwood Scrubs and the Grand Union Canal.

A team led by Gort Scott, with Allies and Morrison and Periscope, has developed a Masterplan Framework for Old Oak that sets out a vision and guiding principles for a sustainable and inclusive new urban district. The framework establishes two distinct yet interconnected neighbourhoods: the residential-led Canalside Neighbourhood, supporting active and healthy lifestyles along the Grand Union Canal, and the Old Oak Town Centre, a major new town centre and hub of industrial innovation, strategically positioned along the WestTech London innovation corridor. Together, they create the foundations for a new piece of city that builds on the area’s rich industrial and cultural heritage.

The Old Oak Mile, the masterplan’s central spine, threads through these neighbourhoods, building on London’s tradition of mixed-use streets and shared public spaces. Framed by the distinctive character of the canal and two new urban centres, these neighbourhoods will provide safe, welcoming streets, green spaces and new and enhanced routes for walking and cycling, creating one connected place guided by ongoing collaboration with residents and stakeholders.

New parks and green spaces will form a connected green network across Old Oak, linking and enhancing existing biodiverse corridors while creating accessible, nature-rich spaces for people and wildlife. The framework is supported by an integrated sustainability strategy, developed by Expedition Engineering, which adopts an ambitious and holistic approach to social, economic and environmental sustainability. Designed for long-term climate resilience, Old Oak aims to become a landmark zero-carbon regeneration project.

We have produced an in-house guidance suite that distils our philosophy, tools, best practice tips and hurdles into eight Green Guides. These span from start to completion (from briefing to post-occupancy evaluation (POE)) and cover the six themes key to our work:

- Operational Energy
- Embodied Carbon and Retrofit
- Circularity and Deconstruction
- Designing for People (Community, Wellbeing and Social Value)
- Designing for Nature (Biodiversity, Green and Blue Infrastructure)
- Climate Change and Resilience

Together with our existing Sustainable Design Roadmap and project-specific Sustainable Design Trackers, these form a simple and caring framework for our practice as a whole, individual projects, and each conversation on the way.

We believe that talking early and talking often about environmental impact is the key to sustainable outcomes. These ever-evolving guides structure everything from internal training to external briefing, so we can all act as one to make resilient and future-ready places.

Dome House & The Portman Estate Head Office are shortlisted for the AJ Retrofit & Reuse Awards under the ‘Adaptive Reuse into Office’ and ‘Fit-Out’ categories

Our retrofit approach for Dome House centres on retaining and celebrating the existing fabric while upgrading environmental performance in ways that are sensitive to heritage. For decades, the project’s unique roof structure was concealed behind a gridded ceiling; the design vision was to reveal this inherent beauty and make it the centrepiece of the refurbishment. By carefully removing the ceiling and stripping back layers of later additions, the historic timbers from below were exposed, breathing new life into the building and telling the story of its rich history. Many of the original 16th-century timbers remain intact, a testament to the craftsmanship of the original roof.

The original staircase beneath the dome was removed and replaced with a timber staircase positioned to the rear, creating a more efficient layout. New joinery elements are constructed in light ash, selected to contrast with the existing dark timber roof structure, respecting the building’s history while distinguishing new from old. The CAT A layout and rationalised circulation enhance flexibility for future occupants, extending the building’s useful life and supporting a long life/loose fit approach.

The Portman Estate’s new head office at One Great Cumberland Place is a low-carbon workplace within a restored 1920s Art Deco building, designed to support agile working, wellbeing and a more collaborative office culture. Working within the retained base build, we used extensive consultation to shape the layout and introduced low-carbon, high-recycled-content materials, generous planting, a flexible café-style heart and carefully placed rooms that preserve views to Hyde Park, while reused elements and measured embodied carbon helped reduce waste and support a carbon-neutral outcome with minimal offsetting.

The winning projects will be announced at the AJ ceremony in September. 

Gort Scott has been named a finalist for Office Architect of the Year in the Building Design Architect of the Year Awards.

The portfolio of projects we presented to the judges reflects our focus on delivering workplaces that are responsive to their context and the climate crisis, spanning across new build, retrofit, and interior fit-out:

The Portman Estate, Marylebone
Sited next to Hyde Park, this project was developed through close engagement with staff to create an uplifting environment that supports hybrid working and wellbeing. It applies a low-carbon approach to commercial interiors: materials were measured and recorded before specification, and circular economy principles informed procurement. 

Dome House, Spitalfields 
Located within the Artillery Passage Conservation Area, this project transforms a locally listed former church and synagogue into a flexible CAT A workspace. By retaining the original fabric wherever possible and minimising demolition, the design balances heritage repair with low-impact retrofit. The works included revealing a previously concealed timber dome, upgrading the building’s thermal fabric, and adding a lightweight timber rooftop extension.

Gateway West, White City
Achieving BREEAM Outstanding, this workspace features sculpted masonry facades designed to mediate between an adjacent metal-and-glass campus and neighbouring brick housing. The site incorporates a new public garden and a biodiverse roof, which together more than double the site’s biodiversity while establishing a generous pedestrian link for the local community. 

The awards event will take place in October 2026. 

The Oxford Covered Market project has been shortlisted for ‘Best Future Project of the Year’ at the upcoming UK Property Forums Oxprop Awards.

For 250 years, the Covered Market has been a vital civic space for Oxford. Our design strategy focuses on careful, heritage-led interventions that breathe new life into the existing fabric. From improving accessibility and creating a new flexible open court, to upgrading services with a focus on long-term resilience, our aim is to support the 60+ independent traders and the wider community who keep this market thriving.

The awards event takes place in September, and we look forward to continuing our work to secure the long-term future of this much-loved space.

How can a low-carbon fit-out help a client deliver on multiple fronts?

We discussed this at last month’s Footprint+ with Michael Jones, Projects Director at The Portman Estate, and Jess Daly of Bioregional.

Fit-outs have historically been short-lived and carbon-intensive. The Portman Estate wanted a head office that would embody their One Planet Living framework, test new materials, and demonstrate new approaches to staff and the wider supply chain.

Embodied carbon was a priority and was reduced in three ways:

1.    Building less
• Creating only what is needed to provide secure, acoustically varied work environments, with flexibility built in. 
• Working with the existing building rather than against it by retaining 85%+ of the shell and core, and allowing its character and outlook to shape the design.

2.    Building right 
• Intensive early engagement and analysis led to a layout that reflects how the organisation actually works and gives what they actually need: With this insight, rooms could be omitted, resized or made multi-functional, in confidence that they would outlast the typical replacement cycle. 
• Full-size mock-ups, made from materials later re-used on site, gave reassurance that these spatial decisions were sound.

3.    Selecting optimum materials
• Bio-based materials including timber, wood fibre, clayboard, clay and lime plaster, and linoleum flooring. 
• Recycled materials including vinyl flooring and upholstery fabrics.
• Re-used elements including chairs and panelling. 
• Circular details including magnetic tabs for future flooring removal, planters and partitions designed for deconstruction, and salvaged sheet metal.

Jess Daly joined us on stage to share embodied carbon figures demonstrating that we comfortably exceeded the GLA’s aspirational target.

Beyond reducing embodied carbon, our attention to layout has given a workplace that feels right for the people using it. The result supports accessible, inclusive and diverse ways of working: open and enclosed, shared and quiet, formal and informal. Attention to materials has given a palette of tactile, natural materials that support acoustics and Indoor Air Quality. In the new ‘flight to character’, we need synergies like these.

Achieving this relied on open, continuous dialogue from the outset. By working as a highly collaborative trio, the client, designer, and sustainability consultant showed exactly what is possible when clear values, technical rigour, and design ambition are fully aligned.

Thanks to our speakers: Joe Mac Mahon & Megan Thacker-Brooks, Gort Scott; Michael Jones, The Portman Estate; Jess Daly, Bioregional. With support from Aram Trade.

Last week Old Oak and Park Royal Development Corporation (OPDC) announced that the heads of terms have been agreed for a Public Land Agreement which will see London’s largest brownfield site unlocked for regeneration.

Sadiq Khan, Mayor of London said:

‘This landmark partnership with national government means the capital’s biggest brownfield site, Old Oak, can now deliver for Londoners, driving forward significant housing delivery and economic growth. Together, we’re unlocking land for thousands of affordable homes and jobs, alongside thriving public spaces all connected by incredible transport links.’ 

We are leading the multidisciplinary design team helping to shape Old Oak with OPDC, creating a revitalised urban district in West London. We look forward to continuing this collaborative work as the project moves ahead. Congratulations to OPDC and the team in reaching this significant moment.

Access the Old Oak Masterplan Framework, endorsed by the OPDC board in November 2025, here: London.gov.uk. The Framework includes an Illustrative Masterplan which shows how the vision and objectives for Old Oak could be realised to create an inclusive, sustainable and characterful place. 

We are delighted to share that 458 Forest Road has won a RIBA London Award!

Delivered in collaboration with Pocket Living, this project provides 90 sustainable, high-quality homes for local first-time buyers in the London Borough of Waltham Forest.

Winning this award is a testament to the hard work of our entire team and our commitment to creating thoughtful, community-focused affordable housing.
 

Our heritage adaptation of the Grade II-listed Oxford Covered Market is featured in the latest issue of the RIBA Journal. The article, ‘Up Trading’, explores how historic shopping centres and markets can be upgraded without losing their soul.

The article highlights our extensive work in this sector as consultant lead for the Greater London Authority’s Tomorrow’s Markets 2.0 programme, which builds resilience in London’s street markets. We are currently delivering the £8 million regeneration of Oxford Covered Market for Oxford City Council. The project will secure the long-term future of one of the city’s most important public places. The 250-year-old market continues to play a vital role in the daily life, identity and economy of the city.

Lead Architect for the Oxford Covered Market project, Susie Hyden, is quoted in the article on the challenges and opportunities of working in this sector: “We love [markets], but it takes time, and talking to lots of people, to really understand a place and its problems, and to get under the bonnet of how you can fix these in a holistic and cost-effective way. That’s challenging.” She adds: “They are highly political — a lightning rod for everyone’s thoughts and desires. It takes commitment on the part of your client and yourself to keep it going and be adaptable.”

Extensive public and trader engagement has been undertaken, alongside consultation with stakeholders and heritage consultees. Our work the original masterplan established the brief and key ambitions for the project, ensuring that the proposals were grounded in what traders, residents and visitors wanted and needed from the market.

Woolwich Town Centre has won a Pineapple Award in the Public Space category, recognising the wider team’s work for the Royal Borough of Greenwich, including our restoration of the Royal Arsenal Gatehouse.

The award formed part of a submission by LDA Design, who led the public realm work alongside Studio Weave and Gort Scott. Together, the project brings the restored Gatehouse, a new pavilion by Studio Weave, and generous new public space into a cohesive and playful whole.

The judges commented: “The project highlights the challenges and opportunities of retrofitting within an existing environment and for evolving needs. Consideration is given to future use and long-term resilience while retaining current uses. The scheme incorporates significant urban interventions in a child-friendly and accessible way. Material reuse is evident and the pavilion is well loved.”

Read more about how this renewed public space can bring people together, encourage inclusivity, and make a positive environmental impact to the wider place: Pineapples Awards 2026, The Festival of Place.

We’re delighted to present our office fit-out project for The Portman Estate at FOOTPRINT+ 2026. Joe Mac Mahon and Megan Thacker-Brooks will be joined on stage by Michael Jones, Project Director at The Portman Estate, and Jess Daly, Principal Consultant at Bioregional.

The Portman Estate head office: Heritage workspace transformation for people and planet
 
Wed 13 May 2026, 13:10-14:05
Interiors Focus Stage
FOOTPRINT+ Old Billingsgate, London

The Portman Estate’s relocation of its head office to One Great Cumberland Place presented an exciting opportunity to reimagine the workplace. The project aims to set a benchmark for sustainable commercial interiors across its 110-acre Marylebone estate.
 
The retrofit of the 8,400 sq ft office prioritises collaboration, wellbeing, and exemplary environmental performance while working within an existing base build. Sustainability informed every design decision including:

- low-carbon and high-recycled-content materials
- circular economy principles resulting in reuse of existing services, lighting, and finishes
- inventive reuse of salvaged materials
- specification of furniture to meet rigorous environmental, repair, and replacement criteria

Embodied carbon was measured and recorded to support The Portman Estate’s One Planet Action Plan, achieving carbon neutrality with minimal offsetting and setting a replicable benchmark for future workplace retrofits.
 
Speakers:
Joe Mac Mahon, Associate, Gort Scott
Megan Thacker-Brooks, Architect, Gort Scott
Michael Jones, Project Director, The Portman Estate
Jess Daly, Principal Consultant, Bioregional
 
With support from Aram