The London Festival of Architecture’s 30 Objects in 30 Days is back for its third year and day No.4 features Gort Scott Associate Andrew Tam and Architect Ewa Effiom sharing their thoughts on the place of architectural drawings in an ever-shifting industry.

“For our submission, we decided to talk about architectural drawings. Drawings are often the first step in the act of building, but they make architecture exclusive because of the type of education you need to read them. Both of us are interested in making the architecture profession inclusive and so ponder their relevance to society beyond the profession.” - Catch Ewa and Andrew’s thoughts here.

Director Fiona Scott joined the judging panel for the Schüco Excellence Awards last week, alongside Ingrid Petit (Feilden Fowles), Steve Mudie (Alinea Consulting), Pankaj Patel (Patel Taylor), Innes Johnston (Max Fordham), Carol Patterson (OMA), Harry Montresor (Montrésor Partnership), and Isabel Allen (Architecture Today).

In its ninth year the Schüco Awards introduce ten updated categories across design and innovation: Commercial and Mixed-Use development; Cultural building; Education, Health and Leisure building; Refurbishment and Adaptive Reuse project; Individual house; Individual house improvement; Residential development; Specialist contractor; Steel project; and Sustainability.

Winners to be in announced on 30th June.

Director Jay Gort, and Associate and Environmental Action Group Lead Jonathan Mann will be attending Footprint+, Brighton next week, as part of our response to the climate and ecological emergencies.

Our industry needs to make massive changes and Footprint+ will enable us to learn more; to consolidate our existing training in passivhaus, our long experience of retrofit and our growing knowledge of the circular economy, whilst also opening new avenues for exploration.

Footprint+ is also an opportunity to build connections with like-minded collaborators who will push us forward. Business as usual is not enough; we want to build and create valued relationships that will drive environmental performance far in advance of current legislation.

The Mayor, Sadiq Khan, has appointed 42 new Mayor’s Design Advocates to support the refreshed Good Growth by Design programme and help shape London into a better city by promoting quality and inclusion within the built environment.

Fiona Scott has been asked to continue in her role as Mayor’s Design Advocate for a second year running alongside other independent specialists appointed to support the Mayor’s vision of “good growth” and ensure new buildings and public spaces will benefit Londoners and exist at the heart of the capital’s recovery from the pandemic.

Advocates have been selected to reflect London, with 55% being women and 45% being from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic backgrounds. In addition to high profile names, the new cohort also includes emerging built environment talent, and people with diverse expertise in key areas such as zero-carbon and sustainability, the safety of women and girls and housing quality.

The Good Growth by Design Programme has developed a new forward programme in response to the last four years of change, reflecting the importance of an inclusive recovery from a pandemic that has highlighted inequalities in the capital and the need to counter racism and prejudice in the built environment.

As a part of Gort Scott’s ongoing social value commitments and work with the London Legacy Development Corporation at Pudding Mill Lane, we collaborated with Mossbourne Academy to offer workshops and work experience placements to A-Level students.

A key objective within the Pudding Mill Lane masterplan has been to improve representation of local young people in the design process to improve how proposals meet their needs. This led to workshops with LLDC’s Legacy Youth Voice panel as well as collaboration with Hackney’s Mossbourne Academy.

Most recently, we welcomed two Mossbourne students for week-long work placements where they were paired with a mentor, provided with a choice of project brief, and guided through researching, developing, and presenting design proposals through images and a model for a Southwark site. Working together, their response was a new community hub that activated a space under a flyover for music, gardening and other community uses.

Gort Scott continues to offer work experience placements throughout the summer and encourages students aged 14-18 to apply here.

Gort Scott has explored the dynamics of high streets and town centres for the entirety of the practice’s 15-year history, through on-the-ground research, strategic plans and built projects. Some of that work has involved looking at creating new high streets that help stitch together different parts of the city and local communities. This is a difficult and complex form of urbanism and has to be undertaken with extreme care. No one wants new developments to be soulless, monocultural places but it is a very real danger. With this conundrum in mind, Gort Scott has gathered a series of high street experts from across the built environment to propose potential solutions for the future and discuss the pitfalls of this delicate ecosystem of economic and social value.

Join us, in collaboration with London Festival of Architecture, at our Bermondsey studio for a panel discussion on 14th June with community, public sector and developer partners led by Directors Jay Gort and Fiona Scott, where we will consider London’s current urban challenges and transitions.

Guest panellists:
Morwenna Hall (Partner and COO at Argent LLP)
Alpa Depani (Head of Strategic Planning & Design at LB Waltham Forest)
Eleanor Fawcett (Head of Design at OPDC)
John Nordon (Co-Founder at Neighbourhood company)
Jayden Ali (Director at JA Projects)

Book your free ticket here

Our practice is celebrating its 15th anniversary this year and we will be marking the occasion with a series of opportunities to look back at past projects and look forward to new challenges and ventures.

Watch this space for more content on our social media channels, as we explore the topics that define our interests, expertise and passions.

Fiona Scott is taking part in Metropolis Conference London-Berlin on the 20th May at the Behrensbau Oberschöneweide, Berlin.

The London-Berlin conference addresses an urban planning topic which is significant to both cities: rapid change of High Streets and outer Town Centres. Over the past 15 years, London has developed various strategies to make its High Streets more urban and attractive in response to people’s changing shopping behaviour.

The panel of speakers includes Louise Duggan (Head of Regeneration London City Hall), Alpa Depani (Head of Design London Waltham Forest), and Julian Lewis (East Architecture).

Click here to join the talk.

Waltham Forest’s Town Hall and Fellowship Square Place, Phase 2 have been shortlisted for the Pineapple Awards in the category Creative Retrofit and Future Place. Pineapple Awards celebrate projects which initiate positive social, environmental and economic change and allow communities to thrive.

Gort Scott is the concept architect of Waltham Forest’s Town Hall which has been successfully delivered by Hawkins\Brown and Churchman Thornhill Finch. The project celebrate the history of the borough’s Listed Town Hall whilst reimagining its function and role within the local community.

As part of Fellowship Square Place, Phase 2 designed in collaboration with Metropolitan Workshop and Maccreanor Lavington, Gort Scott developed a proposal for a three-story New Civic Building which will include efficient open-plan workspace accommodating 500 council staff using a flexible neighbourhood working model.

Awards Ceremony, 6th July at Boxpark Wembley.

As we reach the end of Mental Health Awareness week we want to show our support by sharing some initiatives we have applied as part of our ongoing holistic approach to wellbeing & EDI in our studio culture.

In response to employee feedback, this year we introduced mentoring to ensure everyone has someone to support and guide them in their day-to-day work and long-term career aspirations, as well as oversee their general wellbeing

To guarantee a successful mentor/mentee partnership all our mentors underwent training with Built By Us.

All employees have a mental health first aider assigned to them and we continually review our learning & development opportunities to nurture individual purpose and support career development.

We also are lucky to have our in-house social team, GS Life, who keep us connected through bike rides, pub quizzes, and the occasional rounders game.

Join Haptic Architects, Gort Scott, Morris+Company, Turner Works, Elliott Wood, Urban Systems Design and Vill for a presentation of our winning proposal for the regeneration of Bergen’s historic ship building district.

We will illustrate our collaborative design process, inclusive approach to public space and the necessity for adaptive reuse.

Zoom event | Date: Thursday 12 May 2022 | Time: 13:00-14:00pm (BST)

Register here for free.

St Hilda’s College, Oxford has been included in the shortlist for the RICS Awards 2022 which recognises inspiring and considered developments across real estate, construction and infrastructure.

St Hilda’s is a transformative development which provides residential accommodation and flexible workspaces for the college. The boundary defining Anniversary Building presents a prominent street frontage and identity, enclosing the tranquil gardens and new Pavilion which sits beside the River Cherwell.

Winners of the RICS Award will be announced on 18th May.

Following on from its shortlist for the Housing Design Awards 2022, Unity Place will be playing host to an Architecture Foundation walking tour led by Alison Brooks Architects, Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios and Gort Scott on 25th May.

Gort Scott Associate Andrew Tam will be bringing his specialist knowledge in socially engaged placemaking to the tour, alongside Feilden Clegg Bradley’s George Wilson, as well as Alison Brooks and Nelson Carvalho of Alison Brooks Architects.

Click here to book tickets and read more about the upcoming Unity Place tour.

With our friends and collaborators Londonon, we have won the Architectural Review’s Future Projects Award 2022 as well as the Regeneration & Masterplanning Award - with LAX Laksevåg project.

The masterplan proposal for Bergen’s waterfront was designed in conjunction with Londonon Collective; led by Haptic Architects, the team consists of Gort Scott, Morris+Company and Turner.Works, with Elliott Wood Partnership Ltd, Urban Systems Design and Vill.

The LAX Laksevåg plan proposes a full restoration and redevelopment of the historic shipbuilding area, with a focus on forming a creative and bustling centre for maritime industry in Bergen.

This year’s Future Projects judging panel consisted of Waltham Forest’s head of strategic planning and design, Alpa Depani; the city of Los Angele’s chief design officer, Christopher Hawthorne; and architectural writer and critic Catherine Slessor.

LondonOn Collective has been shortlisted for a major waterfront regeneration project in Grønlikaia, Oslo.

Gort Scott, in collaboration with Haptic Architects, Mæ and Morris+Company will represent LondonOn and work alongside Useful Projects, Elliott Wood Partnership Ltd, Periscope, Neighbourhood and Tin Phan to propose a new town centre for Oslo in Grønlikaia’s container port.

This mixed-use waterfront neighbourhood is anticipated to provide employment for 3000+ people, as well as 1500 homes across the 208,000 m² site. Social and ecological sustainability is paramount in this project which will be carving out a new cityscape alongside an existing marine eco-system.

Image: Jon Ivar Søhus