10 years in 10 questions: Luke Richardson-Brown
Earlier in the year we celebrated a big employee milestone - 10 years of dedication and hard work from our Associate, Luke Richardson-Brown.
As a qualified Passive House Consultant, Luke has a passion for sustainable and low carbon design and an in-depth understanding of building physics. This knowledge both informs his own project work and provides invaluable expertise across the practice. We want to thank him for continuing to be an essential part of the PDP family - happy work anniversary Luke!
Luke is one of the most creative, resourceful and knowledgeable architects I know. He's collaborative, an active listener and excels at communication with his clients. His fantastically inquisitive mind will explore all opportunities on a site and a project for the best client outcomes. He has a passion for sustainable design - in particular the passivhaus approach - and he is dedicated to teaching his colleagues about these principles, empowering them to grow in their roles.
We interviewed Luke to find out more about his journey of professional peaks, favourite projects and memorable moments over the past decade, as well as asking him to look forward to the next.
How did your journey with PDP London start?
In 2012 PDP London was awarded the AJ100 Sustainable practice of the year and I was a newly certified Passive House Designer, therefore the move made total sense! Marion Baeli was also just finishing off the Residential Retrofit: 20 Case Studies Book - I had worked on the case study building in Bristol that was featured.
How has your job/role changed over the years?
I joined as a project architect and worked my way up to senior architect then associate. I guess the biggest change has been the increased level of responsibility and pastoral management of people over a number of projects. This has been an amazing learning experience and I've really benefitted from the training and mentoring offered by the practice.
Another big change is that instead of going out to our clients to beat the environmental drum, the building regs and market have caught up and woken up to what is required and clients are coming to us for the assistance we can give!
What is your favourite part of your job? What excites you the most?
I like problem solving and that is pretty much what architecture is on a day to day basis; be it a design problem, a contractual problem or a communication problem there is always something that needs working through and working out until a solution is found.
What do you see as your proudest moment or biggest achievement in your time here?
The scale of the redevelopment of Regent’s Crescent was quite a big achievement. I was lucky enough to work on it from the early stages all the way through to completion over about 5 or 6 years and was pretty proud of the team that saw it through. I'm pleased that, although it looks very much like a heritage building, below the surface are very high levels of insulation and airtightness. We also gave the two 1960's tower blocks, a new lease of life with a thermal overcoat, thermally efficient glazing and centralised boilers, all whilst they remained fully inhabited.
Regent’s Crescent, rebuilt Grade I listed John Nash facade
What are the biggest challenges of your role and how do you overcome them/what are the fundamental skills or personal qualities needed to deal with those challenges?
I think communicating fairly abstract or difficult building physics concepts to clients, colleagues and contractors is often challenging. We work in a very visual profession so I have enjoyed developing, honing and delivering a sustainability 'induction' presentation that introduces and illustrates concepts like cold bridging, thermal continuity and airtightness values. My favourite 'go to' image is a thermographic picture of a penguin’s feet. Its instantly understandable.
What has been the biggest lesson you've learned over the last 10 years?
To listen and try and understand what is truly being said.
Which has been your favourite project to work on and why?
I really enjoyed working on Eighty Strand with SRM special projects and Seele Austria. We knew it was a special project to be allowed to float a lightweight steel and glass structure over a Grade II listed Art Deco building. Working through a Pre-Construction Services Agreement (PCSA) with the contractors meant that we got to develop and finesse the detailing and methods of construction and delivery by open book knowledge sharing, it was a pleasure and honour to be involved with such talented crafts people.
Eighty Strand, entrance pavilion
What's your favourite memory from the last 10 years at PDP London?
Climbing down the ladder of the newly emptied chamber of the 'Ice House' that was discovered below the Regent’s Crescent site and seeing the scale and the quality of the craftmanship of this 250 year old prototype refrigerator. It was very impressive to see in its entirety and amusing to help design a row of gravity defying mews houses to span over - without damaging - this 'scheduled monument'.
Something personal now - what do you do when you're not in the office? What do you like to do for fun?
A lot of my spare time is spent playing with my two kids but when they are in bed I often head out to the woods with my mountain biking buddies. As I live two valleys away from our Bath office I have also turned the commute into a bit of an 'off road adventure' and arrive quite muddy.
Finally, where do you see yourself in another 10 years?
In 10 years’ time we will be two years away from the UK 2035 target of cutting carbon emissions by 78% and (in theory) 17 years away from meeting all Net Zero targets. Therefore I hope to be deeply involved in pushing for and achieving these goals with all our projects being exemplars. It’s great that we are doing Net Zero pilot projects now (in 2022) but they need to become the norm.
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