Reflecting on our 30 years in practice has given us the opportunity to look at how our leadership structure has changed over time, and given us pause to think about our aspirations, the future direction, and continued vitality of the business. As a result of these discussions, we are excited to announce the next evolution of our leadership team; adding a diversity of thought and expertise at the top level, to help support and shape the future of Studio PDP.

This year marked a significant milestone for us as we celebrated 30 years in practice. It’s been a time to pause and feel proud of our achievements to date, as well as a time to reflect on changes in the wider built environment and to consolidate future plans and direction.

People are at the heart of everything we do and we take the wellbeing of our team very seriously. Our aim is to support everyone throughout the year, but for this year’s ‘mental health awareness week’ we were treated to an array of extra-special activities (and delicious treats). Our HR Coordinator, Eleanore Smith, recounts a wonderful week of celebrating and supporting mental wellbeing and self care.

PDP London is now Studio PDP. An evolution to enable growth, the new name provides a fresh and dynamic identity, whilst respecting and building on the legacy of the practice’s past work.

The CDM Regulations provide a legal framework to ensure that construction projects are planned, designed, and executed in a manner which minimises risk. Among the key players are the Principal Designer and Client CDM Advisor. As both a chartered architectural technologist and health and safety professional, Philip has extensive experience in both design and construction health and safety. He offers these key services as well as that of advisor to the Principal Designer. We take a look at what this means and how his expert input is of great value to our clients.

We’re kicking the new year off by celebrating another recent employee milestone; 10 years of commitment and creative input from our Associate, Cian Scanlon.

Cian is passionate about how good design can add value through active engagement with real world constraints, turning them into opportunity. This is supported by studies in both architecture and property finance with a successful track record of delivering projects from concept to completion. Cian brings a wealth of knowledge to the practice, and with experience of reusing existing building stock he firmly believes it is possible to creatively adapt and repurpose spaces and places to make them relevant for future use for decades to come. We want to say a big thank you to Cian for continuing to be an integral part of our PDP family; happy work anniversary!

In this edition of our ‘out of office’ series, we interview one of our architects, Daniel Copitch, who is an artist in his spare time. Daniel’s website ‘Decopica’ hosts an impressive array of work – we spoke to him to find out more about his influences and preferred medium. 

After 22 years at PDP London, Ian Law has stepped down as a Partner, moving to a consultancy role. Ian joined the practice (then Paul Davis and Partners) in January 2000 as an architect, later becoming an Associate and then a Partner in April 2007. He has worked on over 40 projects in that time.

We are delighted to announce that we have two members of the practice sitting on the New London Architecture (NLA) Expert Panels again this year. Partner, Marion Baeli, will be remaining on the Expert Panel on Net Zero for a third year and Project Architect, Kin Kay Lee, will be joining the Expert Panel on Technical Competence for a second year.

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 additional expertise across the practice. We want to thank him for continuing to be an essential part of the PDP London family - happy work anniversary Luke!

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.

Well done to Becca Outterside, who has passed her Part 3 exam and graduated from the University of Westminster as an Architect!

Becca started her Part 3 in late 2020 and completed it this year. Due to the ongoing pandemic, all study - and assessment - during this time was done remotely. We spoke to Becca to find out more about her experience of preparing for this final qualification and just how it has been affected by virtual learning.

Our ‘Out of office’ series uncovers the hidden talents of our incredibly creative team, taking a look at what they get up to when they’re not at work. In this edition, we speak to Project Architect turned Royal Academy exhibitor, Clive Seymour.

As a practice we put people at the heart of what we do and we take the wellbeing of our team very seriously. We are proud holders of IIP (Investors in People), Gold level, have recently been shortlisted for the AJ100 Employer of the Year award and have worked hard to create an inspiring and collaborative studio environment; a place our staff are proud to call home. So what exactly does wellbeing mean to the practice and what initiatives are we working on? We spoke to HR Director Sophie Tait and HR Assistant Eleanore Smith to find out more.

‘Out of office’ is a new feature in which we will take a look at some of the amazing things our incredibly talented team get up to when they’re not at work. In the first of the series, we shine a spotlight on Charlie Austen, our Management Accountant and musician extraordinaire.

Judged on human resource issues, including staff satisfaction, workplace culture, benefits and staff turnover, we are immensely proud to be a finalist again for this coveted award.

We are thrilled to launch our practice animation which presents who we are and what we do.

After previously working together across a number of practice-wide sessions to define our core values, we decided this year to take it one step further and investigate how these values are woven in with what we produce. With such a wide range and depth of project work, we took the time to think about how everything fitted together; looking at how our values inform our approach to design and the work we create. The result is this animation, ‘We Are PDP London: we design for people and place’, we hope you like it.

Well done to Danny, Anastasia, Ben, James, Yuchen and Hye-Jin, who all passed their Part 3 exams at the University of Westminster this year!

It has been a challenging time for our new Architects, with studying taking part remotely as a result of the ongoing pandemic. So, what has been their experience of preparing for this final qualification and just how has it been affected by virtual learning?