We’ve been delivering architectural and design projects for many years and have taken a look back at our journey to date, including the key milestones that have helped define who we are.
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We’ve been delivering architectural and design projects for many years and have taken a look back at our journey to date, including the key milestones that have helped define who we are.
Piper Whitlock Architecture was formed by friends and colleagues, Philip Piper and Steve Whitlock, the two having been equity partners for 13 years in a larger firm during which time they had worked on projects including Festival Place – Basingstoke, Liffey Valley – Dublin, Castle Quay – Banbury, Weavers Wharf – Kidderminster and Whitefriars – Canterbury.
Winchester was chosen as the new firm’s base and Alan Mansbridge, a previous colleague joined as the first member of the new team.
The first project was a Starbucks Coffee Shop at Weavers Wharf, Kidderminster for Henderson Global Investors, and the next few years were spent establishing the business during a difficult recession in the UK.
Among the new projects was a 152,000 sq.ft retail park project for Hammerson and Tesco Stores in Gloucester, which received detailed planning consent. The reputation and experience of the founders, coupled with the recruitment of new talented members of staff, built a momentum and a confidence to succeed, with instructions from both previous and new clients.
Following a competition, Hammerson UK Properties appointed PWA to act as architect on Elliott’s Field Shopping Park, Rugby, a new 320,000 sq.ft retail and leisure scheme anchored by M&S and Debenhams, which opened for trading in 2015 and was later nominated for a REVO Gold Award.
Peter Duggan joined the firm as a Senior Architect having previously worked for two London architects on residential schemes.
Bracknell Regeneration Partnership, a joint venture of Schroders, Legal & General, and Bracknell Forest Council appointed PWA on several parts of the Bracknell Town Centre Regeneration.
Having been keen to increase the firm’s work in the residential sector, it started work on the detailed design and delivery of its largest residential development to date at Fulbourne Road, Walthamstow for Ardmore Construction/Lindhill.
The firm moved into new and larger offices in the centre of Winchester as the team continued to grow, workload increased, and during the year the firm was commissioned on new 11 storey retirement apartments for McCarthy & Stone.
Harvest, a JV of Landsec and Sainsbury’s appointed PWA as its lead architect on the Selly Oak Shopping Park scheme, formed by the regeneration of a 30-acre former industrial site in south-west Birmingham.
Further to the earlier success of Phase 1 of Elliott’s Field Shopping Park, Rugby, our client acquired an adjoining site and instructed PWA to start drawing up designs for a second phase comprising a further 130,000 sq.ft of shopping space, which targeted the major furniture retailers including Sofology, Furniture Village and Tapi.
Fulbourne Road, Walthamstow has officially completed and was visited by Boris Johnson, then Mayor of London.
St. Modwen Developments appointed PWA on a 46,500 sq.ft academic building for Swansea University on its Bay Campus site.
The retirement apartments for McCarthy & Stone have now completed and all 48 units had sold pre-completion
The adjoning site to Elliott’s Field Shopping Park, Rugby, has now completed and achieved two sustainability world firsts, having been awarded an Outstanding BREEAM rating, in addition to becoming the first shopping park globally designed to be carbon neutral.
Philip and Steve had the honour of being presented to Her Majesty The Queen at The Bull Pub in Bracknell, designed by the firm. This was the start of her tour of The Bracknell Town Centre Regeneration, where she met council officials and senior figures from those who had played their part in the design and construction of the entire estate.
Peter Duggan became a Director following 7 years with the firm followed shortly by the appointment of Kevin Harnett, vastly experienced in delivering projects as an Associate.
The firm achieved ISO 9001:2015 and ISO 14001:2015 Quality Management and Environmental Management accreditations. We use these systems and procedures to organise our processes and improve our efficiency, to continually reduce waste and improve overall environmental impact.
After 10 amazing years in business the firm celebrated their anniversary in London, which ended in the early hours with the founders enjoying a rickshaw ride down Oxford Street in the rain! A specially designed Piper Whitlock cocktail was enjoyed by many during a memorable evening.
Alan Mansbridge became an Associate, richly deserved after he had joined us right at the start.
The Covid-19 Pandemic caused lockdown in the UK and PWA, like most, faced the first test of its business continuity planning. Our systems were easily transferred to remote home working arrangements, where secure VPN connections to our central hard drive filing systems, Revit software and MS Teams meant we were able to maintain visual contact with clients, project team members, and our own colleagues.
The year featured a number of successful project completions including those at Princess Square Shopping Centre, Bracknell, a new store shell for Landsec at Bluewater for Zara, Goodman’s Yard and at Thurrock Shopping Park.
The phased delivery of the Selly Oak Shopping Park running from spring 2017 has now completed with the linking of the Urban Park and canal bridge to central Selly Oak.
The firm continues its work on The Deck, Bracknell, which is the last piece of the jigsaw in the town centre’s regeneration, linking the Princess Square Shopping Centre with The Lexicon. This involves the re-development of the former Bentall store and creation of new lightly covered civic space surrounded by leisure and F&B uses.
