Bell Phillips

We are so pleased to welcome our newest members of the Bell Phillips team: Yen Liang Ho, Mankiran Kundi, Rahul Patcha, Michael Baldwin and Rhona Hamilton-Jones. 2024 has been an incredibly exciting year and here is a glimpse of what you can expect from us in 2025: The completion of two of our projects with Southwark Council; Burgess Park Sports Pavillion and new homes on Albion Street, Rotherhithe. The publication of our William Sutton research findings with Clarion Housing which explores a new place-specific vernacular of architecture for low rise housing using biomaterials. Details of our first Build to Rent scheme with Lendlease in Smithfield Birmingham which has just received planning permission. The Architects Action for Affordable Housing campaign continues and taking on apprenticeships, planning committees and the NPPF. As part of our work on the Barking Riverside Sub Framework Plan we will be carving out an identity for the next phase of the masterplan, comprised of over 1,000 homes alongside non-residential uses and open space. Directors Melissa Dowler and Jay Morton will be heading to Cannes in March for MIPIM 2025! Our office will be closed from Friday 20th December and will reopen on Thursday 2nd January 2025. Wishing you all a wonderful festive break and a happy new year. 

Our first Built to Rent scheme and our first project in Birmingham has been submitted for planning! It has been a privilege working alongside Lendlease, Birmingham City Council and Intervention Architecture on one of the most exciting regeneration projects taking shape today. Congratulations to the whole team on reaching this exciting milestone. #SmithfieldBirmingham #BuildToRent #Regeneration #BirminghamCity #Architecture #AltResi 

Embodied carbon makes up a huge portion of carbon emissions for those of us in the affordable housing sector who are building new homes. There is a pressing need to build more homes to house those most in need, but the question we face is – how can we do this without exacerbating the climate crisis? Colleagues from our Design & Technical, Commercial, Project Management and Sustainability teams recently joined an excellent CPD session run by Tim Bell of Bell Phillips Architects, who demonstrated that taking steps towards building with lower carbon doesn’t mean it’ll cost us more – and that there are ways in which we can reduce both carbon and cost by designing differently from the outset. 

Thrilled to share that our Cosway Street project in Marylebone has been selected as a 2025 Civic Trust Regional Finalist. The sculptural building repairs a degraded streetscape and creates a contextual yet modern addition within the Lisson Grove conservation area. We responded to the neighbourhood's predominantly late Victorian and Georgian architecture with a design that ripples with visual interest and reflects the rhythms and proportions of the neighboring streets. The aspiration for the project is to create a building that will last for generations and become a piece of future heritage. The full list of finalists can be found on the Civic Trust website: https://lnkd.in/dghRtY8 CIVIC TRUST AWARDS Westminster City Council Osborne David Miller Architects DECOMO Stantec #architecture #residential #housing #ukhousing #CivicTrust #westminster #design #marylebone #placemaking

A short piece about LONG hours When we established Bell Phillips we committed to not working long hours, nor compelling our team to do so. Tim and I had both come from offices which had toxic long hours cultures and we felt it wasn’t healthy nor necessary. Of course, there have been occasional deadlines that have required a push, but it wasn’t intrinsic to our office culture. Most days, if you walked into our studio at 6:15, it would be completely empty. We took this approach because we wanted to have a happy, healthy team. We wanted people who have social lives, home lives and broader perspectives beyond the studio and architecture (I believe well-rounded, worldly people make better architects). We believe that tired people work less effectively (seriously, how good is your decision-making at 3am?). So why is this culture so pervasive in architecture? Maybe it’s a fig leaf for poor management. Work smarter, not harder. It’s a way of keeping fees low. This is exploitative and wrong. It’s part of a macho ‘look how hard I’m working’ culture (I’ve worked in offices where people would stay late even if they had no work just because that’s what the studio does). So, if you’re a practice principal, reflect on this. Is the success of your practice based on exploitation? If you’re a graduate or architect consider whether the success of the practice you work for is founded on the exploitation of your time and effort? #architecture #architecturalpractice #workinghours

Associate Ashmi Thapar is taking to the Architecture Stage at this year’s London Build Expo to talk about her Passivhaus experience on Convent Way Estate in Hounslow and six sites in Ealing. Designing for Ultimate Performance: Passivhaus Standards 16:00, Thursday 21 November London Build Expo, Olympia London, W14 8UX Speakers: Ashmi Thapar, Associate - Bell Phillips Gwilym Still, Director, Passivhaus Partner - Max Fordham Domnica Chisca, Architect & Certified Passivhaus Designer – PRP Lorna Taverner, Head of Collida Design - Willmott Dixon Ben Stroud, Sustainability Consultant – AECOM Alexander Buck, Sustainability Specialist and Certified Passivhaus Designer - Buckley Grey Yeoman Convent Way Estate: A landscape-led masterplan that will transform the estate into a sustainable neighbourhood, providing up to 967 homes designed to Passivhaus standards alongside a new neighbourhood lane, generous public realm and new local retail. Extensive engagement with residents from the outset led to an 85% ballot vote in favour of the regeneration proposals. Ealing Passivhaus: 134 mixed-tenure Passivhaus-certified homes across six sites for Ealing. Common materials and details across the sites helped to drive efficiency and cost-effective design. Low form factor, high levels of insulation, high performance windows and excellent airtightness results in a greater than 70% reduction on Part L. You can register for free tickets here: https://lnkd.in/eq6_6AP #LondonBuildExpo #Passivhaus #Architecture

In a room full of housing activists and policy-makers at the Labour Housing Group policy day, Director Jay Morton set out how our planning system could be used to better enable development, advocating for a UK-wide strategic vision to deliver homes and unlock areas for growth. The event was a fantastic opportunity to portray an architect’s point of view in a political setting and amongst a series of great speakers: Omid Miri, Councillor for Hammersmith and Fulham Richard Parker, Mayor of the West Midlands Dr Nik Johnson, Mayor of Cambridgeshire & Peterborough John Cotton, Birmingham City Council leader James Lloyd, Associated Retirement Community Operators Roberta Blackman-Woods, former Shadow Housing & Planning Minister Kane Emerson, YIMBY Alliance Chris Young KC, Planning Barrister Jay Morton, Architects' Action for Affordable Housing #PlanningPolicy #UKHousing #Architecture #Politics #AffordableHousing #AA4AH

Urban designer and town planner Jas Bhalla, MP Rachel Blake and architects Alex Ely and Luke Tozer from Architects' Action for Affordable Housing are confirmed guest speakers at the Architects for Change podcast event. Join them and host Jay Morton at EH Smith's showroom reception on Thursday 28th November: https://lnkd.in/eCn8x4gr #ArchitectsforChange #podcast #architecture #politics

This weekend director Jay Morton is heading to Birmingham to represent Architects' Action for Affordable Housing at the Labour Housing Group Planning Policy Day. Joining Omid Miri from Hammersmith & Fulham Council, Jay will discuss how changes to our planning system could help increase the delivery of affordable housing. For the full programme visit the LHG website: https://lnkd.in/eHtiXm5d Saturday 16th November New Oscott Retirement Village, Birmingham Architects' Action for Affordable Housing #affordablehousing #ukhousing #LHG #planningpolicy #AA4AH

We have appointed architects Bell Phillips to work on the Sub Framework Plan (SFP) for a new phase in our masterplan - Stage 3 North. Comprising over 1,000 homes, this important new neighbourhood will comprise over 1,000 homes (35% of which will be affordable) alongside non-residential uses and open space. Joe Burke, Project Architect at BRL, answers some questions about this exciting new phase: What is an SFP? “An SFP is a mini-masterplan for a specific neighbourhood within the wider development. It provides much more detail than the outline masterplan and helps us to create a distinct identity for each district. Creating an SFP means that when housebuilders come to deliver homes here, they have a clear framework to work to – making the planning process more straightforward for them and helping us maintain the identity of Barking Riverside.” What are you most excited about for this phase of the project? “I think the most exciting, and possibly challenging part of this phase, is the fact there is now a clear built context to respond to, and an ever-growing community of over 2,000 homes right next door.” Why have Bell Philips been selected? “Their bid demonstrated an extremely high level of design capability, presenting and testing us with all the possibilities based on our brief. We are excited to be working with this team for the first time and we were very impressed with their collaborative approach throughout the bid process.” Find out more about our masterplan: https://lnkd.in/d6sbrJgE #News #NewHomes #PlanningApplication