Completed projects

This year fifteen AHMM projects have reached completion, from large scale masterplans to private homes, including three pro-bono projects. In south London two residential schemes welcomed their first tenants, marking the completion of the second and third AHMM projects in the wider Elephant Park masterplan. In east London another key milestone for a masterplan project was reached when Lorimer House, the first of AHMM’s residential buildings on the Bream Street site, was handed over to the client. Two pro bono projects in the city also reached completion: a small mental health and consultation space for the Soup Kitchen London, and a permanent cookery school and kitchen for the refugee and migrant charity Migrateful. Construction at Assembly Bristol Building A completed, and the project handed over to the client. In Oklahoma it has been a year of firsts, as AHMM completed its first education project in the US, a first pro bono housing project, and its first dog friendly restaurant.

Work in progress

In total 13 projects started on site this year (three of which also completed), and seven projects reached significant milestones. 

In north London work began on site at Tottenham Hale Island sites, and in east London construction began at 1 Broadgate. Works began at the Birmingham Hippodrome and at the newest phase of Kingswood Academy in Hull. In Bristol enabling works began at TQEC Research Hub, and at Assembly Bristol work began at Building C as Building A was handed over to the client. In Oklahoma City construction began at Western Gateway Elementary and Wheeler Residential, joining Wheeler Block 13 on the site of the former Wheeler Airport. 

Several projects have also reached their highest point of construction, including One Portwall Square, Blossom Street, Egham Gateway, Tower Hamlets Town Hall, Shoreditch Village Phase 2, and Project Nash.

Planning

Eleven projects have been granted planning approval this year, six of them in London, including plans to extend and sensitively refurbish 76 Upper Ground, originally designed by Sir Denys Lasdun and known as the IBM Building. Along the Thames to the east, plans for a 17-storey CLT tower above Southwark Tube station were also permitted. In the City of London proposals were approved for the redevelopment of a key site in Houndsditch to create flexible office and retail space and improvements to the public realm; and in Camden plans for Belgrove House, the practice’s first specialised laboratory and office building, were approved, as well the neighbouring schemes 330 Gray’s Inn Road and Acorn House. In Oklahoma City, planning consent was also granted for the Nova, a mixed-use scheme that includes a rooftop greenhouse on the historic Automobile Alley.

Awards

In June the Alder Centre, a dedicated place for people affected by the loss of a child, was awarded a European Healthcare Design Award. Our Bristol later living scheme The Vincent was named as one of only three recipients of this year’s Bristol Civic Society Design Awards.

Three projects picked up Civic Trust Awards, and three were awarded RIBA Regional Awards, with The Ray also recognised with a National Award. The Television Centre masterplan was awarded a Golden Pineapple Award for Place. In Oklahoma, Tiny Homes was awarded a ULI OK Impact Award for Outstanding Community Building. Three projects received Housing Design Awards, including Hawley Wharf which was named the Winner of Winners.

Sustainability

AHMM’s Sustainability and Building Performance team has been busy working with the practice, project teams and the wider industry. The group has continued to develop its suite of in-house software to help parametrically analyse everything from overheating and daylight to embodied carbon. We have pushed forward with our whole life carbon analysis, using it to visualise where and when carbon exists in our projects, informing our design and aiding collaborative thinking. Our Knowledge Transfer Partnership research project is over halfway through and continues to explore the opportunities and constraints in large scale, mixed use buildings. We have continued to support our architectural teams in developing a net-zero carbon mixed use scheme project in east London and our first Passivhaus scheme in south London. As we return to offices and restrictions lift, we aim to pick up our post occupancy programme to feed into our lessons learned and benchmarking dashboard.

Practice and Culture

As Covid 19 restrictions gradually lifted this year more and more AHMM staff returned to the office and we were able to host more events both in person and online. Earlier this year we announced a list of internal promotions; fellow members of staff were also invited and elected to join prestigious organisations, most notably Simon Allford beginning his two year term as President of the RIBA. We also opened our second London office this year, a short walk from Morelands, at White Collar Factory. This expansion has allowed greater social distancing and created a safe and comfortable working environment.

Partnerships

Our Partnerships work continued to adapt and find new ways to engage with our communities – local, global and architectural - through donations, fundraising and volunteering, both virtually and in-person. As well as donating to education, humanitarian and climate crisis charities, we focused our support around initiatives such as LGBTQ+ History Month, Women’s History Month and Refugee Week. The practice undertook collective fundraising activities to support our Charity of the Year, The Bike Project, which repairs second hand bikes and gives them to refugees and asylum seekers. Over 2020/21 we donated £177,000 to 98 good causes and our staff team undertook 1,451 hours of volunteering.