We strive to be visionary, innovative and persuasive, and in all our projects we commit to a successful outcome beyond the role of designer: leading the design team, raising profile, and clearly articulating the objectives of the project. We are effective at consultation, and in establishing aligned support and ownership for a project from complex client and stakeholder groups.
Test
Certified B Corporation — Adaptive Retrofit — Humanising Infrastructure — Making better places — Architecture — Public Realm — Spatial Strategy — Creative Reuse — Urban Transformation — Decarbonisation —
Certified B Corporation — Adaptive Retrofit — Humanising Infrastructure — Making better places — Architecture — Public Realm — Spatial Strategy — Creative Reuse — Urban Transformation — Decarbonisation —
Certified B Corporation — Adaptive Retrofit — Humanising Infrastructure — Making better places — Architecture — Public Realm — Spatial Strategy — Creative Reuse — Urban Transformation — Decarbonisation —
Certified B Corporation — Adaptive Retrofit — Humanising Infrastructure — Making better places — Architecture — Public Realm — Spatial Strategy — Creative Reuse — Urban Transformation — Decarbonisation —
Certified B Corporation — Adaptive Retrofit — Humanising Infrastructure — Making better places — Architecture — Public Realm — Spatial Strategy — Creative Reuse — Urban Transformation — Decarbonisation —
Certified B Corporation — Adaptive Retrofit — Humanising Infrastructure — Making better places — Architecture — Public Realm — Spatial Strategy — Creative Reuse — Urban Transformation — Decarbonisation —
Certified B Corporation — Adaptive Retrofit — Humanising Infrastructure — Making better places — Architecture — Public Realm — Spatial Strategy — Creative Reuse — Urban Transformation — Decarbonisation —
Certified B Corporation — Adaptive Retrofit — Humanising Infrastructure — Making better places — Architecture — Public Realm — Spatial Strategy — Creative Reuse — Urban Transformation — Decarbonisation —
Certified B Corporation — Adaptive Retrofit — Humanising Infrastructure — Making better places — Architecture — Public Realm — Spatial Strategy — Creative Reuse — Urban Transformation — Decarbonisation —
Certified B Corporation — Adaptive Retrofit — Humanising Infrastructure — Making better places — Architecture — Public Realm — Spatial Strategy — Creative Reuse — Urban Transformation — Decarbonisation —
“5th Studio seem to be profoundly interested in the parts of architecture which Cedric Price was interested in: the parts that you can’t see, exactly, but which absolutely change your world. How easy or hard it is to cross a road to get to the riverside, say. Or how far you might have to go to get to work. And 5th Studio seem to willingly tackle immense levels of bureaucracy to achieve that invisible, life-changing game. They seem to even relish the effort it takes, say, to get all kinds of public amenity providers to each take down a single fence to allow some normal residents to reach that riverside. Using these tactics they’ve instigated complex public realm projects of a type one tends to think impossible today.”
Kester Rattenbury: Foreword to Expanding Disciplinary in Architectural Practice by Tom Holbrook
Our team are skilled design advocates, championing thoughtful design responses to the challenges our cities and communities face.
5th Studio are involved in developing best-practice design policy and conducting design review at both regional and national levels.
Through our experience of providing design advice to the GLA, Network Rail, Transport for London and others, we have the skills and knowledge to help our clients create industry-leading briefs and design projects.
Director Tom Holbrook was a founder member of the Quality Panel for the London Olympic Park, the HS2 design panel, and is a Design Advocate to the Mayor of London.
For over 25 years we have developed innovative approaches to low-carbon new buildings, the retrofit of existing buildings, and strategies for the decarbonisation of urban, college, and university estates.
5th Studio actively advocate for sustainable design and a retrofit first approach to our built environment. Director Tom Holbrook has helped shape policies, including the Mayor’s Climate Change Adaptation & Mitigation Strategies for London, the evolution of the Good Growth by Design approach and Mayoral guidance such as the Design for a Circular Economy Primer for London.
Director Oliver Smith is a regular speaker on the subject, as part of the EDGE professional network, and has provided evidence to multiple government environment policies. Oliver Smith shares his radical approach to upgrading listed buildings in an episode of the Architects Journal Climate Champions which can be listened to here.
We bring our spatial ingenuity to all our projects, establishing strong narratives for change and growth – creating comprehensive development strategies that synthesise challenges and opportunities.
Our involvement on the Greater North Cambridge proposal began as a self-initiated research project investigating the slackness of the city’s internationally-renowned Science Park and the adjacent waste water treatment works. Through developing a clear narrative for this being an appropriate site for development and denisification we managed to help support key landowners in bringing the site forward in the Local Plan and a successful Housing Infrastructure Fund bid to move the sewage works.
5th Studio supported Norwich City Council in creating a vision for East Norwich, producing a strategy for unlocking the three key core sites that together make up the Eastern edge of Norwich, around the station. This strategy was used by the City Council to convene common agreement across key landowners and leverage involvement from Homes England. Our work has been instrumental in identifying what infrastructure is required to unlock market failure in delivery of these critical sites for the city.
5th Studio uses design research to develop a unique approach to strategic thinking: one that explores a positive dynamic between built form, infrastructure and landscape.
This interchange between research and practice has encouraged design innovation and a fresh attitude towards issues of place-making, conservation, and environmental sustainability. It has led to positive engagement in some of the most complex regeneration projects in the UK.
We bring a detailed and instinctive design sensibility to all the projects 5th Studio is involved with. We are highly skilled image makers, allowing us to explore visually with our clients and peers the opportunities and principles of our proposals. Many of our research led proposals, such as ‘Calvert: A City in a Garden’, ‘Stour City’ and ‘London: Collective City’ have been published and exhibited internationally.
