{"id":745799,"date":"2024-06-23T22:59:10","date_gmt":"2024-06-23T21:59:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/?p=745799"},"modified":"2024-06-23T22:59:10","modified_gmt":"2024-06-23T21:59:10","slug":"aj100-champion-2024-haworth-tompkins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/news\/aj100-champion-2024-haworth-tompkins","title":{"rendered":"AJ100 Champion 2024: Haworth Tompkins"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u2018Have a point of view. Be willing to speak out for a better world. Refuse to be told you can\u2019t make a difference. Cultivate kindness. Avoid cynicism. And don\u2019t work for people you can\u2019t respect.\u2019 That advice from departing founders Graham Haworth and Steve Tompkins at the start of the year to those entering the profession succinctly summed up Haworth Tompkins\u2019 enduring ethos.<\/span><\/p>\n

This is now being taken on afresh by its new leadership team after the founders stepped back more than three decades after co-founding the practice. The names of the two architects, who set up the studio in 1991, had become synonymous with soulful, inclusive, environmentally driven and socially aware cultural projects. In 2014 the practice won the RIBA Stirling Prize for its much-lauded overhaul of the Everyman Theatre in Liverpool and in 2019 Tompkins helped bring to life the influential Architects Declare movement.<\/span><\/p>\n

But, while their departure may have come as a surprise to the outside world, the move had been quietly and carefully bubbling away internally for more than five years. Remarkably, this gradual, guided and well-considered transition from old to new guard appears as close to seamless as is possible for a 100-strong company with its creators\u2019 surnames still over the door.<\/span><\/p>\n

Like much of what Haworth Tompkins does, the succession strategy has been a model of good practice behaviour. Built-in continuity comes from the \u2018new\u2019 leadership team of Lucy Picardo, Roger Watts, Joanna Sutherland and Chris Fellner \u2013 most of whom joined 20 years ago as Part 2s \u2013 together with long-standing managing director Toby Johnson.<\/span><\/p>\n

That culture of making a difference and compassion has always started close to home. The practice was among the earliest architecture firms to receive certification as a B Corp at the end of 2022. Turnover of staff remains incredibly low and there are currently no agency workers on its projects.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"

Industria, Barking, London<\/p>\n\t

Source:Fred Howarth<\/p><\/div>\n

As director Sutherland tells me from the company\u2019s new headquarters in Clerkenwell: \u2018The retention of staff is really rather unique. Many of the people that work here actually started as Part 1s and then came back.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n

Haworth Tompkins also continues to lead on sustainability and is willing to put its money where its mouth is. The company showcased its retrofit skills and created a working exemplar of its circular economy approaches during its recent relocation from a draughty warehouse in north London to a reworked 20th century office in Golden Lane.<\/span><\/p>\n

During the move, all of the existing shelving was repurposed and old desktops turned into extra storage, while recycled raised floor tiles and timber was brought in for \u2018new\u2019 elements of the fit-out.<\/span><\/p>\n

Importantly, the practice remains commercially strong, too. Earlier this year, a team led by Haworth Tompkins was picked to revamp the 1930s De La Warr Pavilion \u2013 the Grade I-listed Modernist icon at Bexhill-on-Sea, East Sussex. The company was also chosen by Hackney Council as one of five architects to build 400 new homes on infill sites across the east London borough. Current work ranges from small-scale and arts-led jobs \u2013 it is continuing to develop a modular theatre system \u2013 to larger masterplans, such as the 715ha Garden City-style development providing 7,500 new homes on the edge of Colchester in Essex. It has also delivered the ground-breaking and much written-about Industria scheme in Barking, billed as the UK\u2019s first multi-storey, light-industrial project, for this year\u2019s AJ100 Client of the Year, Be First.<\/span><\/p>\n

According to Fellner, this variety means Haworth Tompkins continues to be resilient, despite the economic challenges. The director says: \u2018When the housing market takes a nosedive, the cultural work is there. When Arts Council funding drops, there is housing. Others are desperate to diversify. But we feel like we already have fingers in lots of pies.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u2018Have a point of view. Be willing to speak out for a better world. Refuse to be told you can\u2019t make a difference. Cultivate kindness. Avoid cynicism. And don\u2019t work for people you can\u2019t respect.\u2019 That advice from departing founders Graham Haworth and Steve Tompkins at the start of the year to those entering the …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":915,"featured_media":745803,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_oasis_is_in_workflow":0,"_oasis_original":0,"ep_exclude_from_search":false},"categories":[681],"tags":[101045,1699],"yoast_head":"\nAJ100 Champion 2024: Haworth Tompkins<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Haworth Tompkins continues to lead on sustainability and the practice remains commercially strong, too\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/news\/aj100-champion-2024-haworth-tompkins\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"AJ100 Champion 2024: Haworth Tompkins\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Haworth Tompkins continues to lead on sustainability and the practice remains commercially strong, too\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/news\/aj100-champion-2024-haworth-tompkins\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Architects\u2019 Journal\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-06-23T21:59:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/cdn.rt.emap.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2024\/06\/20092053\/mr-HaworthTompkins_Industria_TypRes-24_Photography_Fred_Howarth-1024x798.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"798\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Richard Waite\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@https:\/\/twitter.com\/waitey\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Richard Waite\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/news\/aj100-champion-2024-haworth-tompkins\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/news\/aj100-champion-2024-haworth-tompkins\",\"name\":\"AJ100 Champion 2024: Haworth Tompkins\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2024-06-23T21:59:10+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-06-23T21:59:10+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/c098c74851864737ad4fa4e50861cf8c\"},\"description\":\"Haworth Tompkins continues to lead on sustainability and the practice remains commercially strong, too\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/news\/aj100-champion-2024-haworth-tompkins#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/news\/aj100-champion-2024-haworth-tompkins\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/news\/aj100-champion-2024-haworth-tompkins#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"AJ100 Champion 2024: Haworth Tompkins\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/\",\"name\":\"The Architects\u2019 Journal\",\"description\":\"Architecture News & Buildings\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/c098c74851864737ad4fa4e50861cf8c\",\"name\":\"Richard Waite\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/6cbf1402fe078387b47481c6908418f8\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/878d48df5d368e765aebd777e26b5be3?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/878d48df5d368e765aebd777e26b5be3?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Richard Waite\"},\"description\":\"Richard Waite is news editor of the Architects' Journal\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/https:\/\/twitter.com\/waitey\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/author\/richard-waite\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"AJ100 Champion 2024: Haworth Tompkins","description":"Haworth Tompkins continues to lead on sustainability and the practice remains commercially strong, too","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/news\/aj100-champion-2024-haworth-tompkins","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"AJ100 Champion 2024: Haworth Tompkins","og_description":"Haworth Tompkins continues to lead on sustainability and the practice remains commercially strong, too","og_url":"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/news\/aj100-champion-2024-haworth-tompkins","og_site_name":"The Architects\u2019 Journal","article_published_time":"2024-06-23T21:59:10+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1024,"height":798,"url":"https:\/\/cdn.rt.emap.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2024\/06\/20092053\/mr-HaworthTompkins_Industria_TypRes-24_Photography_Fred_Howarth-1024x798.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Richard Waite","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@https:\/\/twitter.com\/waitey","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Richard Waite","Estimated reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/news\/aj100-champion-2024-haworth-tompkins","url":"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/news\/aj100-champion-2024-haworth-tompkins","name":"AJ100 Champion 2024: Haworth Tompkins","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/#website"},"datePublished":"2024-06-23T21:59:10+00:00","dateModified":"2024-06-23T21:59:10+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/c098c74851864737ad4fa4e50861cf8c"},"description":"Haworth Tompkins continues to lead on sustainability and the practice remains commercially strong, too","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/news\/aj100-champion-2024-haworth-tompkins#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/news\/aj100-champion-2024-haworth-tompkins"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/news\/aj100-champion-2024-haworth-tompkins#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"AJ100 Champion 2024: Haworth Tompkins"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/","name":"The Architects\u2019 Journal","description":"Architecture News & Buildings","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/c098c74851864737ad4fa4e50861cf8c","name":"Richard Waite","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/6cbf1402fe078387b47481c6908418f8","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/878d48df5d368e765aebd777e26b5be3?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/878d48df5d368e765aebd777e26b5be3?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Richard Waite"},"description":"Richard Waite is news editor of the Architects' Journal","sameAs":["https:\/\/twitter.com\/https:\/\/twitter.com\/waitey"],"url":"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/author\/richard-waite"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/745799"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/915"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=745799"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/745799\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":745804,"href":"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/745799\/revisions\/745804"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/745803"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=745799"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=745799"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=745799"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}