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INSIGHTS


27


gpad London PRACTICE PROFILE


With origins in small residential projects, gpad London is a firm that has proved its mettle through steady growth and diversification. Sébastien Reed speaks to managing director Charles Bettes


T


he silver lining of gpad london founder and current chair Christopher Ploutarhou’s amicable split from his former business partner in 2002 was picking up a series of jobs in


quick succession. This clutch of residential schemes plus a shopping centre would be delivered by his new practice following its founding in 2002. In the 16 years since, gpad has grown from a five-strong team of designers into a contingent of 25 helmed by managing director Bettes.


The last year has seen growth rewarded with increasing attention signposted with sector accolades. The top prize at the Evening Standard New Homes Awards for their Wittering House project was accompanied by a British Council of Offices national award for Sovereign Street, an office renovation in Leeds. The two projects are representative of the practice’s general remit; it splits roughly 50/50 into residential and commercial. With this, gpad – an acronym of ‘general practice of architects and designers’ – are broadening their reach to target sectors including civic buildings, while deepening their knowledge of design of residential and commercial buildings and their clients.


Constructive criticism


The practice is subdivided into three design teams. Bettes leads one, while technical director Jeremy Wiggins and creative director Danny Shafrir lead their own respective teams. “When a project comes in, the three of us will sit down with our commercial manager (Fenja Scarisbrick) and work out which team has the best capacity to take on another job, depending on what stage existing projects are at,” explains Bettes.


He confirms that flexibility is the priority, over overt specialisa-


tion: “There are no real specialisms between each of the teams. We like to maintain a good range within each one.” Making a case for generalism, Bettes argues that keeping each design team open to working on a diverse array of projects facilitates the development of each architect, exposing them to new approaches, elements and typologies. “We want them to work on front-end to back-end, as well as on all different typologies. We try not to pigeonhole people.” The firm’s directors have tried to make the most of opportunities to encourage their designers to work critically and question their colleagues’ design choices, fostering an analytical culture. Internal


Wittering House


Sovereign Street


ADF OCTOBER 2018


WWW.ARCHITECTSDATAFILE.CO.UK


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