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INSIGHTS
PRACTICE PROFILE Scott Brownrigg
Consistently ranked among the leading UK architectural practices, Scott Brownrigg have grown steadily and diversified over the decades. Tom Boddy speaks to CEO Darren Comber about how they have evolved while nurturing talent internally
S
cott Brownrigg’s origins date back over 100 years when all- rounder architect Annesley Brownrigg was inspired to establish his own practice in Guildford after winning a series of design
competitions. Since its humble beginnings, the practice (which rebranded to its current name in 2003) has evolved at a steady and sustainable pace, and today is one of the UK’s most successful practices, currently ranked 18th in the AJ100, and within the top 100 internationally.
Following service in the First World War, he began to see success with help from cofounder Leslie Hiscock. On Annesley’s passing in 1935, the ownership of the company landed at the feet of his son, John, who was at the time only loosely involved with the practice. He decided to band together with other cohorts in the industry – firstly Newman Turner to form Brownrigg and Turner, later with Brownrigg’s old friend Duncan Scott, forming Scott Brownrigg & Turner.
These moves not only broadened the firm’s offerings, but also provided them with the skillset and resources to take on major architectural programmes such as the Queen Elizabeth Barracks – a “significant project of its time” which was opened by the Queen in 1964, says Darren Comber, current CEO. By the late 60s Scott Brownrigg & Turner had bloomed into a practice with
national reach – boasting offices in London, Glasgow, Peterborough and Woking. The practice’s early maxims of recognising the power of collaboration and diversity, as well as acknowledging the value of embracing different views, have sustained into the 21st century. “The legacy of these early beginnings has lived on within the practice across the decades, and in many ways, still influences our approach today,” asserts Comber.
Venturing overseas One of the practice’s first forays overseas saw them being “early pioneers” in the Middle East in the 1970s, designing structures ranging from airports in Iraq, to new islands off the coast of Abu Dhabi. The practice has since been involved with projects across four continents (Europe, Africa, Australasia, and North and South America).
An ongoing project on the Atlantic coast of Morocco is the development of an ‘eco-wellness’ and sports tourism destination, Turtle Bay, in a project which aims to connect the Sahara Desert and the Atlantic Ocean, and “build on a unique genius loci,” says Comber. The practice’s CEO adds that the building “celebrates its desert location” in a way that “eschews
INTEGRATING LANDSCAPE
A low carbon heaquarters for international not-for-profit CABI is a two-storey office in an AONB that “integrates an experimental bio-diverse landscape’
THE WOODS
A high-end residential scheme near Woburn, The Woods comprises four detached homes set in ancient woodland
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ADF SEPTEMBER 2022
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