Richard is a Senior Urban Designer working in our Bristol studio. He trained as an architect, specialising in residential design and masterplanning, and has led projects ranging from individual homes to masterplans of 2000+ homes.
Since joining us, Richard has been focused on urban regeneration and has been the urban design lead on several major regeneration frameworks.
What’s your favourite project you’ve worked on to date?
My favourite project has been the Whitehouse Street Regeneration Framework here at Stride Treglown. We’ve been producing a development framework for Bristol City Council for a major site in Bedminster. We’ve been working with the developers and local community to guide development in the area to create a new mixed use neighbourhood. It’s only a 10 minute walk away for me so also good to be working on something close to home.
What is the current big trend in your sector?
There’s been a big shift in recent years towards designing for active modes of travel like cycling and walking when planning new development. For years, only lip-service has been paid to this but there has been a big improvement recently. We’ve got a long way to go to catch up with the Netherlands or Denmark but it does feel like we are heading in the right direction now.
Best building in your city?
I don’t know about best but one of my favourites is the Wills Tobacco Factory on Bedminster Parade. Like many industrial buildings of the time, it was built with great pride and to last. And like many good buildings, it has been preserved and re-used for different purposes over it’s lifetime: it has recently been refurbished again into new homes.
Best book you’ve read?
‘The Power Broker’ by Robert Caro is probably the best non-fiction book I have ever read and certainly the best about urban planning. If you’re into 1000+ page books on urban planners (who isn’t?): it’s a biography of the infamous urban planner Robert Moses and describes his rise to become possibly the most powerful man in New York state for nearly 40 years. He’s now remembered as the prime mover of the misguided movement attempting to redesign our cities around the motor car.
Where do you see your career taking you?
Like many urban designers, I’ve arrived here almost by accident so I will just have to wait and see!
Industry bodies:
ARB member