In a series celebrating BD’s Architect of the Year Awards finalists, we look at the Office Architect of the Year shortlist
Earlier this year BD announced all the architects who made it on to the shortlists for our prestigious annual Architect of the Year Awards.
Now we are shining the spotlight on each category in turn and publishing a selection of the images that impressed the judges.
This year’s judges include: Yẹmí Aládérun, head of development, Meridian Water (Enfield Council); Amr Assaad, director, Buckley Gray Yeoman; Lee Bennet, partner, Sheppard Robson; Sarah Cary, chief development officer, White City at Imperial; Ben Derbyshire, chair, HTA Design LLP; Martyn Evans, creative director, U+I; Dicle Guntas, managing director, HGG London; Gavin Hale-Brown, director, Henley Halebrown; Tanvir Hasan, director emeritus, Donald Insall Associates; Lee Higson, board director, Eric Parry Architects; David Kohn, founder and director, David Kohn Architects; Oliver Lowrie, director and founder, Ackroyd Lowrie; Anna Mansfield, director, Publica; Jo McCafferty, director, Levitt Bernstein; Ian McKnight, director, Hall McKnight; John McRae, director, Orms; Andrew Mellor, partner, PRP; Sadie Morgan, director, dRMM; Setareh Neshati, director of regeneration and development – delivery and operations, Westminster City Council; David Partridge, co-founder, Senze; Manisha Patel, director, kpk Studios; Sarah Robinson, associate director, The King’s Foundation; Simon Saint, principal, Woods Bagot; Philippa Simpson, director for buildings and renewal, Barbican Centre; David Stansfield, senior partner, Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios; Amin Taha, director, Groupwork; Magali Thomson, project lead for placemaking, Great Ormond Street Hospital; Ola Uduku, head of school, Liverpool School of Architecture; Tatiana von Preussen, co-founder, vPPR; Richard Wardle, director, Stanton Williams.
Today’s shortlist is for Office Architect of the Year.
Allford Hall Monaghan Morris
AHMM’s submission comprises four major projects. In Bristol, it has completed Assembly, a group of three buildings with associated public realm on the city’s waterfront. In London, offices under construction include 1 Broadgate, which provides 26,470 sqm of new office space in the City of London for British Land, the frame-retention scheme for Angel Square in Islington, and Belgrove House, a new-build specialised laboratory and office building for MSD in King’s Cross.
Emrys Architects
The practice describes itself as balancing the historical and the contemporary to create offices that are ‘civic-minded, technically excellent, sustainable, and characterful’. Its entry includes two repurposings: the Art Deco Barkers of Kensington department store and Bridge House, a former hotel at London Bridge. It has also designed Berners & Wells, a new-build and façade-retention in Fitzrovia, and retrofitted Grade II listed offices on Glasshouse Street for The Crown Estate.
Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios
FCBStudios believes offices can be ‘inspiring, inclusive, and vital civic buildings, not just places to work, but places to belong’.
In Basingstoke, it designed the transformation of the Grade II listed Mountbatten House, a 1970s modernist icon (with delivery architects Twelve Architects). New buildings in the entry include Three Chamberlain Square in Birmingham, soon to be the first BREEAM Outstanding/NABERS 5* office in the West Midlands, and Paradise, a timber-framed building in Lambeth.
Fletcher Priest Architects
Three London retrofits and a new build comprise the entry from the practice, which describes its approach as redefining the workplace as ‘sustainable, engaging and civic-minded space’.
New-build 100 Fetter Lane (Edenica) pioneered circularity with the City of London’s first material passport framework. Retrofits include the under-construction One Exchange Square in Broadgate, which retains 90% of the original structure and façade, and Verdant, a deep retrofit of 150 Aldersgate Street.
Gensler
Completed London offices include a post-merger workplace for Virgin Media O2, designed to celebrate ‘connectivity, sustainability, and inclusivity’. Gensler’s offices for L’Oréal dedicate 35% of the space to collaboration, while Edelman’s Francis House is the adaptive reuse of a 1900s warehouse, incorporating both repurposed and reupholstered furniture in a wide variety of work settings.
In Germany, Gensler redesigned the offices of Celonis Munich to reflect its values of transparency and innovation.
Gibson Thornley Architects
Four London projects include the ongoing regeneration of Richard Seifert’s 1970s Maple House on Tottenham Court Road, focusing on wellbeing and introducing an ‘urban forest’ into the podium courtyard. In nearby Fitzrovia, Orwell House is a frame-retention and extension including a load-bearing stone façade. Both are due to complete next year. The entry is completed by life sciences buildings in Whitechapel and a flexible workplace for Walker Books in Vauxhall.
Jon Matthews Architects
The Manchester practice is showcasing three new-build commercial office projects in its home city. Two are on First Street: Plot 9A, the first NABERS 5.5* rated building completed in the northwest, and Plot 10A, which is unbuilt. Both, says the practice, are ‘humane environments with texture and craft’. At nearby Medlock Street, One City Road will provide 37,500 sqm of Grade A workspace across two buildings.
Piercy&Company
The practice believes that offices ‘deserve the design ambition of cultural and civic buildings’. Its entry includes two structurally innovative projects. Xylo in Camberwell is set to be the largest all-timber net zero office building when it completes in 2027, while 38 Berkeley Square is a mass timber and steel hybrid in Mayfair. Two other offices are featured: a deep retrofit of One Millennium Bridge and the Jellicoe, part of a mixed-use new build in King’s Cross.
>> Also read: AYA 2025 shortlists: Education Architect of the Year
>> Also read: AYA 2025 shortlists: Best Architect Employer of the Year
Postscript
The Architect of the Year Awards are on Wednesday, 15 October 2025 at the Marriott Grosvenor Square, Grosvenor Sq, London, W1K 6JP.
Book your place here.
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