Five new partners named as stalwart Mike Davies steps down after 40 years

Rogers Stirk Harbour has appointed five new partners - including its first female partner - as the architect prepares to move from Hammersmith to the Cheesegrater in the City next month.

The firm also announced that Mike Davies, one of its founding partners, is to step down from the board after 40 years. He will remain employed by the practice in a part-time consultancy role.

The practice will also expand its roster of senior associates from nine to 15.

“For the past year the partners have been debating the changes necessary to ensure the continuing success of the practice and recognise the contribution that members of the senior team have made,” said a statement issued by the practice.

The new partners include the first woman to join the board, Tracy Meller, along with Stephen Light, Stephen Barrett, John McElgunn and Andrew Tyley.

“Tracy has all the qualities they were looking for and we are delighted that we have five new partners in the practice,” said a spokewoman.

Earlier this year Ken Shuttleworth’s practice, Make, also appointed its first woman board member, Katy Ghahremani.

RSHP will move to the Leadenhall Building, which it designed, on December 14 after the lease ran out on its Thames Wharf HQ. The architect was also responsible for designing the housing-led redevelopment of the riverside site which won planning in August.

Davies told Richard Rogers three years ago that he wished to step back when the practice moved into its new studio. With his departure, the new appointments will mean the practice has 13 partners, including Richard Rogers, Graham Stirk and Ivan Harbour.

Team biographies

Stephen Barrett

Stephen joined the practice in 1993 and was made an associate in 2004.  Fluent in French and Spanish, he was project architect for the Bordeaux Law Courts and Terminal 4 Barajas Madrid. He spent two years seconded to the practice’s Madrid office as project architect for Campus Palmas Altas in Seville. He was project leader on two major master plans in Paris, Bercy Charenton and Gare de Lyon Daumesnil. He also led the team that won the international competition for a new terminal at Lyon St Exupery Airport.

Stephen Light

Stephen joined the practice in 1992 and was made an associate in 2011. His extensive technical expertise means he provides the practice with key advice, in particular on cladding and construction systems as well as off-site manufacture. He led the cladding package on The Leadenhall Building, the mainframe package on Lloyds Register and the monitoring and compliance on One Hyde Park. He is currently advising the architectural teams through the construction of Lyon St Exupery Airport and the pre-construction phase of Geneva Airport.

John McElgunn

John joined the practice in 2001 and was made an associate in 2004. He has extensive experience in gaining planning permission for complex projects including both One Hyde Park and Neo Bankside. As project architect he led a large team through at all stages of the British Museum World Conservation and Exhibitions Centre scheme. He is currently working on the design for a conservation and storage facility for the Musée de Louvre in Liévin in northern France.

Tracy Meller

Tracy joined the practice in 1999, was made an associate in 2004 and an associate partner in 2011. As lead architect on projects such as Neo Bankside and Mossbourne Academy, Tracy has a track record of delivering innovative schemes on some of the most complex urban sites. Tracy led the team that won the competition for the new Centre Buildings redevelopment at the London School of Economics (LSE).  She is now lead architect on the project delivering a new public space and academic building for the LSE.

Andrew Tyley

Andrew rejoined the practice in 1996 and became an associate partner in 2011. Skilled at both the design and masterplanning of major infrastructure projects, he also provides strategic advice on commercial developments for clients. Andrew led the Wood Wharf masterplan in London gaining planning for one of the largest undeveloped sites in London. He was project architect for the BBVA headquarters in Mexico City and has led many competitions, including Transbay Terminal in San Francisco and Beijing Airport. He recently led the team that won the competition to design T3 at Taiwan Taoyuan international airport.

Mike Davies

Mike, a founding partner, has worked with the practice since its inception and has been involved with many of the projects it has undertaken in the last 40 years. He worked for six years in Paris on the Pompidou Centre in the 1970s.

On returning to the UK as a director he worked on Lloyd’s of London, and was the project director for INMOS, the UK government microprocessor industry flagship. He was the project director for the strategic masterplan for the Royal Docks and the Greenwich Peninsula in London and also the masterplanner for the City of Dunkirk and project director for the Lower East River masterplan for the City of New York.

Mike was the project director for the Millennium Dome and for the masterplan for T5 and the new T5 terminal buildings at London’s Heathrow Airport. He was the project director for Grand Paris, a masterplan for Greater Paris 2030, commissioned by President Sarkozy, examining the changing needs of urban Paris in the 21st century.

Most recently, Mike has been the project director for the masterplans for Gare de Lyon, Daumesnil and for the strategic masterplan of Bercy Charenton rail lands in Paris for the Ville de Paris.

Mike was awarded a CBE in 2000 for services for architecture and was made a Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur in 2010 by the President of France.

Written by RSHP

 

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