JRA appoints former Conran & Partners sustainability chief as new director

John Robertson Architects has appointed Conran & Partners’ former head of sustainability as a new director.

Anja Schellenbauer joined JRA in 2023 as associate director and has now been promoted to the firm’s senior leadership team, which includes seven other directors.

Prior to joining JRA, she spent 12 years at Conran & Partners working on high-profile projects including the office-to-residential conversion of Richard Seifert’s Centre Point tower in the West End, on which she was project lead.

She previously also held roles at Orms, Grimshaw Architects and Fletcher Priest Architects with her experience including FCBS’ One Lothbury refurbishment in the City of London and Orms’ 511-home Carlyon scheme in Cornwall.

As a passionate advocate for sustainable design, Anja has recently presented at the NLA and lends her expertise to the new UK Net Zero Carbon Buildings Standard within the Office Sector Embodied Carbon Group. 

She is also a certified passivhaus designer and is listed on the RIBA conservation register.

David Magyar, director at John Robertson Architects, says: “We are excited to announce Anja’s appointment as director, which is reflective of her great design work across London and her passion in driving sustainability both within JRA and throughout the wider built environment.”

Schellenbauer will be based at JRA’s office in Blackfriars. The practice also has offices in  Edinburgh and Lodz in Poland.

She joins directors Festus Moffat, David Magyar, Nathalie Bergvall, Etain Fitzpatrick, Angela St Clair-Ford, Mark Wibberley and Smita Bhat.