It has been a busy year in the office! As we rapidly move towards a Christmas break and keeping up with last minute deadlines, we have just enough time to squeeze in a brief summary of what we have been up to, in the worlds of both work and play.
Projects, Projects, Projects
We have continued in our mission to display our ‘range of specialisms’ within the office, with 2024 bringing one of the most varied collections of projects on site and on the drawing board to date.
Hospitality projects in the form of multiple restaurants have reached major milestones this year; with planning permissions secured and construction now underway. These have run side-by-side with several projects for College and University clients.
In the public sector we have a specialist in-patient autism unit due for completion in 2025 as well as an NHS Staff Accommodation being designed throughout 2024 and due to start on site in the new year.
In the private sector we have continued to enjoy a variety of commercial and residential projects – with private houses completing on site alongside some larger scale office change of uses (see our blog on reimagining office spaces from earlier in the year).
Sustainability
Decarbonisation has been a big focus, with local councils, in particular, leading the charge in upgrading their existing facilities to reducing their energy use and remove their dependency on non-renewable gas. We have simultaneously supported volume house builders and SME developers alike as they adapt to evolving building regulations with the need to meet increasingly stringent energy efficiency targets which are often driven by local planning authorities rather than via national policy.
We have backed this up in the office, working with Carbon Neutral Britain to assess our own energy use and become a certified Carbon Neutral Business for 2024.
Awards
Larkstone Watersports Hub has been an awards success this year with wins at Michelmores, LABC and the National Federation of Builders. The Langdon Learning Disabilities and Autism Unit won Highly commended – Project of the Year, Future Design – Design in Mental Health Awards 2025. Whilst the awards in and of themselves are never a key focus of the practice, it is always nice to have our work and collaborations recognised and with numerous projects due to complete on site in 2025, it will be interesting to see what next year’s awards entries have to bring.
People, People, People
We finish the year as a team of 26, most recently joined by Tara, Megan, Ollie, Harry and Sarah. As always, we are proud to be a practice with a demonstrated history of supporting budding, young Architects and Technicians.
Our relationship with taking on Exeter College apprentices has continued, Lewis is currently taking this further, now over a year into his Degree Apprenticeship (see his blog from earlier in the year). At the same time, we are supporting Chris T, Gabi and Chloe through their ‘Part 3’ studies – the final step towards becoming certified Architects.
During 2024, Chris C was promoted to Associate, while Jordan successfully completed his Part 3 qualification to become a registered Architect. All in all it has been a busy and fruitful year in terms of the development and educational exploits of our team!
Aside from the professional development of our team we have also taken some time out to have some fun, with a summer picnic, camping and boat trips, life drawings, design competitions and so much more. As usual the year has culminated in a very competitive Great Grainge Bake Off and rounded off with the upcoming office Christmas Party!
In Summary
It is easy to let the year slip by and forget to reflect on all the progress made. We have had projects and achievements abound and the above barely scratches the surface! After the festive break we will be excited to get stuck into 2025 with new projects coming into the office and a raft of exciting projects on site moving towards completion in the new year.