2013 A Good Year

2013 has been a good year for Stiff+Trevillion.

The practice has won two NLA awards, a Restaurant and Bar Design Award and was crowned Office Architect of the Year at The BD Awards.

It has been a busy year across the three sectors we work in. Our commercial team has completed two new office buildings in London and we have four major buildings on site. Three of these are residential apartment blocks, an indication perhaps of where the central London market is going.

The restaurant team has been working hard as well, The Eat roll out is going well, and we are looking at some Jamie’s Italians overseas. We have opened a lot of restaurants in 2013, significantly Hixter, for Mark Hix in Devonshire Square, Jamie’s Italian in Greenwich and Villandry in Waterloo Place.

Not surprisingly our private residential work has grown as well this year, and we have completed some great projects for great clients.

What does 2014 hold in store?

The economy does seem to have turned a corner, certainly in the capital, London has become a global city to compare with New York.

We have some complex and interesting projects in the planning pipeline, and a lot on site.

We have spent 2013 writing a book about the practice with our old friend Mark Dudek. Andy, Mark and I met at university in 1975, we have worked together over the years as well. The book is the story of the business from our student days to the present time, almost 40 years of history now. Writing it has been a salutary experience, looking back on a business that has been buffeted by the economic highs and lows of the late 20^th and early 21^st centuries.

But in the last 15 years or so we have achieved what we always set out to do, build some good stuff in our city. It takes time and the book adopts the premise that it takes 10,000 hours to master anything, ping pong, darts or chess, and architecture is no different.

2014 will see the publication of the book, a launch party or two, at least two exhibitions of our work, and a lot more.

Stiff + Trevillion wish all of our friends, colleagues and clients a very happy Christmas and we look forward to a prosperous new year.