Archio Ltd

Would you like to work in an architecture practice which works directly with communities, and delivers positive social impact through the design process as well as the built work? 👍 Archio is seeking an experienced Architect and an experienced Architectural Assistant (Part 2) to join its team in London. Archio has a focus on delivering housing, and recently won the Housing and Critic’s Choice AJ Award and were nominated for the AYA Best Public and Social Housing Architects. The candidates must demonstrate: ·      Examples of excellent design work. We are interested to see your skills as a designer, which you might evidence through examples of (model) making or how you sketch. Please include these in your Portfolio PDF, alongside relevant examples of your work which might also include your technical drawings and visualisations you’ve done; ·      Experience of 3D drawing software, including Sketchup and Revit; ·      An understanding of, and commitment for, sustainable design; ·      Technical and construction detailing skills; ·      Excellent verbal and written communication skills organisation and ability to use initiative. The Architect candidate must demonstrate experience of: ·      Housing design and delivery, and knowledge of the London Plan Housing Design Standards. For details of the submission requirements and how to apply, please take a look at our blog post: https://lnkd.in/ekPYYZmF

We need to reimagine housing in London so that it is fit-for-purpose in the 21st century. That is the provocation posed at the upcoming The London Society event, "The Future of London’s Housing" on November 21st, where Kyle Buchanan, Director at Archio, will be speaking With London’s housing challenges growing, this event presents a key opportunity to discuss innovative approaches to creating sustainable, affordable, and inclusive homes for the city’s future. Kyle will share insights on how we at Archio are contributing to rethinking urban housing design, alongside other industry experts. It's time to assess the challenge and determine in crucial next steps to ensure we're creating homes for future Londoners that are socially sustainable. We’re looking forward to being part of this conversation, and hope to see many of you there. Date: November 21st, 2024 Location: BDP, 16 Brewhouse Yard, EC1V 4LJ Event Info/Get Your Ticket: https://lnkd.in/ehc68SuT #LondonSociety2024

Earlier this month, Mellis Haward, Director at Archio, had the opportunity to speak at the 2024 UK Cohousing Network Summit. At Archio we are focused on creating a better quality of life for all. We collaborate with local authorities, cohousing groups, community land trusts, and work on large-scale housing strategies and retrofits. Some of our notable projects include Citizen House with London CLT, Angel Yard intergenerational cohousing in Norwich, and Phoenix Lewes hybrid cohousing with Human Nature. Our approach centres on working closely with communities. As Mellis put it during her presentation, this requires architects to “leave their ego at the door” and prioritise collaboration with future residents. In codesign and cohousing, architects help navigate pros, cons, and complexities to reach consensus on key decisions, such as common house placement, privacy levels, and sustainability goals. Archio has also produced two significant guides to support this work. 1.     We have worked with Greater London Authority on a guide to commissioning codesign. 2.     We have also produced the codesign, and retrofit codesign toolkits, where they share what are the principles of codesign and how they relate to cohousing. Some key principles mentioned: - Setting a clear process: Giving people agency to get involved, e.g., through a flowchart that outlines the process step by step. - Giving others the pen: Using experience mapping to understand their perspectives, e.g., block modelling. - Enabling representative and constructive conversations: Building diverse networks. - Facilitating decision-making: Using exercises like temperature checks or traffic light systems (like, dislike, maybe) or cost prioritisation workshops. - Empowering communities long-term: Sharing knowledge through templates. Working with Phoenix Cohousing on a potential site (Lewes case study), Mellis faced the question of how a community can manifest what they want if there is not yet a cohousing community. Therefore, they created a festival workshop to create interest and appetite for sharing living, and to have clear principles of shared living. Something to be very clear is that public engagement is not the same codesign. #codesign #cohousing

Passivhaus is a well-established method for creating genuinely low-energy buildings, and we are delighted that our Associate, João Garcia Sá, has achieved the status of Certified Passivhaus Designer after completing a demanding yet rewarding exam with Coaction Training CIC. This milestone reflects years of dedication and hands-on experience, including his work on various Passivhaus projects at Archio. Over this period, Joao has had the opportunity to collaborate with talented designers such as Skelly & Couch and Etude. He is now eager to bring his expertise in-house at Archio, where Passivhaus is a key focus for our community-led and local authority clients seeking to build homes that meet sustainability goals and offer affordable heating for residents. #PassivHaus #SustainableArchitecture

Citizen’s House has been longlisted for the 2024 Dezeen Awards! Among more than 4,130 entries, from 82 countries, we are honored to be one of the 227 architecture projects selected. Watch this space as we await the shortlist announcement in October. To read more about it, check out our website - https://shorturl.at/8rJKk Client:  London CLT Oliver Bulleid, Colm Lacey, Michelle Huggins, Pete Brierley, Calum Green, Hannah Emery-Wright, Rupesh Varsani, Jawad Anjum, Ann Frankel, Colin Glen, Paul Regan, Dave Smith Archio Team: Mellis Haward, Kyle Buchanan, João Garcia Sá, Ione Braddick, Robin Farmer, Mike Slade, Tom Budd Campaigners: Lewisham Citizens, Janet Emmanuel, Nano McCaughan, Pete Brierley PM: BPM Project Management Planning Consultant: CMA Planning Building Control: SOCOTEC Services: Michael Popper Transport: Sweco QS: Alistair Russell Contractors: Rooff Funders and Supporters: Lewisham Council - Damien Egan community led housing london - Levent Kerimol GLA - Charli Bristow, Tom Copley, Sadiq Khan Ecology Building Society Big Issue Invest Photographer: FRENCH+TYE

I was really pleased to provide a testimonial for Archio Ltd's Retrofit Co-Design Toolkit. It's easy to get lost in process but we can't forget that retrofit is about people as much as it is about buildings. This toolkit provides a blue print for putting residents at the heart of the retrofit journey (where they belong!). 📬 Get your digital copy by emailling info@archio.co.uk

According to research from House Buyer Bureau, house prices are currently sitting at 8.8 times the average earnings, more than doubling since the 1970s. The research shows that the average house price throughout the 1970s sat at just £9,277, the equivalent of £68,493 today after adjusting for inflation. As it stands in the current market, homebuyers have never had a harder task looking to join the property ladder. So far this decade, the average house price has hit £286,489, 318% higher than the average seen throughout the 70s. And while the average earnings has also increased to £32,432, this marks just a 94% increase in earnings. So, here are Archio, we are proud to have been key contributors in Community Land Trust housing projects, which address the disparity between house prices and average salaries. The CLT homes are sold at affordable levels, with prices linked in perpetuity to average earnings in the area, therefore ensuring that people have economically sustainable, and socially beneficial housing options available to them. After the success of Citizen’s House in Lewisham, which completed in 2023, we are delighted to share that we have submitted plans for 16 more CLT homes with the Royal Borough of Greenwich. Commissioned by London CLT representing Greenwich Citizens Housing, we won the opportunity to design these homes through a public vote — a true testament to community empowerment! As highlighted in the recent Architects’ Journal article: “The new homes will be genuinely affordable, and they have been designed to contribute to the local area and to meet higher standards of sustainability.” We owe our thanks to all our collaborators and partners, including: The dedicated team at London CLT, Oliver Bulleid, Cheryl Scott, and Jawad Anjum All members of Greenwich Citizens Housing and Anthony Okereke Our amazing project team at Archio Ltd: Mellis Haward, Kyle Buchanan, Sophie Baldwin, Claire Fitzpatrick, João Garcia Sá, Will Hayter And all our incredible project partners: Simple Works (Structural & Civils), P3R Engineers Ltd (M&E), SCS (Sustainability), Peter Tanner, Stantec (Planning consultants), Steer (Transport consultants), Marc Dix, LT Studios (Landscape), Ian Sayer and Co. (Employers Agent/Quantity Surveyor) 👉 Catch the full story in the Architects’ Journal - https://shorturl.at/uxN7T

Join us at our upcoming LFA event on the 19th of June! We are collaborating with Levitt Bernstein to put together an evening of discussion and debate whilst showcasing some of our projects. With the dual challenges of a climate emergency and housing crisis, many people are struggling to live in warm, comfortable homes. Upgrading social housing is vital for the health and wellbeing of the UK population but the scale of the problem seems insurmountable. However, good communication and engagement are the key to deliver the kind of effective social housing retrofit projects we so desperately need. Archio will showcase their work with Local Authorities and Housing Associations on Neighbourhood Level Retrofit Guides and Retrofit Engagement. They will gather key players in this burgeoning sector, including hosts Levitt Bernstein, within the built environment to discuss the issue and propose positive steps forward. This will enable us all to reimagine social housing that is fit for the future. We will be joined by: Jack Ostrofsky, Director at London Councils Cara Holmes, Technical Programme Manager at National Retrofit Hub Steven Wilding, Head of Net Zero and Green Economy at Hounslow Council Clare Murray, Head of Sustainability, and Matthew Goulcher, Managing Director, Levitt Bernstein Sign up here: https://lnkd.in/eC4g5an9 📸 Becontree Estate Residents Panel with Be First Regeneration Limited

Thanks to Future of London for a fruitful conversation at the launch of their report 'Putting Co-production into practice', at Tower Hamlets town hall this week. My key take-aways: 1. Expectation Gap: While 45% of professionals feel successful in their co-production efforts, only 27% of community representatives agree. 2. Trust, trust, trust: There is a huge distrust in common public engagement practices and a successful co-production process relies on trust, but also builds trust. 3. To properly engage everyone, cut the Jargon: 'Co-production' and 'co-design' essentially means 'working together' (thanks to Sarah Eastham for that one). 4. Spread the investment: Where public money is being spent, there is an obligation that investment is spread as far as possible. Could the same be said for the private sector, where development is benefiting from the value of existing communities? 5. Empowerment: When engaging local people in co-production, they should be properly recompensed for their time. This could be through meaningful employment, upskilling, or confidence building. The benefits for individuals go far beyond having input in the early stages of a project and should be communicated at the outset. When discussing potential resources to facilitate better co-production practices, Archio Ltd's co-design toolkit provided inspiration for one of those... The Empowerment Toolkit - A set of tools to ensure residents have agency in and benefit from the co-production process, particularly over the long term (thanks to Jennie Savage FRSA for that one). Excited to see how these ideas evolve!

This May 21-22, Director Mellis Haward is attending UKREiiF. Looking forward to connecting with collaborators and clients!