Our Design Director Talks at the York School of Architecture

We were grateful to be invited to give a talk last week at the University of York School of Architecture for their lecture series on the Value of Design, which focussed on: ‘Designing York: Past, Present & Future’.

It was an engaging evening and a rare opportunity to look around the prestigious Grade I Listed King’s Manor. A big thank you to York Architectural Association & York School of Architecture, University of York for organising this excellent series and Lorraine Farrelly and Dean Ireland for asking us to be involved.

Thanks also to Gregor Stewart (LDN Architects) and Lisa Otter, who delivered fascinating and inspiring talks on their ongoing projects at St Michael Le Belfry Church, and the City of York Council Housing Delivery programme respectively.

Our Design Director, Mark Andrews talked about some of our past projects and ongoing work in York, looking at them from two aspects: the value that design can bring for different clients and project types; and the influence of local context and planning policy. 

The talk reflected on a particular study that has helped shape York’s development over the last 50 years, and the built context and planning framework within which we work in today - a study carried out by Lord Esher c.1968, titled York: A Study in Conservation. 

One of four reports into historic cities that were commissioned ‘to show how town centre redevelopment in historic towns can be combined with the preservation of ancient buildings’, the report had a transformative impact on the city and many of the ideas it contained were gradually implemented in the proceeding years.

Mark explored how the Esher report’s holistic view of the city and its speculative proposals might inform a more proactive planning strategy for future development, particularly in addressing York’s increasing housing targets and reducing risk for prospective developments.