A Manchester-headquartered multidisciplinary design practice, founded in 1961, whose architects, engineers and designers work on hospitals, schools, stations and city centres.
BDP, or Building Design Partnership, describes itself as "the original multidisciplinary house of design". It brings architects, interior designers, building services engineers and others together in one practice, with particular strength in healthcare, education, transport and commercial projects. Its UK work includes the Liverpool One shopping district, Westgate Oxford, Edinburgh St James, the Royal Opera House rebuilding in Covent Garden (with Dixon Jones), Glasgow Science Centre, the Manchester Piccadilly station concourse, and the Google King's Cross headquarters in London, worked on with Heatherwick Studio and BIG.
The practice was founded in 1961 by George Grenfell-Baines with architects Bill White and John Wilkinson and quantity surveyor Arnold Towler. It grew out of profit-sharing and multidisciplinary experiments he began in 1941. A 1962 policy statement committed BDP to "the principle of equal status for all professions", which still shapes the idea of architects and engineers working side by side. Its current focus, in its own words, is sustainable, impactful environments that revitalise urban areas and benefit communities, with an emphasis on energy efficiency and reusing existing buildings.
BDP's headquarters is in Manchester, at 11 Ducie Street by Piccadilly Basin. Wikipedia says its first offices included London, Manchester and Preston, with Belfast, Glasgow and Guildford added by 1970, so it has long had a spread of UK studios. We did not find a current office list on the pages we read, so check the company site. Wikipedia reports about 950 employees, and in 2016 it was described as the second-largest architecture firm in the UK. Its parent since 2016 is the Japanese engineering company Nippon Koei, and BDP continues to trade under its own name.
BDP's tagline is "Built Original", and its Manchester pages highlight awards, a RIBA West Midlands award for the Delia Derbyshire Building, and a young designer named to the Mix Interiors 30 Under 30 list. It also promotes a #MyGoodCity theme on culture and access to cities. These are the company's own messages. Staff named on the Manchester page include principals in education architecture and building services engineering, which shows the range of professions there.
Careers at BDP can be in architecture, interior design, urban design, landscape, building services and structural engineering, project management, and the business teams behind them. Because it combines professions, it is useful if you are still deciding between architecture and engineering. The company website, which we did not read in full, lists current vacancies.
Website: www.bdp.com
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