A London and Manchester practice of architects, landscape architects and urban designers, known for housing, theatres and arts buildings and for its Housing Design Handbook.
Levitt Bernstein is a British practice of architects, landscape architects and urban designers. It was founded in 1968 by David Levitt and David Bernstein, and today it has studios in London and Manchester. The practice describes a long-standing commitment to housing and urban design. It balances this with work in the arts, education, health, office, retail and community sectors, so one team may be working on homes for older people and another on a theatre or a university building.
The practice's mission is clearest in what it publishes about housing. It contributed to the HAPPI report on housing for older people, a guide to superdensity design, and a guide to higher-density family housing. It also produced a dwelling space calculator for affordable housing. David Levitt's Housing Design Handbook, a guide to good practice written with colleague Jo McCafferty, is used by people who commission and design homes. We did not find a formal mission statement on the pages we could read, so this describes the practice's priorities from its own publications rather than quoting a slogan.
The practice has two UK studios. London is where it started. Its Manchester studio, which the practice itself celebrated in August 2023 as ten years old, is closely tied to the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester, which the practice worked on in 1976 and again in 1998. Other well-known projects include the Ikon Gallery in Birmingham, Stratford Circus and LSO St Luke's in London, the Brunswick Centre in Bloomsbury, buildings at University College London, and the VIVO and So Stepney housing on the Ocean Estate in Tower Hamlets.
On culture, the practice's recent news shows it marking milestones and remembering the people who built it. In November 2025 it posted a celebration of co-founder David Levitt, and David Bernstein, who died in 2018, is remembered with an obituary in the RIBA Journal. The pages we could read do not give staff numbers or ownership details, so we cannot say how many people work there or how it is owned. The practice lists many award schemes it has been recognised by, including RIBA Awards, Civic Trust Awards and Housing Design Awards.
A practice with this mix needs architects and architectural assistants, landscape architects, urban designers, housing specialists who research how people live, and business and administration staff. If you are interested in how homes work for different ages, how a theatre or a gallery is planned, or how a street can be made friendlier, there is a lot to look at in its published work. The practice's website carries its latest news and any current openings.
Website: www.levittbernstein.co.uk
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