A London architecture practice founded in 2004 by Ken Shuttleworth, described as the UK's first employee-owned architecture practice and a Certified B Corporation.
Make Architects calls itself "a different kind of architecture practice". It offers architecture, interior design and urban design from concept to completion, and says it has completed more than 100 built schemes. Its work includes university buildings for Nottingham and Oxford, London offices such as 5 Broadgate, London Wall Place and 80 Charlotte Street, housing such as Chobham Manor, and the Copper Box, the handball arena at the 2012 Olympic Games. It has also worked on urban design for sites such as Elephant and Castle and Wembley North West Lands.
Make was founded in 2004 by Ken Shuttleworth, formerly of Foster + Partners. Its own words are that it is "proudly free from a house style", so each project starts from the specific brief, site and budget. It describes a curious, research-driven approach, adopting new technologies, materials and methods, and aims for "resilient placemaking" that creates social value. As a Certified B Corporation it says it seeks a better balance between people, planet and place, and targets net zero carbon for all projects by 2030. It marked 20 years with a CO-CREATE exhibition at the Building Centre in London in late 2025.
The practice is headquartered in London and its other teams are in Hong Kong and Shanghai, which it describes as "One Make", a single studio across three locations. Wikipedia lists no other UK office. We could not find a headcount in the pages we read, so we cannot say how large the London team is. Its design work is concentrated in London and in university cities such as Nottingham and Oxford.
On people, Make says it is a 100% employee-owned practice, which it says puts partnership at the centre of its work, and its partners are called "makers". It describes a workplace of collaboration and respect, where everyone takes part, from recent graduates to project leaders, and says it treats clients as co-creators. It won AJ100 Practice of the Year in 2014 and AJ100 Employer of the Year in 2016. These are the company's own claims and trade awards, and we have not checked day-to-day working life.
The jobs include architects and architectural assistants, interior and urban designers, technologists, model makers, visualisers, project managers and business support staff. Because Make says it follows research and new materials, curiosity about how things are made is a good fit. The practice website lists current openings.
Website: www.makearchitects.com
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