A London architecture practice founded in 1938, with studios in London, Manchester and Glasgow, known for MediaCityUK, the Lighthouse and the BBC's Broadcasting House.
Sheppard Robson is an architecture practice that Wikipedia describes as the fourth biggest in the UK. It trades as Sheppard Robson Architects LLP and works across education, offices, residential, science and healthcare, retail and interiors. Its better-known UK projects include Churchill College in Cambridge, the BBC Broadcasting House, MediaCityUK in Salford, the Tate Modern as executive architect, the Helicon office building, the Lighthouse in Glasgow, Barking Riverside, and Apple's flagship store at 1 Hanover Street in London.
The practice was founded in London in 1938 by Richard Sheppard and his wife, Jean Shufflebottom, an architect in her own right. Richard Sheppard was a technically skilled designer who developed new materials and had been disabled by polio as a teenager. Geoffrey Robson became a business partner around 1950 and his name was added. In the 1950s the practice specialised in schools and designed more than 80. In 2007 it built the UK's first net zero carbon house, the Lighthouse, and in 2010 its Lancaster Institute for the Contemporary Arts was the first college or university building to win a BREEAM Outstanding rating. It became a limited liability partnership in 2014.
Sheppard Robson has three UK studios: London, in a refurbished piano factory hidden in a courtyard in Camden Town; Manchester; and Glasgow. Wikipedia gives its staff as about 350, mostly architects. It also has an interior design group called ID:SR, which has worked on the Channel 4 headquarters, BBC North at MediaCity and KPMG's Leeds offices. The company has done work in the Middle East too, such as the Siemens headquarters at Masdar City, which received a LEED Platinum rating.
On values, we found no mission statement. Outside descriptions say the practice was among the pioneers of sustainable architecture in the early 1990s and tries to balance performance, especially sustainability, with form. Wikipedia lists 19 people as key staff, including Alan Shingler, Neal Allen-Burt and Helen Berresford, which suggests a broad leadership group rather than a single founder-led structure. We found no culture material written by the practice itself.
A practice of this size employs architects and architectural assistants, technologists, interior designers, urban designers, sustainability specialists, visualisers, project managers and business support staff. Its record in schools and universities means many of its jobs involve buildings that young people use. For current roles, use the company website, which we did not read directly.
Website: www.sheppardrobson.com
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