Stephen became Managing Director when the company was formed in early 1999 after collaborating with Richard Horden on a large project in Knightsbridge. Stephen’s responsibility is to lead the design teams on key projects from inception to completion. As project leader, he is actively involved in all aspects of design, construction and administration. In his role as managing director, he is also responsible for quality control, project management and company finance.
Stephen’s considerable experience gained in his early career at Scott Tallon Walker (6 years) and thereafter at MacCormac Jamieson Prichard (12 years) has proved invaluable in establishing his key values at HCLA. These values focus on design excellence, client service, strong project and team management, pragmatic solutions, value judgements and technical understanding. His combination of values and leadership skills, with an ability to have a holistic understanding of project demands, has resulted in him gaining the trust of many clients and generating repeat work for the practice.
Stephen has led the design and management of key projects at HCLA such as: Arundel Great Court – initially for Land Securities and now under new private ownership, Ercol furniture factory - the first furniture factory to be built in the UK for over 75 years which has been applauded for its holistic environmental and social solutions, 30 Crown Place - a unique 25,000 sq m speculative office building which is now the HQ for Pinsent Masons lawyers and features in many television programmes and adverts. This project was completed for the same client as the successful building next door at 10 Crown Place, completed some 11 years earlier when at he was at MJP. Stephen is currently heading up the 35,000 sq m mixed use building converting and extending a 1960’s building known as Finsbury Tower for CIT. This involves adding 12 floors on top of an existing 16 storey building and reconfiguring the rest of the site to create a new network of public routes, social housing and retail outlets. Other projects have included extending and converting a listed building on the King’s Road for Cadogan Estates and a 5 storey building for student accommodation in heart of the historic centre of Southampton.
Stephen’s ability to understand and interpret the site’s context and advocate modern designs through the planning process to deliver, and sometimes exceed, client expectations has been an important aspect in keeping HCLA’s architecture visually diverse.
