Stride Treglown has experienced modest growth, adding eight architects to its head count, and expects this to continue, with a number of Part 2-qualified employees expected to attain Part 3 in the coming year. The practice now has no international offices, having closed its outpost in Abu Dhabi in 2016.
Following last year’s establishment of the 431 Architecture alliance and the purchase of Bournville Village Trust’s architects division, this year is set to be one of generational change. At the end of 2016, Gareth Davies, who had run the Cardiff office for 20 years, retired, and Dominic Wells, who was project management director, left after eight years. In June, managing director Kevin Macdonald will retire after 31 years with the practice, handing over to Darren Wilkins. Chairman David Hunter said: ‘The contributions of Gareth, Kevin and Dominic to our business over the years have been immense and we have needed to plan carefully to make sure that their very significant roles in the practice are filled. We will undoubtedly miss them hugely, but it’s great that in Pierre [Wassenaar, replacing Gareth Davies] and Darren we have such strong candidates to take up the reins so we can look forward to any challenges the coming year may hold.’
Recent key projects have included the New Adelphi Building at the University of Salford and the Rove Hotel in Dubai.
The practice, which still identifies strongly with Bristol, where it was founded and where more than a third of the architects still work, set up an initiative supported by the council, called Bristol Colour Capital, to see it celebrated as the city with the most colourful buildings in the country.
