Inspired

At Bond Bryan, we believe in the power of people. As designers, everything we do revolves around the varying facets of the human experience – that of our clients, our end-users and, of course, our staff.

As we’ve shown throughout this year; with a fantastic, award-filled summer, we’re very capable of making waves in our industry. Our people-centric places have earned us, as a practice, much acclaim this year – but it’s also a recognition of the people behind the designs – the people who propel us forward.

It’s with great glee that our year’s industry successes have been translatable to internal successes in the form of the four well-earned promotions to Associate Director for four of our key Northern players, and the promotion to Bids & Communications Manager for one of our Central Bid Coordinators.

 

DUNCAN HOGG

A Bond Bryan veteran, Duncan has been with the practice for an impressive sixteen years. An Architectural Technologist by profession, Duncan stepped up to an Associate role a short while ago, back in 2017. Since then, Duncan has excelled and shown himself to be a natural leader, ensuring smooth sailing within his team across a whole host of projects, including the ongoing works at Wyre Forest Emergency Hub, Aston Fire Station and Barnsley Fire Station.

Leading the Red Team, Duncan will be focussing primarily on building Bond Bryan’s Industrial, Residential, Bluelight and Commercial repertoire and blazing new trails into these sectors for the practice to march down.

 

AFSHAN MCKAY

Having been with the company since 2007, Afshan has spent the past 11 years crafting, shaping and designing the future of education; from large-scale FE College projects to smaller-scale Schools and Academies, Afshan has been instrumental in building the Bond Bryan Education portfolio. It, therefore, comes as no surprise that Afshan has been promoted as part of the recent Bond Bryan restructure.

Afshan, and her newly formed Green Team, will focus on further developing our profile within the School, FE and HE aspects of the education sector. Chief amongst the team’s current projects is the ambitious Nottingham College project – a £35m FE City Hub envisioned to complete the merger of the two pre-existing Nottingham-based colleges.

 

JON RIGBY

A homegrown talent, who needs no introduction within Bond Bryan, Jon recently celebrated his 12^thanniversary with the firm. One of our most prolific Advanced Manufacturing architects, there’s nary a project upon the Advanced Manufacturing Park that Jon hasn’t had at least a hand in shaping, designing and delivering. As Project Architect for Factory 2050, Jon has shown – time and time again – that he is able to deconstruct and rebuild the traditional ideas surrounding industrial architecture into something new, something slick, something chic.

With a focus on furthering our Advanced Manufacturing, HE and Residential output, Jon will be leading the Orange Team and continuing to push the boundaries of the traditional industrial workplace.

 

JAMES WOODHOUSE

Joining the practice in 2011, James bought with him a keen eye for design and a natural talent for studio leadership. Immediately showing his mettle with the successful delivery of the NUAST project, James went from strength to strength within the business, working on and leading the delivery of some of our most high-profile buildings – including the RIBA Award-Winning Advanced Manufacturing Building for The University of Nottingham. James also built the bridge for the Bond Bryan and SimpsonHaugh connection, which has seen both practices collaboratively land one of our biggest schemes yet.

James’s Blue Team will be centred on furthering the business’s presence within the HE & FE Advanced Manufacturing sectors – hoping to deliver many more successful award-winning projects over the coming years.

 

JACK DE GRAAF

Joining the practice early in 2016, Jack has thrown himself – “heart and soul” – into Bond Bryan and, specifically, the Bids Team. Based in Sheffield, but working with all studios, Jack has supported the process of winning many bids over the past couple of years. Throughout the duration of this year, Jack has developed and built upon his role – taking on more duties and branching out into Communications across the business as well as leading the development of Bond Bryan’s new suite of internal and external documents.

Now, as Bids & Communications Manager, Jack will continue to both develop his duties and produce the highest quality work within the Bids Team across the whole Bond Bryan network.

 

It’s with smiles on our faces that we wish these five fantastic colleagues the best of luck in their new roles, and we all know that they are well-placed to overcome every challenge that may come their way. Well done people, you’ve earned it – now go out there and keep making us proud!

Bond Bryan’s main headquarters, The Church Studio in Sheffield, is steeped in history spanning back to its creation in 1908. Part of its history is intrinsically linked to its surroundings, and as such that history spans back to The Great War.

Sitting on a sloping hill, the former Crookes Congregational Church borders Western Road and is enclosed by the Western Road Memorial Trees – planted in 1919 to honour the soldiers who were ex-pupils of the former Western Road Council School that fought in World War 1.

Embedded into the wall of The Church Studio is a stone plaque that reads “The trees in Western Road and Elliot Street were planted in grateful appreciation of the part taken by former pupils of this school in The Great War 1914 – 1919”. Working in tandem, the plaque and trees symbolise the rememberance of the fallen – through a vow to ‘never forget’ set in stone, and the growth of new life born from the sacrifice of the dead.

Placed above the stone tablet by Bond Bryan are a collection of silent silhouettes – created as a memorial to those lost in the war and a way to say ‘Thank You’ to the Lost Generation.

On Sunday the 11th, 100 years after the end of all that bloodshed, there will be a procession of 64 homemade willow lanterns from Wesley Hall, through Crookes to Western Road at 16:30. An avenue of light will be created by the procession as they place their lanterns under the memorial trees planted down the street.

After this, the procession will gather at the memorial plaque embedded in Bond Bryan’s Church Studio at 17:00 to have a short ceremony, including the reading of the 64 fallen soldiers’ names, some poetry and a song.

Our Managing Director, Jonathan Herbert has been with Bond Bryan for thirty years, THIRTY years. We look back over those thirty years and gain some insight from the man himself.

Do you remember your first day? What was it like?

I just about remember! We rented two small rooms (Jon Bond and John Bryan had started the practice a few months earlier – working on Jon’s kitchen table). I joined three others (an administrator, an architectural technician and a part two architect) in one small room which i thought was very smart because we had lots of potted plants as well as Habitat angle-poise lamps over our drawing boards; there were no such luxuries at that time at my previous employer. There was also a fax machine, which, we all agreed, made us very “cutting edge”. It was very friendly but, on day one, I was asked to draw up a small extension to an existing workshop which, from the photos, looked like it might fall over if anyone touched it; perhaps – fortuitusly – the project did not proceed!

You have been with Bond Bryan for 30 years; why is Bond Bryan such a great place to work at?

The people. Even at the start there was a very friendly culture at Bond Bryan and it is fantastic to be a part of that. The studios are bursting with energy and creativity and there is a certain drive and determination to keep evolving and get better and better. There is a lot of great design that is produced, but, there is also a great sense of humour – a lot of unique characters who make every day memorable and a lot of fun. The most important thing is that we all really enjoy what we do.

What do you see for Bond Bryan in the next 30 years? 

I hope to see more success! We have had a fantastic year this year – we have been fortunate enough to receive some great recognition and some prestigious awards. We have made a bold step forward with the development of our brand and new website and I know, as a business, that we hope to continue to build and maintain relationships with colleagues; when we had our 30^th birthday celebrations, it was a real joy to see people whom we’d worked with and now consider friends.

Bond Bryan joined together across all of our studios today to celebrate – and share in – our success in winning “Architectural Practice of the Year” and “Project of the Year” at this week’s Education Estates Awards.

Bond Bryan attended the Education Estates last night, and we are delighted to share the news that we won the awards for “Architectural Practice of the Year” and also “Project of the Year” for The National College for High Speed Rail, Doncaster.

Designed by Bond Bryan – in partnership with Birmingham City Council, HS2 Ltd, and major contractor, Willmott Dixon – the College has won many prestigious awards: being recognised as a pioneering centre of excellence for rail engineering and being involved in equipping the UK with skills to be world leader in the growing market of high speed rail construction. This project is of great significance for Doncaster – reflecting its historical railway heritage – and is one that we are extremely proud to be involved with.

It has been a fantastic year for Bond Bryan: celebrating our 30th birthday with a rebrand, developing our new website and collaborating with some terrific people. Here’s to further success in the future!

The vocational skills gap has been widely acknowledged for many years, and a range of initiatives has been implemented in recent years to address it. A key emphasis is the need to develop progression routes from the well-established vocational training in Further Education into the higher level technical skills that are increasingly needed by the workplace. Furthermore, to keep pace with the rate of change in new technology and industrial innovation, upskilling and retraining for the existing workforce is essential if we are to address the future skills needs of the economy.

The flagship National College for High Speed Rail is at the forefront of this new thinking – delivering the new skills and employees that will be required for HS2 and the wider rail industry: from infrastructure and engineering to rolling-stock maintenance, communications and management.

Bond Bryan are delighted to be shortlisted for two awards at this year’s Education Estates Awards. These awards focus attention on some of the most important issues within the Education sector and recognise the very best companies, collaborations and projects – sharing best practice and inspiring others to adopt new and better ways of working that deliver outstanding results.

Bond Bryan have been shortlisted within two categories: Architectural Practice of the Year and Project of the Year with two projects in the running: National College for High Speed Rail, Doncaster Campus and the Advanced Manufacturing Building, The University of Nottingham.

Architectural Practice of the Year
With four UK studios in Sheffield, Birmingham, London and Kent, Bond Bryan have a nationally-significant presence and have worked with educational providers across the country. They embody many of the different facets that educational architecture features: from Strategic Property Advice to Digital Architecture, as well as many forms of architectural design and consultancy. 2018 has seen Bond Bryan deliver some of their finest and most critically-acclaimed work to-date.

Recent projects and achievements include:
• Completing the National College for Nuclear in Cumbria.
• Being selected onto The University of Sheffield’s Architectural Framework.
• Completing the highly-successful delivery of London Metropolitan University’s Roding Building.
• Current and ongoing delivery of an Estates Masterplan for St. George’s University of London.
• Completion of the National College for High Speed Rail, Birmingham Campus – winner of the RICS Award for Regeneration in the West Midlands.
• Ongoing collaborative contribution as the Information Consultant for the University of Cambridge’s Cavendish III Project.
• Completion of two RIBA Award-winning schemes: the National College for High Speed Rail, Doncaster Campus and the University of Nottingham’s Advanced Manufacturing Building.

Project of the Year – National College for High Speed Rail, Doncaster Campus
The National College for High Speed Rail has been recognised as a pioneering centre of excellence for rail engineering and has been involved in equipping the UK with skills to be world leaders in the growing market of high speed rail construction.
Bond Bryan’s design takes its inspiration from Doncaster’s historical railway heritage, with linearity and visibility being the two key themes. The building balances learner-led academic classrooms with realistic working and fit-out areas and workshops that feature large-scale working components for the current high-speed rail industry and a high-speed locomotive for diagnostic training.
With a raft of sustainable features and a BREEAM Excellent rating, this project won both the RIBA Yorkshire Sustainability Award and the overall RIBA Yorkshire Regional Award. Alongside these highly-esteemed awards, this project has also received the Project of the Year and Best of the Best at the Constructing Excellence Award in the region and is now shortlisted for the national award.

Project of the Year – Advanced Manufacturing Building, The University of Nottingham
This iconic gateway building brings together a diverse range of innovative research groups as well as leading industry experts into one facility at the entrance to the University’s city centre Jubilee Campus. Having won the commission for this project – via a design competition in late 2014 – Bond Bryan were able to deliver the University’s requirements with an efficient maximisation of site space within a single phase.
Now fully operational, this building has received critical commendation across the country – winning the RIBA East Midlands Award for the region and showcasing the positive impact that a collaborative effort, between client and design team, can have on a building.

The annual Education Estates Awards & Dinner will take place at the Mercure Manchester Piccadilly Hotel, on the 16th October.

Often at times people will cringe at the idea of getting another year older. Businesses, however, are not people – and for a business to turn thirty is a wondrous thing.

What’s more wondrous is to celebrate such a landmark birthday with a collection of high-profile awards and nominations.

Founded in 1987/88 by Jon Bond and John Bryan, now run and owned by the next generation of home-grown talent, this Sheffield-born architectural consultancy practice has been a creative driving force in the city, the region, the North and the UK.

Now celebrating their 30th birthday this year, Bond Bryan have been sweeping award events across the North, winning six awards in May alone and being nominated for at least half a dozen others. Amongst these wins were the award for Best Educational Building at the LABC South Yorkshire & Humber Building Excellence Awards for their recently completed Doncaster Campus of the National College for High Speed Rail, a project set to fuel the skills market within the future high speed rail industry in Britain. Bond Bryan were also named as the Winner of Winners at the LABC South Yorkshire & Humber Building Excellence Awards for their continued outstanding contribution to the region.

Also won within May was the RICS Award for Regeneration in the East Midlands, awarded for the National College for High Speed Rail Birmingham Campus, a sister campus to the Doncaster Campus and another point on the map to help shape the future of high speed rail within the UK.

And lastly in May, Bond Bryan were awarded the RIBA East Midlands Award for their Advanced Manufacturing Building for The University of Nottingham, followed by the RIBA Yorkshire Sustainability Award and then the RIBA Yorkshire Regional Award for the National College for High Speed Rail’s Doncaster Campus, ensuring each project’s nomination for the National RIBA Awards. By winning these awards, Bond Bryan have fended off some of the country’s top architecture firms including industry giants BDP & AHR.

The fact that Bond Bryan have won 3 of 4 RIBA nominations (with one Bond Bryan nominated project losing to another Bond Bryan nominated project) shows just how regionally and nationally significant their work is.

Over their past 30 years, Bond Bryan have been at the forefront of helping shape Yorkshire, working with Councils in Sheffield, Rotherham, Doncaster and Barnsley, The University of Sheffield, Sheffield Hallam University, Colleges across Sheffield, Barnsley, Chesterfield and Rotherham, and countless stakeholders and other collaborators to give Sheffield and South Yorkshire some of their most iconic buildings. Our continued work with these partners has resulted in the adaptation of Don Valley through the Olympic Legacy Park Masterplan, the iconic new home for Sheffield Hallam University’s Faculty of Development and Society on Charles Street, and the creation of both a new Engineering Campus for The University of Sheffield and the world-renowned Sheffield Business Park.

Sheffield Business Park, a collaborative project between The University of Sheffield and countless industry partners including the likes of Boeing and Rolls-Royce, has been delivered by Bond Bryan and other partners and has seen South Yorkshire become a beacon on the global map for Advanced Industrial output and innovative methods of research and discovery. The University’s award-winning Factory 2050 building, designed and delivered by Bond Bryan’s passionate and dedicated architectural team, has been critically acclaimed and is widely considered to be the world’s first fully reconfigurable advanced manufacturing environment.

Now breaking ground in the residential sector, Bond Bryan are currently working on transforming three under-used sites in our sister town Rotherham, delivering over 180 homes as well as countless amounts of public realm and community space.

Great things are happening all around our city and our region, and Bond Bryan are blazing a trail into the future, shaping our region to become a hotspot of education, industry, commerce and living. Watch this space people of Sheffield.

Bond Bryan are delighted that the Advanced Manufacturing Building at The University of Nottingham has been selected as the winner for the 2018 East Midlands LABC Building Excellence Awards in the Best Large Commercial Building category.

James Woodhouse and Garry Quinn collected the award on behalf of the project team – GF Tomlinson Building Ltd, the University of Nottingham and Bond Bryan Architects.

The Bond Bryan team is delighted to have four projects shortlisted in the prestigious RIBA Awards 2018. 

The Institute of Education, Sheffield Hallam University and The National College for High Speed Rail, Doncaster have both been shortlisted in the RIBA Yorkshire Award 2018.

The Advanced Manufacturing Building at The University of Nottingham has been shortlisted for the RIBA East Midlands Award 2018.

The National College for High Speed Rail, Birmingham has also been shortlisted for the RIBA West Midlands Award 2018.

Managing Director Jonathan Herbert said: “We are absolutely thrilled to be shortlisted for each of these awards; the competition in all three regions is intense and we are proud of all of our people whose hard work and determination has made this possible.”

If successful, the Regional Award winners will be considered for a highly-coveted RIBA National Award in recognition of their architectural excellence, the results of which will be announced in June. The shortlist for the RIBA Stirling Prize – the best new building of the year – will be drawn from the RIBA National Award-winning buildings in July and the Stirling Prize winner will be announced in October.