David Taylor catches up with William Poole to find out about Howells’ new home, its plans to stage exhibitions and events, the success of Eden Dock, and ‘staying in the mix till ‘26 to get to heaven in ‘27’… 

 

Hi Will. How are you? 

 

Hi, David, I'm very well, thank you. Good to be speaking with you. 

 

And you! So: you've moved offices to a new design studio on White Lion Street. Tell me about what precipitated that move and how you're finding the new space. 

 

That's right. Yes, we've really enjoyed being in Fitzrovia for the last decade, and prior to that, I was also with the practice for the previous decade, in Southwark. So, this is the third chapter for me as part of Howells. The move was brought about for a number of reasons; partly, the end of our 10 year lease at that office, and also the opportunity to find somewhere that was less of a burden financially on the business, but [which] really amplifies our presence with a ground floor frontage and a space that's about the same size, but better disposed to host events. We've got a lovely large ground-floor shopfront, a couple of 100 yards from Angel station, and importantly, close to King's Cross and Euston so our colleagues from Birmingham are easily connected to us. 

 

This is something of a mini trend, isn't it, for practices to have street-facing shop fronts, as it were; I'm thinking of Hawkins\Brown, Heatherwick’s and various other practices such as Peter Barber’s. What sort of events are you aiming to hold there? 

 

Yes, absolutely; it's great to have the opportunity, and we've seen how others have made really good use of that themselves, and obviously our own building in Digbeth in Birmingham has had that as a fixture of the space. Obviously, that’s a larger building with various sub tenants who can also activate the ground floor cafe and exhibition area there with various industry events. And it's kind of the cue for us to do that in miniature, really, with the new space here. We've been talking already with some of your colleagues at NLA about how we can support their programmes with relevant evening events, roundtable discussions, so we're very much in moving in phase for the next few weeks and thinking about how we can make the space flexible to host a variety of different sorts of events and exhibitions. 

 

So how have you found it? How's it gone down so far, the new location? There are lots of coffee bars and restaurants around there - obviously, there are in Fitzrovia too, but new ones to explore? 

 

We're really, really impressed and pleased with the surroundings. We're right next to Chapel Market and various other centres of leisure, food and beverage, cultural things happening. As you've mentioned, there's quite a lot of other architects within a few minutes' walk of where we are here. So, it's early to say how it's gone down more widely, but certainly among us and all of the staff, we've really got a spring in our step because it's such a fantastic space, and you know, for almost everybody, it's a similar or even an easier commute. So certainly, from the staff point of view, I think everybody feels it's an upgrade. 

 

I just wanted to quickly talk about your ongoing work, and also Eden Dock, which has been getting plaudits, not least as part of why you were named Retail and Leisure Architect of the Year for 2025. A little bit on that, and what else you're working on? 

 

Yes, so Eden Dock has been fantastic. As you say, it's one of those projects that really gathers a lot of attention, both in the industry and the wider public. We're really delighted with how successful it's been from that point of view. For us, it feels like a manifestation of a lot of work that's been happening behind the scenes with Canary Wharf Group for at least five or 10 years, as they thought about repositioning the future of Canary Wharf, the need for it to diversify, to attract people to dwell in the public realm and not just serve the people who work there. It's, as I say, a physical manifestation of that intent, and I think it's proven to be a really successful one. And it certainly feels that the interest in Canary Wharf has really been sparked again by that and other initiatives that they've been implementing, 

 

And what are you working on personally? 

 

Currently I'm working on a number of projects. Obviously, we're heavily residential-led over the last 20 years or so, but that has diversified quite significantly in the last couple of years. In particular, we're looking at multiple workplace retrofit projects in London, which are really exciting for us. We've obviously done a lot of workplace design in Birmingham and regional cities, but we're not so much known for it in London. So, we're looking forward to doing more in that sphere. 

 

And lastly, what is your view on the temperature gauge of development out there and the whole atmosphere. How tough is it currently? 

 

This last dip for the last couple of years has hit the industry incredibly hard, possibly harder than the banking crisis a decade or so earlier. But all things considered, it really feels optimistic. I think we feel very optimistic for the next 12 to 24 months. 

 

Do you? That's good. Based on what? 

 

I think we're all aware that the government is having to pull some emergency measures to unlock the housing sector in particular, which we think broadly should have a positive impact. The BSA and the gateway process has obviously hit high-rise very hard, and that's included in lots of projects that we've been involved in, but that's showing real signs of improvement. You know, every week you see more news of more schemes going through the process, coming out the other end. And I think that can only be good for investor confidence. So certainly, from my personal experience, the last quarter has shown a lot more activity in terms of new inquiries and existing projects that might have been on the shelf coming back to life. I heard somebody use the expression “we were talking about staying alive till ‘25, but now it's stay in the mix till ‘26 to get to heaven in ‘27...” 

 

(laughs) Yes, and “everything's great in ‘28”, right? 

 

Well, there you go. You've just completed it! 

 

Let's hope so. 

 

Yes. So, I think that's great. And we know the office market continues to be extremely strong in London for the right product in the right place, and that's why we're very pleased to be involved in a range of repurposing projects, helping us to explore and innovate solutions for a deep retrofit of buildings that have passed their original lifespan. So, we're learning a lot from the process, and it's a great to be involved with schemes at lots of different scales in that sector. 

 

Well, good luck with it all. That's really great to hear that you're optimistic, and I hope you have fun in your new location and with all those exhibitions and events to come. 

 

Thank you very much, David. Great talking to you!