Last updated 21st June 2022
TP Bennett
tp bennett is a major UK-based architects practice which was one of the pioneers of speculative office building in London. Founded in 1921 by Sir Thomas Bennett, today the firm is led by a young team of directors with a London hq in Southwark
The practice has divisions in architecture, interiors and planning with specialist disciplines in strategy, research and graphics and works across a wide range of sectors. It has around 280 permanent staff, with wide experience across both the public and private sectors and a record of producing imaginative and cost-effective schemes.
As well as London, the firm has offices in Manchester and Leeds and in 2019/20 the firm bolstered its position in Leeds with the acquisition of the interior design and workplace strategy of another firm, Strive, to building on the success of its northern office.
The latest 2021 AJ 100 league table showing tp Bennett ranks as the 15th largest UK firm in the sector with 99 qualified practicing architects in the UK out of a total UK staff of 278 and total fee income of £31.34 million.
tp bennett has a broad client base of leading developers, institutions and occupiers including FTSE companies and professional firms and has longstanding links with many of them. Clients include major banks, London boroughs, developers (including Land Securities, Hammerson and Helical Bar) and major contractors (including Kier Build, Geoffrey Osborne and Willmott Dixon). Major projects where the firm has worked include London Bridge Station, Film Works in Ealing and O2’s headquarters in Slough. Other major clients have included Microsoft, Dell, Britannic Assurance and Cambridge University.
Recent projects designed by the firm include Stonecutter Court, a state-of-the-art 250,000 sq ft City office building for Ivanhoe Cambridge and Allianz Real Estate, which will include the latest health and wellness features and building systems (see Glenigan data below).
The firm also works internationally and has bureaux in 44 places, from Moscow to Abu Dhabi, and covering opportunities in key world regions. It has also joined One Global Design, a network of top-tier firms in 27 cities across the US, Canada, Mexico, Europe and India.
In tp Bennett”s latest annual report published in late summer 2021, the firm said: “We feel that we are in a good position and our outlook is positive, however in such unprecedented times, we will continue to review our situation to maintain this position.”
Meanwhile, in late 2021, tp bennett won two awards at the Mix Interiors, Mixology Awards; design practice of the year and best workspace <5,000 sq ft for Autex in London.
Financials
To see the financials for TP Bennett LLP visit Companies House and use company number OC315685
tp Bennett put in a solid perfomance in 2020/21. Turnover rose slightly to £32.3 million in the year to end-March 2021 from £31.86 million previously and operating profit rose to £9.78 million from £8.85 million previously. Profit available for discretionary division among members rose by 17.6% to £6.26 million. Meanwhile, the company had cash of £10.25 million, up from £3.5 million previously.
Sectors
tp bennett works across a wide variety of sectors including education; financial; health; hospitality & leisure; legal; listed buildings & conservation; media; office space; public sector; residential; retail & regeneration; store design; student residential; transport and urban design.
Major projects designed by the firm include Societe Generale’s London hq, where tp bennett, worked with base build architect KPF and developer Canary Wharf Group on the project which involved interiors over 285,000 sq ft with three large trading floors with two interconnecting stairs.
Another City scheme, Eighty Fenchurch Street, saw a conceptual Foster scheme for the 15-storey office building refined and extended by tp bennett to provide 250,000 sq ft of floorspace.
Meanwhile, tp bennett was one of a team of architects an office-led, mixed-use development at 1 Paddington Square in a collaboration involving Renzo Piano.
Other projects where the firm has worked includeThe Armourer”s Court, where Crossrail is to build nearly 400 new homes above the new Woolwich Crossrail Station. The scheme comprises around 490,000 sq ft in five high buildings.
tp Bennett”s first major project in Manchester – FORE Partnership”s plans to transform 24 Mount Street into Windmill Green, an 80,000 sq ft of Grade A office space with retail space and a roof terrace- was shortlisted for the RIBA Journal’s MacEwen Award in late 2019.
Meanwhile, tp bennett designed the interiors for over 3,000 staff and modernised the offices when Transport for London moved into a new accommodation hub at The International Quarter London in Stratford.
Overseas, the firm”s Shai Osudoku District Hospital in Dodowa, Ghana was the first in a series of six new state hospitals across Ghana where tp bennett worked with UK and Ghana-based client NMS Infrastructure.
Glenigan data
Figures from Glenigan point to a healthy workload at tp Bennett. They show that the firm is an architect on a major £23.45 million scheme at Alperton Yard in Wembley involving 461 build to rent flats with industrial and community space for Telford Homes where work is due to start in late summer 2022 and run for 38 months (Project ID: 20497620). Meanwhile, tp bennett is the architect on a major £120 million City office development, Stonecutter Court, involving some 13 upper storeys and around 250,000 sq ft of space and where work is due to start in autumn 2022 and run for 26 months. (Project ID: 18331929)
Conclusion: wide sector coverage with growing regional presence
Having just celebrated its centenary, tp Bennett is one of the longest-established and most successful of the major UK architects practices. The firm has a blue chip client list covering major UK developers, banks and financial houses and universities and longstanding links with the London boroughs. After expanding in recent years, the firm has been on a path of consolidation although it may now have more opportunities in the London office sector as the market recovers. But the success of the group”s offices in Manchester and Leeds reflects a regional spread which should help sustain the firm”s workload. Its wide sector coverage, good international links and a significant interiors business, also bode well for the firm”s long term future.
Winning work with tp Bennett
tp bennett operates a system of internal design review and audit. The aim is that knowledge and expertise across the wider practice is applied to all projects through collaborative design. As well as design, the firm highlights its in-house multi-disciplinary expertise and it puts a premium on clear communication and management of expectations. It aims to foster team work and a collaborative culture. Meanwhile, the group highlights four key principles which apply across its activity: design-led, responsibility, intelligence and collaboration .
Contacts
David Blair Principal Director
Email david.blair@tpbennett.com
Tel: 0207 208 2000
Mark Davies Principal Director
Email mark.davies@tpbennett.com
Tel: 0207 208 2000