People

Umesh Luharia

Umesh is a director based in our Birmingham studio, and has 20 years’ experience of delivering projects – predominantly in London and Birmingham. He works mainly in residential-led award winning schemes, but also has experience across a range of sectors including commercial, residential and education.

Umesh’s work includes transformational placemaking projects such as Royal Wharf and Kidbrooke Station Square in London, and Port Loop in Birmingham. He has also worked on large student accommodation projects in Selly Oak and Eastside, both in Birmingham.

A key focus for Umesh is creating quality projects that people will enjoy, and which enhance wellbeing while minimally impacting the environment. He believes that collaboration is essential to delivering quality and value in design, and that by exploring and testing options together, teams can find exceptional and unexpected solutions. He is also currently a Design Review Panel member for the London Borough of Newham.

Ranjan Ray

Ranjan doesn’t take anything for granted – he researches every element of a project down to the last detail. Sustainability and “doing the right thing in the right way” are of utmost importance, and he believes that there is no greater motivation than a commitment made. As director, Ranjan runs our Delhi studio with zeal and determination. These qualities are recognised and appreciated by his colleagues, clients and consultants, helping him to develop strong professional relationships.

Ranjan likes to unwind by cooking, and he enjoys putting his amateur chef skills to test by experimenting with unconventional food.

Jade Sturmey

Jade is an associate with a particular interest in designing education buildings. She is passionate about providing pupils with a creative and supporting environment in order to transform their experience and positively impact their development.

During her career, Jade has worked on a number of primary schools from the initial project stages through to construction. She enjoys working within a collaborative environment, engaging with multiple stakeholders to develop a design that exceeds expectations for the people using the final building.

In her spare time, Jade enjoys travelling and uses these opportunities to practise her photography skills.

Robert Gittins

Rob is an experienced project architect who has been involved in a number of projects, mainly within the education and healthcare sectors.

He has delivered a number of social care projects, developing a detailed knowledge of the key challenges in delivering residential and day care accommodation. He has also designed a number of specialist SEN facilities for schools.

Outside of work, Rob can be found scaling new heights on a climbing wall or enjoying the great outdoors.

Vicky Fitton

Vicky leads ADP’s marketing, bids and graphics team in delivering and continually improving ADP’s tender submissions to support work-winning. Working with the team, she helps to raise the profile of the practice through external communications that includes everything from branding, content marketing and the website, through to events and PR. She was also the practice’s employee director from 2019 to 2021 and has a keen interest in internal communications and employee engagement.

Vicky currently sits on the CIM (Chartered Institute of Marketing) Construction Industry Group committee as a communications ambassador.

Outside of work, she aspires to be the England netball team’s next wing defence.

Anya Tineva

Anya is a Part II architectural assistant and a graduate from the Manchester School of Architecture. She strongly believes in the value of community and user experience when designing the built environment. Her professional background involves working on a variety of projects within the residential, higher education and retail sectors.

In her spare time Anya enjoys cooking, sketching memorable buildings and travelling around the world.

Andrew Brown

Andrew is an experienced architect, having worked in landscape and urban design on large residential projects and sustainability schemes.

He has a broad understanding of architecture’s place within a wider community, and a keen interest in its positive social impact. His landscape work has won him acclaim, such as RIBA London and National Social Value Awards for 254 Hammersmith Road.

Outside of work, Andrew is interested in sports, particularly football, cricket and hockey, and would love to design a sports stadium for one of his favourite teams.

Joe Morgan

Joe is our creative director with responsibility for design quality across the practice, covering sustainability, technical and quality management.

He has 20 years’ experience across a wide range of sectors, including workplace, education, research, healthcare and leisure. He has led a number of award-winning schemes, winning a national RIBA award, and has delivered significant masterplans.

Joe is a Civic Trust assessor and schools technical advisor, regularly contributing to education sector conferences.

Outside of work he enjoys rugby league and exploring the Lake District with his family. A keen runner, he aspires to run a sub-three-hour marathon – no harm in being ambitious!

Natalie Stylianou

As one of our directors, Natalie is responsible for the business development of our new Cyprus studio. She has particular experience within the education sector and masterplanning.

Natalie’s greatest strengths are her philosophy of uncompromised quality and passion for what she does, which gain clients’ trust from the very first meeting.

She is an RIBA, ARB and Cyprus ETEK member, and is keen to promote ADP’s experience in Cyprus and the EU.

Travelling, exploring, hiking, exercising, socialising – everything that doesn’t involve standing still is what Natalie enjoys in life.

James Chaundy

James is an architect with experience in working across multiple sectors, such as commercial, higher education and residential projects. He enjoys understanding the social history of a place and how architecture informs and is informed by its context. This interest has been demonstrated when working on listed projects and projects of heritage importance.

When out of office, James can be found in an independent coffee shop, renovating his 1930s do-er upper or reupholstering reclaimed furniture.

Kartik Khanna

Kartik is a qualified architect who originally joined us as an assistant. Quick-thinking with a talent for exploring multiple solutions to a problem, he works hard to identify and solve issues with projects before they arise. He also has a good sense of the different elements which come together to make a successful design, and uses this to create effective visuals that communicate his ideas clearly to clients.

When he’s not flexing his design muscles, Kartik loves to flex his physical muscles on the field playing outdoor sports.

Alexandros Kkoufou

Alexandros is a qualified architect, supporting the studio teams in several projects, with most of his experience being in the residential sector. He admires the technical aspect and complexity behind architecture and tries to be accurate and rigorous in all stages of a project.

Outside of work, Alexandros has been involved with furniture and product design while also experimenting and learning more about CNC and 3D printing manufacturing.

Annabel Aucott

As our practice accountant, Annabel is responsible for managing the finance team, preparing month end accounts, HR and payroll. She also ensures that statutory requirements for payroll and finance are met.

Annabel is particularly skilled at communicating with different audiences, and handling sensitive situations compassionately. She is also an associate member of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA).

Outside of work, Annabel enjoys going to the theatre, seeing the Killers live, visiting New York (especially around Christmas time), making cheesecakes, and looking after her pet rabbits.

Torsten Bauszus

Torsten has worked on a wide range of projects, and has considerable experience in the higher education and science and research sectors.

He has acted as a lead designer on many large and complex projects, and understands the proactive role of design coordination.

Torsten has current experience of designing specialist laboratory environments at the Universities of Leeds and Lancaster, and for Daresbury Laboratories.

Helen O’Curry

Helen leads our successful Manchester studio team.

Through consultation and attention, she delivers designs for the people who live, work, play and study in our buildings. This approach was brought to the RIBA National Award-winning Laidlaw Library at the University of Leeds.

Helen spends time mentoring and supporting others in achieving their potential, and is a member of Women in Property.

She also has an acute interest in how we can all deliver on the country’s carbon-zero aspiration, and is working with the practice to move this forward.

Outside of work, and around raising a family, Helen rides bikes and runs in her local Peak District hills.

Joanne Turley

Joanne is our credit controller, and part of the ADP accounts team. Her role is to ensure prompt payment of debtors on the sales ledger, and she takes great pride in achieving financial targets.

Joanne is currently working towards her CICM (Chartered Institute of Credit Management) Level 3 Diploma, which she will complete this year.

Outside of work, she enjoys spending time with her daughter – and is a keen cake baker when time allows.

Tristan Rabaeijs

As a qualified architect, Tristan has experience of working on projects across multiple sectors including residential, education and commercial. He enjoys communicating with a design team, and helping to visualise a project throughout the various stages of its development.

Tristan’s interest lies particularly within the public realm. He enjoys considering the environmental, economic and – most importantly – social benefits that the design of public spaces can have, including the effects on our ability to interact with the city at a more human scale.

Out of the office, he is an avid trampoline and gymnastics coach, having been introduced to the sport when he was just six years old!

Christina Jacobs

Christina works closely with the marketing team to create graphic design solutions that help communicate the ADP brand. She is interested in how visual communication can help make things clearer, smarter, more useful and more beautiful.

Outside of work you’ll find Christina seeking out Kiwi-inspired coffee and brunch spots, where she’ll happily tell you the difference between a lamington and an Anzac biscuit.

Lydia Glanville

Lydia retrained to be a landscape architect after spending her twenties as a freelance musician. She graduated with a distinction in 2021 from Birmingham City University, and is now about to embark on the path to chartership.

Lydia is passionate about design, and always looking to improve her plant knowledge. She particularly enjoys designing at the city wide scale and detailed design. One of her particular interests within the profession is how landscape architecture can mitigate and reduce air pollution – the topic of her master’s research project.

In her free time, Lydia enjoys gardening, hanging out with her little boy and playing with her band.

Stephen Miles

Stephen is ADP’s managing director. He leads the global business plan and operational management of the practice on behalf of the board. His practice-wide role involves supporting public sector and commercial projects, as well as business development and client liaison. He has significant experience in a range of sectors – particularly the education and residential sectors.

Stephen is a Fellow of the RIAS, and a nationally elected trustee of the incorporation. He is also one of the 25 accredited sustainable design architects in Scotland recognised by the RIAS.

Stephen enjoys spending time with his family and friends, and keeping fit. He can often be found on the tennis courts or golf course.

Anna Praulitis

Anna has worked primarily on education, heritage and landscape projects during her time at ADP. She also has good experience with residential, commercial and leisure projects, from small private extensions to multimillion-pound commercial schemes.

Anna is particularly interested in heritage projects, and passionate about refurbishing and creatively adapting old buildings to ensure continued use and care. She enjoys actively working with stakeholders and design teams to deliver a client’s vision.

A Certified Passive House Designer, Anna continuously improves the sustainability credentials of the projects she is involved with.

Outside of ADP, Anna enjoys swimming, hill-walking and cycling.

Lily Ward

Lily is a Part I Architectural Assistant helping in a variety of projects. She has experience in residential architecture with a first class degree in Interior Architecture & Design.

Lily has a passion for heritage & conservation projects, studying a part-time Conservation Architecture MA at the University of Portsmouth. She aspires to become a Conservation Architect working on community-based projects.

Outside of work, Lily enjoys going for runs around the South coast, along with travelling and experiencing new places to learn about different cultures and their architecture.

Daniel Mattioli

Daniel is an architectural assistant with extensive experience in healthcare, along with Part I work in the residential and retail sectors.

Daniel has a passion for sustainable design and wellness architecture, and is currently studying for his Part III at the University of Westminster. Outside of ADP, he enjoys cooking, travelling, hiking and pub crawls.

Siobhan Davitt

Siobhan is a highly experienced director, with over 20 years of wide-ranging experience. During this time, she has led a range of highly complex projects from inception to completion within the public sector.

Siobhan has expertise in designing clinical environments and major healthcare refurbishments. She has managed contracts for both traditional and NHS frameworks.

She has a particular interest in sustainable design, and brings these principles to all of her projects.

Abdullah Imran

Abdullah is training to qualify as an architect. He assists our design workflow with a range of tasks on varying projects, while developing his skills and experience.

He has a keen interest in grassroot initiatives and finds community-led projects particularly rewarding. He is motivated by personally meeting and listening to the people we are designing for and he aspires to build on this, seeking opportunities to serve communities.

Beyond ADP, Abdullah is a budding artist who enjoys spending time exposing himself to new places and experiences, in order to develop his perspective and creative output.

Siddhant Jain

Siddhant’s organised and composed way of working ensures that all projects are efficiently managed, and that clients, end users and consultants are consistently happy with our deliverables. He brings stability and trust to the organisation, always leading by example. This has resulted in a congenial working environment, and has steadily grown our Delhi studio’s reputation. Siddhant also brings a clear understanding of design and project management to the practice.

Siddhant would love to travel to nearby lands on a magic broom to explore the culture, people and their cinema – but for now, he enjoys exploring on four wheels.

Alex Macbeth

Alex is a recently qualified architect who has supported our teams in a number of education and healthcare projects.

He has particular experience of design development support and technical design packages. Alex has been involved in projects for the Universities of Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester and Oxford, as well as supporting the delivery of projects for the Star Academies trust.

Alex is very proficient in Revit and CAD software, and is continuing to develop the BIM experience of the practice.

Outside of work, Alex enjoys going to gigs, and was a recent finalist in the ADP Art Challenge.

Nicola Murphy

Nicola has experience across a range of sectors – particularly education and healthcare. She enjoys the challenges of both sectors, and always looks to push the boundaries of design. Working as an associate within the design team, Nicola works hard to meet the aspirations of the people who will use the new spaces.

Outside of work, Nicola enjoys music and theatre, where you can often find her in the audience (although maybe one day she’ll be on the stage).

Michelle Fletcher

Working as part of the vibrant ADP marketing team, Michelle is an experienced bid manager. She gets involved in all aspects of the bid process from inception to completion, working closely with directors and sector leads.

Her role also extends to organising and managing client events, conference exhibitions and photography shoots.

Outside of work, Michelle loves to practise her Riverdance-style footwork.

Adam Archibald

Adam is one of our associate directors. His experience ranges from high-end, private residential schemes through to larger housing projects, and he has led a wide variety of challenging commercial and specialist building types.

Adam is particularly adept when working with existing situations and challenging briefs, and he enjoys achieving high-quality construction and design solutions. Additionally, he has experience in large private estate planning, and in integrating  a variety of building types within masterplans.

Graham McRuvie

Graham joined ADP with experience of healthcare, residential, community, railway, MoD and commercial projects. He has used this cross-sector experience to deliver a range of prestigious developments.

Graham now leads the Sherborne studio as the director, and is the framework lead for a number of higher education clients. His key projects include the School of Humanities for the University of Bristol and a major £21m coastal regeneration project.

Graham is a passionate advocate of freehand drawing, but has also used computer 3D modelling for over 30 years – predating BIM!

Away from the studio Graham is a keen motorcyclist and sea kayaker (though usually not at the same time).

Siân Milliner

Siân is the People Manager at ADP, where her role involves keeping an eye on people processes including welcoming new co-owners to the practice. As an associate member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, she has a particular interest in equality, diversity and inclusion.

Outside of work, you’ll most likely find her knitting, crocheting or painting.

Jo Love

Jo is a highly experienced, award-winning interior and product designer.  She has a keen eye for colour and detail, and implements unique, intuitive elements into her design to enhance spaces – from architectural details to styling.

LOVE INTERIORS WEBSITE

Alina Klukowski

Alina is one of our architectural assistants. Her role involves supporting the architectural team, while listening and learning as much as possible as she works towards becoming a qualified architect.

Her diverse experience ranges from garden landscape projects to hospitals and national infrastructure. She is a keen model-maker, and loves developing varied skills that support her architectural practice. Outside of work, Alina runs, hikes, and tries to keep her home-grown vegetables alive.

Rushiraj Dev

Rushiraj is an architectural assistant, and is currently in training to qualify as an architect. He combines a strong technical acumen with a range of practical skills, and an aspirational approach to design. Rushiraj is always looking for opportunities to create positive impacts through design – for individuals, for communities, and for the wider world.

Outside of work, he is a keen trekker and birdwatcher.

Kate Nikolic

As our Practice Co-Ordinator, Kate works in multiple areas such as studio management, events, health & safety, HR and sustainability. She is keen to implement new processes and organisation where relevant to ensure employees feel they are able to work as efficiently and stress-free as possible.

In her spare time, Kate loves writing, illustration, admiring her house plants, hiking and studying psychology.

Gabriel Arnold

Gabriel is a member of our marketing team. His role involves assisting the team from copywriting and editing to social media posting and bid assistance.

Outside of ADP, he spends most of his free time with a combination of reading, writing and attempted running.

Tom Cronin

Tom joined ADP in 2021, and acts as our Operations Director. His appointment is part of an exciting investment in the practice’s business processes and our continued focus on improvement and sustainable growth.

With 20 years’ experience in Architectural Practice Management, Tom is developing a number of strands of the business including the employee journey, facilities management, professional indemnity insurance and legal matters, and the quality management system.

His extensive experience and knowledge of both the architectural project process and the mechanics of administrative support, allows him to contribute to all aspects of the business and bring about effective and positive change.

Carmen Montes

Carmen is our APMP-qualified bid executive. She is experienced in managing complex multi-disciplinary proposals, supporting directors and a variety of stakeholders to ensure the successful delivery of bids. She is also responsible for managing and maintaining ADP’s bid knowledge database, and for project managing the practice’s award submissions.

Outside work she aspires to be a quantum consciousness researcher.

Nicola Cadogan

Nicola has worked on a range of projects in the residential, commercial and healthcare sectors, with a particular focus on education schemes. Her experience of education projects includes new university buildings, college campus redevelopments, school expansion programmes, and new nurseries.

Nicola enjoys taking projects from inception to completion, and is particularly interested in the early stages of concept design and the development of the client’s brief.

With a master’s degree in renewable energy, Nicola has a keen interest in sustainable design, which she incorporates into her projects. She is also qualified as a BREEAM Assessor, and is a member of ADP’s in-house sustainability and heritage teams.

Julianna Kitsiou

Julianna is registered as an architect in the UK with the ARB, and is based in our Cyprus studio. She has strong experience in the healthcare, workplace and residential sectors.

Julianna is particularly interested in the planet Earth, which shines through her sustainable approach to architecture (and life in general). She always endeavours to challenge her designs in a purposeful, efficient way, with the ultimate goal of adding value to the wider world.

Outside of work, Julianna enjoys climbing and travelling (while always offsetting her carbon footprint). She’s known to her friends as the queen of decluttering and organising!

Eleni Hadjittofi

As an architect at our Cyprus studio, Eleni has experience working on residential, healthcare and commercial projects. She knows how to cope with tight deadlines and work under pressure to deliver efficient results.

Eleni is a passionate architect characterized by creativity and imagination, always striving to satisfy people’s needs. She aims – in both life and architecture – to transform different emotions and expressions into meaningful designs and experiences.

Adrian Bower

Adrian leads our residential sector, bringing 20 years of experience within this field. He has developed significant expertise in the masterplanning, planning and building of new communities and relishes the challenges of mixed use, urban regeneration projects.

Prior to ADP, Adrian had long-term involvement in a number of major regeneration projects including Kidbrooke Village and Goodman’s Fields with Berkeley Homes, East Village and Fitzroy Place.

He has worked with private clients, local authorities and registered social landlords across a range of scales, to plan and deliver all types and tenures of housing, including market, affordable, build to rent, student housing and hotels.

Adrian has detailed knowledge of residential planning requirements and leads negotiations with client bodies, planning authorities and community interests, achieving commendable results in sensitive environments.

Craig Cullimore

As our chair, Craig’s role focuses on the strategic direction and management of the practice. Alongside this, he continues his involvement in projects through leading design reviews and his role as an accredited RIBA Client Adviser.

Craig is particularly interested in the outcomes a project can achieve. By measuring key sustainability, belonging and engagement factors, he makes sure that we deliver aspirational projects which provide clients and communities with real value.

Outside of ADP, Craig is a member of the Construction Excellence Committee, coaches children’s rugby, and (when time permits) is also refurbishing his family home.

Claire Mantle

As ADP’s school sector lead, Claire leads the practice’s school strategy. She shares lessons learned, best practice and specialist knowledge across our studios and the sector more widely.

Claire believes that the only way to create responsive, inspiring learning environments is to put pupils at the centre of the design process, consulting closely with user working groups to understand staff requirements.

This year, she has been working to incorporate ‘design for wellbeing’ into all of our school briefs and designs, using an evidence-based approach. She is also leading post occupancy evaluations of our schools to appraise their performance and gain feedback from pupils and staff.

Deven Kara

Deven is one of our architects. He recently graduated from the Manchester School of Architecture, where he developed specialist skills in parametric and computational design. His thesis explored different approaches to getting communities involved in planning, and involved creating a game which could collect the ideas and opinions of residents on large-scale urban projects.

Outside of ADP, Deven is an active member of his local Hindu community, having recently stepped down as leader of the community’s youth committee to pursue his master’s degree.

Dan Fleming

Dan is one of our associates. An energetic and motivated designer, his passion centres on the residential, workplace and education sectors. He strives to create spaces that have a positive effect on students and staff.

Dan’s work in the education sector has received acclaim, including shortlisting for the Architects’ Journal Retrofit awards earlier this year. He continually seeks to provide the highest level of design service and quality.

Outside of work, Dan’s interests involve running, cycling and squash. A healthy hunger for competition has led to a 10-day cycling challenge across the UK mainland!

Elliot Mayo

Elliot is a Part II architectural assistant, who hopes to become a qualified architect. He has been involved with projects in a variety of sectors, from higher education to healthcare and residential projects. He especially thrives in situations involving skills such as rendering and problem solving.

Elliot aspires to one day design his own house, but is additionally motivated to create projects that leave a positive influence on the communities and individuals who use them.

Kristie Papaleontiou

Kristie has worked on a diverse range of building types and sectors. She enjoys working with the design and construction teams to create a final design which exceeds the expectations of the client and end users.

Kristie has experience delivering all aspects of a project at design and construction stages.

Tom Groves

Tom is one of our associate directors, having worked across the public and private sector, having experience in healthcare, education, workplace and residential projects.

He has had success in winning large projects through strong collaboration and competitive design processes. Tom also develops strong client relationships with his responsive, thorough approach and enjoys developing designs through all stages.

In his spare time, Tom enjoys cycling, running and photography. One day he might find the time to pick up drumming again.

Sian Atherton

Sian is a project architect, with a particular interest in community engagement. She pursues this in both her professional role and her spare time, by connecting with schools and volunteering for Placed, a consultation and education social enterprise.

As a native Scouser with a strong attachment to her city and its people, Sian has undertaken research into Liverpool’s many communities and how they interact with their environment – not only in ways that designers anticipate, but through unexpected adaptations. She brings this understanding of how identity and memory are assigned to specific places into every project she approaches.

Outside of work, Sian explores the interaction between human forms and the built space in different ways: by reinvigorating her old passions for dance, performance and the arts.

Maria Oskina

Maria is one of our Part II architectural assistants. She has experience in the hospitality, residential and retail sectors, and is currently working on her Part III case study at the Bartlett, UCL.

Maria envisions architecture as a comfortable space that unites people with nature and creates living habits for some species. In future, she would like to apply her knowledge to repurposing and renovating destroyed & abandoned areas into safe, modern and eco-friendly ones.

Besides work and study, Maria enjoys sightseeing architecture and landscapes during long walks, travelling, cycling and sketching.

Graeme Feechan

Graeme has responsibility for ADP’s commercial work, strategy and business development. He manages a number of private sector clients while guiding high quality design work nationwide.

With over 25 years working across office, retail, industrial, residential and hospitality sectors, Graeme’s approach to urban design and architecture places commercial value centre stage – recognising that excellent design underpins viable long-term investment and sensible investment is sustainable and provides real social benefits.

His experience helps our project teams to quickly get to a critical understanding of the physical and commercial context so that energy is spent on viable options which, through an established process, cleverly unlock value for ADP’s clients. At every stage Graeme will ensure that design proposals are understood in terms of clear cost versus benefits and will only promote design decisions that are backed up by quantifiable evidence.

Sean Heneghan

Sean is one of our associates. He has considerable experience in the education sector, including new built schools, a large college fit-out, and several projects delivered through the DfE framework. He has also worked on several listed buildings, and enjoys the challenges this presents.

Sean is a people person, and relishes the client engagement process, as well as working with other consultants in a design team. Outside of work, he has recently added golf to his hobbies of travelling, painting and drawing.

George Ogilvie

George is an architectural assistant whose experience includes a number of residential and commercial buildings in London. He is passionate about bringing a clear awareness of context and social value to his designs, informed by his detailed understanding of the planning process.

George is fascinated by the history of social housing – particularly in London – and how this history has shaped modern-day solutions to the housing crisis.

When not at work, George is a keen artist and pet portraitist. He also loves playing golf back home on the east coast of Scotland.

Akash Kumar

Akash is a very able office manager. He is responsible for organising bills and filing, answering all telephone calls, receiving guests and vendors, office correspondence, cataloguing and documentation for statutory compliances.

He provides immense support to the administrative responsibilities of the associate directors and director.

Akash is an ardent cricket fan, and loves to swing some of his medium pacers when given an opportunity.

Jordan Egglestone

Jordan is a project architect, with particular experience in commercial architecture and conservation projects. He is passionate about sustainable design, and enjoys exploring how historic buildings can be rejuvenated in a sustainable way.

Jordan’s MArch thesis project at the University of Liverpool – which investigated the potential future of museums – was longlisted for the 3DReid Student Prize. In his free time, Jordan’s hobbies include playing guitar, watching the cricket, and exploring the wonderful world of craft beer.

Jon Roylance

Jon leads our higher education and science and research sectors.

He has advised 30+ university clients, delivering sector-leading facilities. His projects have won awards including the Guardian Higher Education “Facility of the Year”, the CUBO “Student Project of the Year”, S-Lab, SCONUL University Library of the Year, the Higher Education Academy, and several RIBA awards.

Jon promotes knowledge share amongst universities, science and research institutions, and our own technical teams. Jon’s role involves chairing best practice groups, and offering new ideas in space optimisation, project social values, teaching and learning environments, sustainability and wellbeing, student experience, and the smart campus of the future.

Ben Wallis

Ben is one of our associate directors, and is responsible for ensuring design information is high quality and meets the aspirations of our clients.

He is a good listener, and keen to fully understand the nature of a problem from its cultural, social and environmental context before developing a solution which fits.

Ben has delivered successful projects in a range of sectors, including Clay Farm Community Centre, a suite of city-centre apartments for Lincoln College, Oxford, and the redevelopment of Oxford Castle.

Outside of work, Ben enjoys painting, drawing and strumming his guitar.

David Heslop

In recognition of his contribution and influence on the practice, David is the first fellow of ADP which, while carrying no commitment or responsibility, will allow him to continue to offer the value of substantial experience to the practice.

Before his retirement, David led the financial operation and business strategy of the practice, and played a key role in growing ADP’s national and international presence. He helped steer the practice through its transition to employee ownership, laying the foundations for its success today.

Rhian Buckley

Rhian is our graphic designer, who works with the marketing team. Her role involves creating inspiring designs that communicate ADP’s ideas and brand across multiple platforms.

Having grew up in Abu Dhabi, Rhian moved to Manchester to study graphic design. She loves the layout and branding aspects of design, and hopes to inspire and captivate her work.

Outside of ADP, Rhian enjoys making cocktails, cooking and finding new blues bars in her free time.

Glen Moses

Glen is an experienced project director with wide-ranging experience, particularly within the commercial and rail sectors. He is used to undertaking complex architectural projects from concept to completion as both architect and lead consultant.

Glen enjoys working with everyone involved in projects, including the design, procurement and construction teams. He is passionate about extracting the most out of each and every project, ensuring the best value for the client, contractor and end users.

Outside of work, Glen is a keen tennis player and sport enthusiast.

Stephani Popescu

Stephanie is one of our architectural assistants, based in our Manchester studio. She achieved her Masters of Architecture degree at Manchester School of Architecture and is currently undergoing her Part 3 to become a qualified architect.

Her experience covers a range of sectors, having worked on projects in the residential, higher education and commercial sectors. She has a personal interest in regeneration and sustainable design.

Outside of her work for ADP, Stephanie enjoys travelling, photography, cooking and playing piano.

Jill Marks

Jill has worked on a variety of projects, predominantly in the higher education and healthcare sectors. She has delivered a number of complex remodelling projects for the Universities of Edinburgh, Heriot-Watt and Abertay.

Jill has taken on the role of sustainability champion within her studio, encouraging and promoting ADP’s sustainability agenda at a project and studio level.

A keen runner, Jill has represented ADP at the Great North Run, completing the half marathon and raising funds for Marudyan UK.

Nailah Bakhsh

Nailah is one of our architectural assistants, and has worked on various education schemes while at ADP.

She is particularly skilled at using Photoshop, InDesign, AutoCAD, SketchUp, Revit, Rhino and model-making to communicate design ideas.

Outside of work, Nailah aspires to learn at least one musical instrument, and is currently working on her guitar-playing!

Marina Georgieva

Marina is a Part II Architectural Assistant with experience working in the residential and commercial sectors. She is a graduate of Oxford Brookes University with a distinction and is a RIBA Bursary Award recipient.

Marina is particularly passionate about sustainability and aspires to create a memorable places where people feel safe and connected. In addition to studying for her Part III, she supports students at Birmingham City University and Oxford Brookes University as a mentor and guest tutor.

In her free time, Marina enjoys reading, spending time in the mountains and being surrounded by nature.

Phil Sawyer

Phil is our IT director, responsible for delivering our IT and BIM strategies. He supports our business processes and manages our IT outsourcing relationships, including our Citrix, collaboration and communication technologies.

As a BRE BIM accredited member, Phil is responsible for developing and implementing our BIM standards, ensuring we have the appropriate BIM authoring tools, templates and training. Under his guidance our practice has achieved BIM Level 2 maturity.

Outside of work, Phil aspires to play paradiddles as sharply as Taylor Hawkins, his drumming hero.

Jessica Morrison

Jessica has successfully supported our teams on a number of education, commercial and residential projects, as well as several masterplans.

She is a team player with excellent conceptual and visualisation skills, including freehand sketching and computer-aided modelling and rendering. She also has excellent proficiency in ArchiCAD, SketchUp, Revit, and model-making, and is one of our BIM Revit Superusers.

Eishan Jain

Eishan is a confident and pragmatic associate director with commendable leadership skills. He takes a simple approach to design, making it easy for his colleagues and clients to understand the complexities of the various design processes.

Eishan takes pride in ensuring that our design solutions are innovative, functional and aesthetically pleasing. His key works include projects in the education, commercial, residential and hospitality sectors. Eishan’s thoughts and views are well respected by his colleagues and clients.

A competitive sportsman at heart, Eishan is always game to try new things – be it a new book, alternative cinema, or adventure sport.

Margo Chomka

Margo is one of our architects, looking to develop her technical skills and expertise in planning, contract and construction law, while helping senior staff with high-profile projects. Her experience covers a wide variety of sectors, including residential, commercial, retail and transportation projects. Margo is committed to creating a supportive working environment, and enjoys mentoring junior staff while learning from her senior colleagues.

 Outside of work, Margo is a keen swimmer, a snooker fan and a rookie drone pilot.

Jake Smart

Jake is a senior architect with strong technical knowledge. He has acted as design team leader on projects across a number of sectors, including multi-unit and private housing, education, healthcare, retail and leisure.

Chairing ADP’s Superuser group for the specification writing software NBS Create, Jake has a strong technical knowledge base. He passionately believes in taking a rigorous approach to design, and seeks out the most effective solutions at every stage of a project’s life.

Outside of work, Jake aspires to finish building his house one day, and actually live in it!

Josie Ho

Josie is one of our interior design assistants, who provides support for the interior design team. She has experience in residential and office interior projects.

She has a passion for inclusive design, straying away from the belief that one size fits all and tries to be considerate in her designs.

Outside of work, Josie enjoys visiting exhibitions. She likes a challenge, having recently started bouldering at V3 level and above.

Alan Lawson

Alan is an architect whose role involves working closely with clients and consultants to deliver projects to a high standard from initial design stages to completion.

Alan’s experience has been primarily in the healthcare sector, where he most notably worked on the design and delivery of Salford Royal’s Major Trauma Centre before ADP. He has also worked in the residential, commercial and workplace sectors. His interest in architecture came from the impact good design can have on communities and places through focusing on themes of identity, placemaking and contextual development.

In his spare time, Alan looks for the next home improvement job or plans his next trip, which may or may not include a running event.

Frances Heslop

Frances is an associate based in our Edinburgh studio. While her experience covers a wide range of projects, she has a particular interest in community-driven housing and sustainable placemaking. This is reflected in her approach to architecture, which centres on working closely with communities to understand and meet their varying needs.

Frances has delivered several affordable housing projects and award-winning regeneration schemes across Scotland. Outside of work she enjoys reading and had to make the difficult choice of a career in architecture over publishing.

Euan Mackenzie

Euan is one of our senior technicians. He is working in a leading role at RIBA, while providing project-wide technical assistance to others in the practice.

He has a keen interest in education and social residential projects of all scales, along with a passion for the more tactile details in a space. He has an interest in environmentally conscious projects with Passivhaus principles.

Outside of ADP, Euan is working towards a Level 3 Mountain Bike Coaching qualification. He’s also been getting the last of his DIY lockdown projects finished in his flat.

Chris Foulkes

Chris is a Part II architectural assistant who aspires to become a qualified architect. His studies in Sydney, Venice and Manchester have given him a culturally diverse approach to design, and he has worked on projects which vary wildly in scale and sector. His projects for ADP have built on a strong foundation in healthcare and higher education design, including a health and wellbeing centre for Huddersfield University, and a pathology laboratory in Leeds.

Outside of work, Chris enjoys travelling, reading, and watching Manchester United struggle to return to their former glory.

William Allen

Will has extensive experience of projects within the health and education sectors.

He was involved in the client engagement and design of a new emergency department, leading the project team in developing the BIM model.

Will has also worked as an integral part of the ADP team on a number of projects for the Universities of Lancaster, Stafford and Leeds, and has developed extensive knowledge of delivering schools via the ESFA framework.

Will is a BIM and NBS Create Superuser for the practice, with expertise in delivering coordinated design solutions at BIM Level 2.

Liz Jarrett

Liz is a director who co-leads our London studio. She has extensive experience in the education, research and healthcare sectors, with particular expertise in leisure and community projects.

With a dual master’s degree in Architecture and Town and Regional Planning, Liz has eased projects through the planning stage in sensitive and difficult locations, often working with complex stakeholder groups. She is especially adept at working on masterplans, and taking forward early-stage feasibilities and design briefs.

Liz’s award-winning schemes include Augustine House at Canterbury Christ Church University, and the Forum in Southend.

Andy Nock

As one of our associates, Andy is involved at all stages of a project, taking a lead after the client engagement stage.

Andy has experience in a number of sectors, but is particularly passionate about healthcare work. He enjoys the technicalities involved, and the detailed collaboration with other design team members that this brings.

Andy was the project architect on a combined student residential and teaching block project at Newman University, which won “Building Project of the Year” at the Celebrating Construction Awards.

Outside of work, Andy enjoys fitness training, and has a keen interest in sports and photography. His love of rugby has taken him as far as Sydney to watch the State of Origin series.

Alison McKerracher

Alison is a fellow of ADP in recognition of her contribution and influence on the practise. Despite not carrying commitment or responsibility, this allows her to continue to offer the value of substantial experience to the practice. Before retiring, Alison played a key role, with responsibilities as company secretary and leading on HR for the practise.

With 30 years’ experience since qualifying, Alison has a wealth of expertise, particularly in the education, research and commercial sectors. She was also a director of our collaborative company Corde and a trustee of the Marudyan foundation.

Outside of ADP, Alison was Vice Chair of Governors at King Edward VI Handsworth School, and a Trustee on the board of the Schools of King Edward VI in Birmingham.

Karen Ward

As our head of finance, Karen is responsible for the timely and accurate reporting of financial information to the board, and is supported by our accounts team.

Karen is particularly involved with the financial element of projects, including fee schedules and profit monitoring.

Outside of work, Karen is a governor of a local secondary school and a trustee of a charity that helps homeless and vulnerable people; she also volunteers as a debt counsellor. In her spare time she enjoys gardening, and cooking and entertaining with friends.

Tracey Thomas

Tracey works as part of ADP’s EMS team, and is a qualified BREEAM Assessor and BREEAM Advisory Professional. Her role involves liaising with the design team, collating information for BREEAM reports, and carrying out BREEAM assessments.

Tracey has worked on a varied range of education and healthcare projects, as well as other diverse building types. She has been involved in the Elmsbrook Local Centre, which is an exciting zero-carbon development; she has also helped with the development of a Scheduled Monument at Fort Bovisand, providing conservation advice to the team.

Outside of ADP, she aspires to complete her fiftieth parkrun this year.

Hannah Brewster

Hannah has wide experience delivering healthcare projects across the country. She has developed a thorough knowledge of complex healthcare brief gathering, particularly with multi-stakeholder clients.

Hannah provides a practice-wide support role for healthcare expertise, and has been instrumental in the success of a number of complex healthcare schemes.

By working closely with user groups in sensitive, occupied, operational areas, she has become especially adept at innovating with space planning and derogation.

Paula Botezatu

Paula is an experienced Part II architectural assistant. She has worked on a range of projects, particularly in the residential sector, and on large development schemes.

As a dedicated designer, Paula has excellent attention to detail and enjoys learning new technical skills.

In her spare time she loves cooking and life drawing, and aspires to be a painter.

Jordan Watt

Jordan is a qualified architect, with a combined passion for sustainability and high-quality design. His experience includes a number of heritage projects, and complex higher education schemes.

Outside of work, Jordan enjoys playing tennis and adding to his extensive record collection.

Wayne Dobbins

As a director, Wayne is primarily responsible for managing the Oxford studio. He is also involved in the continuous development of the practice BIM strategy and our integrated design joint venture, Corde, as well as being a lead support for our India studio. Wayne’s key strengths are in the education and community sectors, and his expertise ranges from developing school briefs through to managing higher education frameworks.

Outside of work, Wayne is a school governor, captains a squash team, and occasionally shows glimpses of his former county-standard golfing. He juggles these with being a father of two amazing daughters while building a new house with SIPs.

Ania Popielarska

Ania is an architect based in our Sherborne studio. She has a keen interest in natural materials and how they can be used on a wide variety of projects.

She has an array of experience in the industry, including the award-winning Fan Bridge in Merchant Square. Her projects extend to large-scale residential schemes and community projects in both London and Cambridge.

Outside of her current work in Sherborne, Ania enjoys trail running and climbing, taking any opportunity she can to be outdoors.

Dianna Fletcher

Dianna is one of our directors, and an RIBA accredited Conservation Architect.

She is particularly interested in the sensitive conservation and renewal of the historic built environment, and has extensive experience of restoration and regeneration projects.

Dianna also has a strong track record of producing masterplans for existing estates and campuses. Her masterplans build on existing and historic qualities, allowing strategic growth for the future.

When not in the studio, Dianna enjoys travelling, trekking and using her new teppan.

Amy Brazenall

Amy has worked on a variety of projects in the residential, commercial and healthcare sectors, with a focus on higher education schemes. Her experience covers the successful delivery of new build, refurbishment, spatial rationalisation, learning, social and workplace projects for a number of universities.

Amy particularly enjoys the stakeholder engagement process, developing an in-depth understanding of the client’s needs and challenging perceptions.

Her strengths lie in the visual communication of ideas during the design process, and in building relationships with the client and project teams.

Chris Thornton

Chris leads our healthcare sector work. He has completed over 130 projects for Macmillan Cancer Support, and built many strong relationships with public and private healthcare providers across the country.

His understanding of patient needs and the clinical challenges that face many healthcare institutions is extensive. As a result, Chris is an important practice-wide resource for furthering our work in the healthcare sector. He is on the executive board for Architects for Health and is an active member of IHEEM and the DiMH network, often participating in speaking slots at conferences.

The majority of his healthcare work has involved remodelling projects with technically demanding requirements, while maintaining a strong patient focus.

Kristian Arbrahamsen

Kristian is one of our architects with a wealth of experience in the workplace and higher education sectors. He has played an integral role in the delivery of several high-profile projects across the country, from the Marble Arch and Fitzrovia areas of London, to Manchester’s Oxford Road and Bristol’s city centre.

Kristian’s key strengths include his free-hand sketching, which works well when paired with his proficient use of Revit, Sketchup and general detail-work.

Outside of ADP, Kristian loves nothing more than road-cycling, bouldering, life-drawing and baking a seeded loaf or two!

Susan Norman

Susan is an experienced interior designer and project manager, with a passion for delivering detailed designs. Her creative use of finishes, colours and product specifications add dimension to the completed projects.

Akshay Kalwar

Akshay ensures the details of every aspect of his architecture are of the highest quality. He works hard to resolve design issues by breaking them down to the basic elements first. This helps in simplifying the design process, and delivering a solution that always works.

When not putting his mind to work, Akshay enjoys putting his feet to work on the dance floor.

Neil Lister

As a project director at ADP, Neil has worked on many prestigious projects across multiple sectors. He is skilled in masterplanning and urban design, negotiating planning consents, and producing efficient and innovative technical design solutions with enthusiasm and design flair.

One of Neil’s greatest strengths is bringing his knowledge from both the public and private sectors. This allows him to design bespoke, high-quality solutions which add value.

Outside of work, Neil spends much of his time nurturing his two children, and is currently teaching them to play piano and tennis.

Tom White

As impact lead, Tom is responsible for managing the social impact of our practice and projects. This includes consulting the communities affected by our work, managing ADP’s B Corp certification, and leading to our approach to equality, diversity and inclusion.

Tom is passionate about business ethics and purpose. He uses his past experience as a teacher and communications professional to engage with people, listening and responding to understand how they interact with the spaces around them.

Outside of work, he splits his time between running along Manchester’s many canals, producing bad ambient music, and writing a dystopian novel.

Claire Hunt

Claire is our Head of Landscape, and a chartered member of the Landscape Institute.

Her experience ranges from public realm projects to landscaping for schools and universities. Claire enjoys all aspects of her job role, but is particularly interested in biodiversity and sustainability – she loves getting other people enthused about these topics!

She is also a visiting tutor on the Landscape Architecture course at Birmingham City University.

In her spare time, Claire enjoys parkruns, playing the piano, working on her allotment and singing in her community choir. She also sits on the board of trustees at Moseley Park and Pool, a Humphry Repton landscape in Birmingham.

Surika Carvalho

Surika one of our associates, responsible for delivering projects through all the RIBA stages. She has particular experience within the education sector and masterplanning.

With an interest in interior design, Surika takes a holistic design approach, looking at the design of the internal spaces as well as the overall building to offer solutions tailored to the client’s needs.
She is also an active member of the Birmingham Architectural Association (BAA) and organises events around the issues of social responsibility, including ‘Celebrating Women in Architecture’.

Surika holds events with the JQBID and Heritage England to encourage discussion on how we can save places of local interest and their place in today’s environment.

Amy Schofield

Amy is an architectural assistant who recently achieved her Master of Architecture degree from the University of Dundee, with distinction. Her experience covers a range of sectors, from leisure projects to large-scale residential developments.

Amy’s fifth-year design thesis won Best in Year from the Dundee Institute of Architects, and studied waterfront developments in post-industrial cities. Outside of her work for ADP (and her studies to become a qualified architect), Amy enjoys architectural history and cycling.

Arvind Bawari

Arvind is an accomplished architect with good site experience. He uses his expertise to ensure his projects are well managed.

Arvind was born and brought up in the eastern part of India, and has spent a lot of time being close to nature. He therefore has good experience of hill architecture and using local sustainable materials. He has mainly worked within the commercial, residential and public sectors.

When Arvind manages to escape his computer screen he enjoys sightseeing and cycling in the hills.

Simon Beaumont-Orr

Simon is an associate director, and ADP’s sustainability lead. He has a wealth of experience across the education, commercial and residential sectors.

Simon’s key interests include addressing the issues of climate change by focusing on the critical performance of buildings. He also enjoys the technical aspects of design, and the challenge of seeing early architectural concepts through to their realisation on site.

Outside of work, Simon likes to practise what he preaches – from building bikes out of bamboo to castles out of cardboard (with his son)!

Jack Prowse

Jack has recently graduated from Manchester School of Architecture and aspires to become a practising architect. His recent projects have focused on sustainability, placemaking and celebrating architectural heritage.

He is interested in how architecture can address environmental and societal problems, and how it brings happiness into cities using thoughtful design.

Outside of work, Jack enjoys going to gigs, cross country running, and sketching around Manchester.

Keir McNeil

Keir has delivered projects across the higher education, schools and healthcare sectors.

He is leading the delivery of the new £96m Sir William Henry Bragg Building at the University of Leeds, which will enable the integration of engineering, physics, chemistry, and computing, while providing central teaching and social interaction spaces.

Ines Zaid

Ines is one of our architects. She specialises in urban design and sustainable urban development, and has worked on many high-profile projects including significant higher education and healthcare schemes.

Ines is passionate about using academic research to inform her practice, and mentors third-year architecture students at Cardiff University. In her free time she enjoys solo hiking across England, the Azores, Italy and the Czech Republic – often for weeks at a time!

Charlotte Cubitt

Charlotte is a Part II architectural assistant helping on various projects at a variety of stages. She is interested in sustainability and how we can make a positive impact.

Owing to her passion for finding interesting ways to represent architectural projects, Charlotte has won various awards for her skills, including the Oxford School of Architecture Graphic Design Prize and a Falmouth University Drawing Prize.

Outside of ADP, Charlotte loves to draw and paint in her free time and enjoys bringing these projects when she can.

Craig Vales

Craig is a Part II architectural assistant currently supporting a variety of higher education projects, along with having experience from his Part I in the care sector.

He has a keen interest in traditional Japanese philosophies (within architecture and life) and how we can pursue social and environmental sustainability within a design. From this, he believes that ‘people make the place’, and we should strive for architecture to provide social value to its local community.

Outside of ADP, he enjoys hiking, road trips and watching Chelsea FC grow their trophy collection.

Natalia Lopez

Natalia is one of our associate directors. She particularly enjoys working with clients and design teams to create imaginative designs which can be delivered to budget.

Natalia is also the current Employee Director, chairing employee council meetings and representing staff views at board level.

Natalia understands the pressures faced by school projects, and is experienced at managing the design process to deliver inspiring learning environments. She has an excellent track record of delivering projects on time and to budget, and has completed a number of successful schools.

Liubov Subbotina

Liubov is an experienced Part II architectural assistant who strives to work on various projects at all stages. Her diverse experience ranges from small house renovations to boutique hotels and large-scale masterplans.

She has been involved in several successful high-profile commercial projects in Central London, and is particularly keen on delivering innovative and cutting-edge design with well thought out ideas.

Outside of work, Liubov enjoys hiking and painting, sometimes even combining the two together.

Louis Stocks

Since joining ADP, Louis has supported the interior schemes for a variety of projects. He mainly works within the healthcare and education sectors.

As an accomplished interior designer, Louis has supported Katie in delivering several award-winning projects, including the Stokes Centre for Urology at Royal Surrey County Hospital.

In his spare time, Louis still harbours a desire to graduate one day from his current role as a bedroom DJ.

Gráinne Nestor

Gráinne recently joined ADP as a senior architect, and has wide-ranging experience delivering projects across the education sector. Before joining ADP, she worked on projects including a building with the largest timber roof in Europe, and designed the UK’s longest aerial walkway.

While at ADP, she has worked on several projects at University of Bristol. These include a lecture theatre complex, and a Grade II listed building upgrade and remodelling project.

Outside of work, Gráinne is attempting to start her own vegetable patch – with varying levels of success.

Holly Sutcliffe

Holly is an architectural assistant who hopes to become a qualified architect. She works on several projects across different design stages, where she produces drawings, diagrams and other design materials.

Holly takes a people-first approach to design which motivates her to create spaces that everyone can experience. She also has an interest in heritage and conservation, a topic she explored at university and one she hopes to continue to delve into.

Outside of work, Holly enjoys going to the gym and eating out with family and friends.

Mary Deguara

As one of our assistant landscape architects, Mary supports the landscape team in delivering a wide range of projects at various scales. Her work includes analysing precedents and contexts, working on drawings and creating diagrams.

Mary has a keen eye for detail, and a passion for high-quality design. She is particularly killed at creating visualisations that quickly and clearly convey ideas and designs to clients, and enjoys working on projects that prioritise sustainability.

Praveen Bahadur

Praveen is an essential part of ADP, ensuring the studio functions smoothly. As studio support, he makes sure all parts of the office are organised and presentable. He provides the required help and support to all his colleagues on varied tasks – from an early morning coffee to help on a late-night submission. He’s found that working at ADP has helped bring out his inner creativity.

In his free time, Praveen channels his creativity into cooking and handmade crafts.

Henry Brook

Henry is a UK registered ARB Architect. His previous experience includes work in the residential sector and some published self-build projects in both the UK and Europe. He is now looking to explore other sectors.

His main interest is how the tectonic and detailed presence of materials can play a role within the surrounding environment, its context and its built environment.

Outside of work, Henry enjoys photography, hiking and tennis, cooking with friends and cheering on Harlequins.

Katie Thompson

Katie is our interior design associate director, and works on projects across the practice. She manages our interior design team, which is commissioned for standalone interiors appointments, as well as working as an integral part of our architectural teams.

Katie’s strengths lie in developing interior concepts, space planning, colour schemes, finishes and furniture packages. She always ensures that our interior schemes are fully aligned with the architecture.

Her designs can be seen in projects such as Spanish City, which received an international FX Award.

Katie is an aspiring artist in her spare time, and recently came second in the ADP Art Challenge.