Selected Work
About us...
Founded 2004
Located Unit 305 Metropolitan Wharf
70 Wapping Wall
Wapping, London
E1W 3SS
Contact +44 (0) 20 7234 9330
info@bellphillips.com
Team 35 strong
Awards Architect of the Year | Winner 2023
Architecture Today | Winner 2023
British Homes Architect of the Year | Winner 2024
British Homes Awards | Winner 2016, 2024
Civic Trust | Winner 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021
Evening Standard | Winner 2024
GAGA | Winner 2011
Housing Design | Winner 2014, 2015, 2018, 2019, 2022, 2024
Inside Housing | Winner 2015, 2016, 2018, 2023
London Construction | Winner 2024
New London | Winner 2016, 2019, 2020, 2021
Pineapples | Winner 2024
Planning | Winner 2024
RIBA National | Winner 2016, 2022
RIBA Regional | Winner 2016, 2017, 2018, 2021, 2022, 2024
RICS | Winner 2017, 2019
Clients Related Argent, British Land, Lendlease, Peabody, 17 London Boroughs including Southwark, Westminster and Tower Hamlets, Get Living, Igloo, Backhouse, Be First, Pegasus Life, Pocket Living, The Skinners’ School, Kent College Canterbury, Dartford Grammar, Empiric Student Housing
Frameworks BeFirst, Bloom, Clarion, Catalyst, Haringey, Homes England, LCP, LHC, L&Q, London & Quadrant, Notting Hill Genisis, Perfect Circle, Places for People, Royal Parks, Scape, Southwark Architects Framework (ADS), Tower Hamlets, Waltham Forest, Westminster
DRP & QRP
Our team hold positions on various panels.
Current appointments include:
Tim Bell | Be First, Essex
Melissa Dowler | Folkestone and Hythe, Kensington and Chlesea, Waltham Forest (chair)
Tom Morgan | Reading
Jay Morton | Croydon, Ealing, Islington
John Lineen | Kingston
Ashmi Thapar | Hounslow, Brent
Uplifting
We create places people love We believe in the power of architecture to provide sustainable and inspiring places that everyone should thrive and benefit from.
Our strong social and moral purpose drives us to use our expertise as architects to make a tangible impact on people’s quality of life.
Progressive
We build for the future
Our design approach is progressive, responsive to the changing world, continuously evolving but always underpinned by our commitment to create a better life for everyone in society.
We create beautifully crafted architecture that responds positively to its surroundings, that challenges convention and creates future legacy.
Respectful
Community, collaborators and the planet
We pride ourselves on our proactive and enthusiastic approach to build constructive relationships with everyone we have the pleasure to meet.
We strive to make the process enjoyable and lead each project with a sensitive ear and collaborative mindset because we believe people make places.
Flagship Build To Rent in the centre of Birmingham
Smithfield Plot 4A
This building will be the first phase in Lendlease and Birmingham City Council’s regeneration of Smithfield in Birmingham City Centre. It will provide circa 380 Build to Rent homes plus extensive retail and a wellness facility, together with rooftop amenities and communal spaces for residents. This development will set the standard for a new high value residential offer in Birmingham, and in terms of architecture this will establish a level of design quality appropriate to Manor Square, located on the site of the original manor house owned by the De Birmingham family, and effectively the historic origin of the city.
“This is an important step for both Lendlease and the Birmingham Smithfield regeneration scheme. These plans kickstart the transformation of this iconic site, bringing much needed new homes and spaces that support health and wellbeing and the local community.”
Selina Mason, Director of Masterplanning for Smithfield
The building will form the longest elevation to Manor Square. We were keen for it to form a dialogue with the ‘theatre’ of the active Manor Square.
A curtain motif of folded and pleated metalwork adds texture and vibrancy - a visual metaphor for the relationship between the ‘audience’ and ‘stage’ - at times the occupants of the square are the players and at times they are the audience.
Birmingham is renowned for its historic and present day heritage of jewellery making. Our design aims to reference this in the rich and shimmering ‘curtain’ facade
Many metal fabricators still operate in the city and we propose for the folded and pleated facades to not only reference this connection but also we hope that these elements can be crafted locally
Red brick grounds the building in its historic context; one of industry, markets, warehouses and making. This material reference would provide a rich backdrop to the textured curtain
Health and well-being is a focus for a scheme that intends to attract young residents that want to feel a part of the city. This connection to greenery is intended to act as a quiet foil to the 24 hour city.
Project Smithfield Plot 4A
Location Birmingham
Client Lendlease
Project Cost Undisclosed
Status RIBA Workstage 2
Affordable family homes in the East Village
No5, East Village
The development delivers 48 affordable family residential units for social rent in the exciting former Olympic Village, East Village. Within this growing East London community, residents benefit from the development’s retail space, community use areas, and a Neighbourhood Equipped Area of Play (NEAP) offering an array of amenities for residents and families.
The development displays exceptional quality, attention to detail and high standard of delivery that exceeds most social housing with quality materials, generosity of private amenity and light, spacious homes.
Project N05, East Village
Location Newham, London
Client Get Living
Project Cost Undisclosed
Status Completed 2023
The original outline consent for the site predicted a building would lie to the north of the plot with play space to the south. From the outset, this posed an issue; the play space would be exposed to the busy Celebration Avenue creating an unsafe environment for the public realm. This fueled the ambition of the design to create a safe and sheltered play area to enhance the public realm, and at the same time, to create a striking shape within an unusually shaped plot.
The flats have been arranged to illustrate the following principles: activation of the adjacent public realm, good quality aspect and natural light, outstanding private amenity space, high-quality internal space, and rational and functional layouts. The triple-aspect wheelchair-accessible flats are located at the prominent ‘prow’ of the building with exceptional south-facing balconies offering panoramic views across East Village. A palette of high quality, durable, materials; robust grey brick and cream precast concrete, with generous private balconies mark this building out as an exceptional example of social housing.
A sustainable new workspace within the Canada Water Masterplan
Plot D6
The Cuts is a mixed-use district within the Canada Water masterplan in South London. It has been designed by Allies and Morrison for British Land as a ‘Landmark Quarter’ comprising seven buildings unified in their material and tone, arranged around a dense vibrant network of pedestrianized ‘Cuts’ lined with shops and restaurants that establish new connections to local transport nodes and historic docks.
Plot D6 sits in the middle of the district and comprises approximately 300,000sqft of new office, retail and leisure space. Our design responds to a recent shift in the nature of work by promoting sustainable transport modes, encouraging healthy living and creating a vibrant 24/7 ecosystem within a low energy, low carbon structure.
Project Plot D6
Location Canada Water, London
Client British Land
Project Cost Undisclosed
Status Stage 2
A sculptural cycle ramp, which animates both the street and entrance lobby, provides easy access to the basement cycle hub while generous opening windows to the offices provide fresh air, natural light and panoramic views across the docks towards St. Paul’s Cathedral, Canary Wharf and the North Downs. Planted balconies and roof terraces extend up the building enhancing wellbeing and biodiversity.
On the ground floor retail and restaurant units, suitable for a range of operators, contribute to a vibrant, energetic streetscape whilst ensuring that The Cuts maintains its vitality on evenings and weekends.
A strong identity in the Lisson Grove Conservation Area
Cosway Street
Located in the Lisson Grove conservation area adjacent to the Grade 2* listed Christ Church, this residential scheme proposes 51 new apartments and penthouses arranged around a landscaped communal garden, alongside two family terraced houses on Ashmill Street. The project, for Westminster City Council, is part of the Church Street Masterplan.
Taking inspiration from the surrounding late Victorian and Georgian terraces and Christ Church, the design reinstates the historic street frontage thereby reinforcing the character of the conservation area. Comprising 100% high value, private sale homes, this development is instrumental in crosssubsidising much of the council’s public housing delivery on other sites nearby.
Typical Upper Floor Plan
Facades of fluted brick facades that subtly vary in dimension and tone of brick reflect the rhythms and proportions of the surrounding streets in a design that is contemporary yet rooted in its context.
The brick facades are designed to be contemporary response to the rhythms, proportions, tones and colours of the surrounding Victorian and Georgian buildings. The fluted motif is inspired by the fluted columns of the adjacent Grade II* Listed Christ Church.
These studies demonstrate how the brick flutes vary on the different elevations in response to the adjacent buildings giving the proposed building both consistency and sensitivity.
The unique scalloped façade was achieved using modern construction methods (MMC) with brick-clad precast concrete panels. Windows were pre-fitted to the panels in the factory, saving time on site whilst providing increased quality assurance. Eight panels were delivered to site daily from the factory and craned into place. The meticulous coordination between the design team and fabricator avoided recalls, with the entire façade completing in just 8 weeks.
Bell Street
Shroton Street
Cosway Street
Project Cosway Street
Location Marylebone, London
Client Westminster City Council
Project Cost Undisclosed
Status Completed 2023
Awards Housing Design 2019, 2024 | Winner
British Homes 2024 | Winner
Evening Standard 2024 | Winner
London Construction 2024 | Winner
Civic Trust 2025 | Finalist
Inside Housing 2024 | Shortlisted
AJ 2024 | Shortlisted
New London Architecture 2024 | Shortlisted
Planning 2024 | Shortlisted
Dezeen 2024 | Shortlisted
New London 2019 | Shortlisted
A new destination in King’s Cross
Gasholder Park
Gasholder No.8 is a Victorian gasholder, constructed during the 1850s from cast and wrought iron, that was once one of 23 gasometers that dominated the King’s Cross skyline as part of the Pancras Gasworks. The gasholder was decommissioned in 2000 and subsequently listed.
As part of the King’s Cross Central Masterplan, Gasholder No.8 was dismantled, refurbished, relocated and remodelled as a new pocket park on a new site adjacent to the Regent’s Canal alongside the Gasholder Triplets which have been remodelled as apartments.
In 2008 we won a design competition to remodel the Grade II listed Gasholder No. 8 as a new public space in the heart of King’s Cross. The proposal frames a central garden with a stunning mirror-polished stainless steel colonnade within the Victorian gasholder guideframe. The new structure provides a more intimate and contemporary counterpoint to the vast historic structure.
This fragile industrial icon was dismantled and removed from its site in King’s Cross and transported to Yorkshire where it underwent repairs, refurbishment and repainting. On completion it was carefully re-erected in a more prominent position adjacent to the Regent’s Canal.
In conjunction with Argent, Arup, Shepley and BAM Nuttall, we developed a detailed methodology for the dismantling, repair and re-erection of this incredible structure. Within this imposing guideframe now sits the mirror-finished canopy which like a kaleidoscope, dramatically reflects the colours of adjacent planting, buildings, people and activity.
The delicate canopy is barely visible from a distance, allowing the guideframe to dominate, but from close-up takes on a kaleidoscopic quality, dramatically animated by the reflected colours, textures and activity of adjacent planting, buildings, trains and people. The new structure, encircled with planting by Dan Pearson, offers an intimate, calm and secluded space to escape the busy life of the city.
By night, the colonnade is dramatically illuminated, with vertical blades of cool white light extending up the edges of the columns. On the hour an eclipse passes from east to west across the light installation, briefly dimming the lights to total darkness before returning to full brightness.
These two structures now coexist, with the old reclaiming its place on the north London skyline while the new provides a peaceful, intimate public park within the everchanging urban context of King’s Cross.
Project Gasholder Park
Location King’s Cross, London
Client King’s Cross Central Ltd Partners / Argent
Project Cost
Status
Awards
Undisclosed
Completed 2015
Architecture Today 2023 | Winner
Civic Trust 2019 | Commended
RIBA London 2018 | Winner
Architizer A+ 2017 | Special mention
Lighting Design 2017 | Shortlisted
Blueprint 2016 | Shortlisted
New London Architecture 2016 | Winner
FX Design 2016 | Winner
Darc 2016 | Winner
RICS 2016 | Shortlisted
RIBA London Region 2016 | Shortlisted
New London Architecture 2014 | Shortlisted
“It’s simplicity at its best. The location and the serenity of this new small park adds an invaluable asset to the growing community”
RIBA Awards judging citation
A new landmark at the St James Quarter Regeneration
The Jazz Yard
A mixed-use development close to Walthamstow High Street for Sixty Bricks, Waltham Forest Council’s property development company.
The Jazz Yard contains 83 new homes (50% of which are affordable) alongside a new NHS Health Centre and NHS Wellness and Advice Centre, which is expected to formally open in 2024.
The Jazz Yard occupies a former industrial site close to St James Street station. It forms a part of the wider St James Area Action Plan, which intends to redevelop this former light industrial neighbourhood. The development sits at the intersection of a new residential neighbourhood and a new workspace quarter and is conceived as a landmark building. Rising to 12 storeys, it draws the elements of the masterplan together alongside new pedestrian and cycle connections and an improved public realm.
“A jewel in the crown in the wider development of St James Street in Walthamstow, the Jazz Yard exhibits high-quality design that respects and enhances its surrounding context.”
Sixty Bricks
The building’s strongly articulated podium uses patterned and articulated brickwork to emphasise entrances and creates a play of contrasting materials and textures. The entrance lobbies and communal spaces have been carefully considered in both colour and materiality and the client has commissioned an artwork by Bud Studio for each residential entrance which reflects the character, market and people of the local neighbourhood.
The ground floor is designed to maximise its contribution to the new streetscape and public realm, with a large, welcoming entrance to the NHS facilities that occupy the ground and first floors. Ancillary uses such as parking and plants are situated in the depth of the building footprint to maximise this active frontage and to create place.
We have also created a flexible space for the NHS health centre; principally fronting Brunner Road with its entrance located at the end of the residential linear park.
Location Walthamstow, London
Client Sixty Bricks
Project Cost Undisclosed
Status Completed 2023
Awards Waltham Forest Design 2024 | Shortlisted
Architects Journal 2023 | Shortlisted
NLA 2023 | Shortlisted
Building London Planning | Shortlisted
London Construction 2023 | Finalist
Inside Housing 2023 | Shortlisted
Project The Jazz Yard
Celebrating arboricultural legacy in South London
The Tree House
Elephant Park is at the heart of a £2.3 billion regeneration led by Lendlease, which will create 3000 new homes and establish one of London’s best new open spaces. This new pavilion for Lendlease is the centrepiece of the new park, accommodating WCs, food and beverage kiosks, a new community space and a viewing terrace.
The triangular pavilion is formed by three volumes bound together by an oversailing roof terrace centred on an existing mature London plane tree afforded the benefits of shade, elevated views across the park, and the opportunity to circulate beneath the tree’s canopy.
The pavilion is designed to create a seamless flow between park and pavilion, blurring boundaries between inside and outside, enclosure and exposure.
Sustainability and consideration of embodied energy has been a key consideration of the design. The structure has been designed in crosslaminated timber (CLT) with sustainablysourced timber cladding and bamboo decking resulting in a building with exceptionally low embodied energy.
Project The Tree House
Location Elephant Park, Elephant & Castle, Southwark
Client Lendlease
Project Cost Undisclosed
Status Completed 2022
Awards RIBA London 2024 | Winner
Structural Timber 2024 | Winner Civic Trust 2024 | Highly Commended Dezeen 2023 | Shortlisted
Architects Journal 2023 | Shortlisted
Structural Timber Retail & Leisure 2022 | Finalist New London Architecture 2021, 2022 | Shortlisted
Regenerating a vibrant Central London quarter
Sites A, B & C, Church Street
The redevelopment of Sites A, B, and C on Church Street represents a transformative project by Westminster City Council, delivering 1,100 mixed-tenure homes alongside public realm improvements, a library, retail, workspace, and infrastructure to support the historic Church Street market.
Bell Phillips Architects secured detailed consent for the first of three plots, encompassing over 400 homes, a library, retail space, market infrastructure, and vibrant public realm enhancements. Outline consent has been granted for the remaining plots, setting the stage for a cohesive, community-focused development.
Economic, environmental, and social sustainability form the core of the proposals. The scheme seeks to enhance local resilience by supporting the street market, providing affordable retail and workspace, and creating new public amenities, including a library and community spaces. Crucially, all existing residents are guaranteed the opportunity to return to new homes within the development, preserving the fabric of the community.
Social Impact
The development is designed to foster community cohesion and improve quality of life. With 50% of homes designated as affordable tenure, the scheme addresses housing needs while ensuring social equity. Residents are re-provided with modern homes, enabling the community to remain intact. Public spaces, such as the library and Church Street market, are prioritized to maintain continuity of service during construction. Affordable retail and workspace further contribute to economic sustainability and the vitality of the local area.
Project Sites A, B & C, Church Street
Location Edgware Road, London
Client Westminster City Council
Project Cost Undisclosed
Status Hybrid planning consent
Awards Pineapples 2024 | Winner
Planning 2024 | Winner
Housing Design 2024 | Winner New London 2023 | Shortlisted
Sustainable Design Excellence
Sustainability has been prioritized throughout the design process, working closely with energy consultants to meet Westminster City Council’s net-zero carbon ambitions. Key features include:
• Energy Efficiency: Homes are designed to minimize energy use, with high levels of insulation, airtightness, and triple-glazed windows. The development achieves Passivhaus standards, with heating demand limited to 15 kWh/m² per year.
• Low Carbon Systems: An innovative ambient loop energy system ensures low-carbon heating and cooling, meeting LETI’s Energy Use Intensity (EUI) target of 35 kWh/m² per year
• Renewable Energy: Photovoltaics (PVs) and air-source heat pumps further reduce the carbon footprint
• Green Design: Over 90% of dwellings are dual-aspect, ensuring abundant natural light and ventilation, while a new garden street integrates green infrastructure and achieves an urban greening factor exceeding 0.4. All flats and circulation areas benefit from views of green spaces.
A Vision for the Future
Sites A, B, and C combine innovative design and sustainable principles to create a resilient, community-centred development that benefits current and future generations. By delivering high-quality homes, enhanced public realm, and vital community assets, the scheme reinforces Church Street’s role as a vibrant, inclusive neighbourhood while setting new benchmarks for sustainable urban regeneration.
Intervening in a historic postindustrial setting
Granary Square Pavilion
Granary Square Pavilion incorporates a retail unit, public WCs and public access lift connecting Granary Square to Lower Stable Street on a prominent site opposite the Granary Building and Thomas Heatherwick’s new retail complex at Coal Drops Yard in King’s Cross. The roof of the pavilion extends the public space of Granary Square completing the western corner of the space.
The pavilion completes Granary Square, extending the public realm across its roof, whilst presenting an active frontage to the adjacent Goods Yard Ramp and Lower Stable Street. The pavilion seeks to be an understated, contemporary, yet high quality, addition to King’s Cross that engages with, but doesn’t compete with, its surrounding context.
The pavilion has a decorative cast iron façade that extends up to the form a balustrade to Granary Square. The pattern of the cast iron is inspired by the molecular structure of coal referencing the site’s industrial heritage.
The pavilion is one of three public realm interventions we have added at King’s Cross together with Gasholder Park and Jellicoe Gardens.
Project Granary Square Pavilion
Location Kings Cross, London
Client King’s Cross Central Ltd Partners / Argent
Project Cost Undisclosed
Status Completed 2019
Awards Civic Trust 2021 | Winner New London Architecture 2020 | Winner
A new mixeduse district in Gothenburg
District Bearing
Situated along the river Savean in the northern part of Gothenburg, this historic factory complex consists of a series of striking industrial buildings that date back to the early 20th century. Originally built in phases, the factory served as a hub for both the working and cultural life of the region. However, the ball bearing factory has since been replaced by more modern facilities nearby, leaving behind a rich legacy that now calls for a fresh vision.
In collaboration with Stena Fastigheter and Gothenburg City Council, Bell Phillips has been instrumental in developing a place-making vision for the site’s future. This vision is supported by a comprehensive framework outlining the steps needed to achieve a thriving, multi-use community. Our approach has been informed by extensive research into the best examples of industrial regeneration across Europe, alongside a detailed analysis of the site’s history, architectural fabric, and context.
Project District Bearing
Location Gothenburg, Sweden
Client Stena Fastigheter
Project Cost Undisclosed
Status Planning Submitted
The development plan encompasses approximately 1,000 new homes, alongside a linear park running alongside the river, which will enhance public access and provide green space for residents and visitors. Key to the vision is the renovation of the most significant industrial buildings, which will be re-purposed for a mix of workspace, cultural, retail, and education facilities.
Our aim is to breathe new life into this historically rich site by celebrating its industrial heritage and revealing the unique character of the factory complex. In doing so, we seek to transform the site into an exciting new destination and play a central role in the broader regeneration of northern Gothenburg.
Raising the quality of student housing in Manchester
Victoria Point is south-east of the Oxford Road corridor in central Manchester, located directly adjacent to the Grade II listed Victoria Baths. The existing development of six low rise buildings from the early 2000’s was originally built as general needs housing, before being converted to PBSA and then purchased by our client Empiric.
Working alongside local architect 5Plus, we have developed a masterplan and detailed design for four of the blocks comprising partial refurbishment and new-build to substantially increase both the quantum and quality of the offer from 566 to 876 bedspaces, with much improved public realm and a strong sense of identity informed by the historic baths. A detailed planning application was submitted in 2024.
Project Victoria Point
Location Manchester
Client Empiric
Project Cost Undisclosed
Status
Detailed Planning Submitted
Work in Progress
Royal Oak
We have recently won an invited competition to design a mixed use high-rise scheme in Paddington for Barratt London and Places For London (TFL).
The development includes 600 new homes, commercial units and public realm. The urban site has complex constraints, sandwiched between railway lines, Lord Hill Bridge, Westbourne Bridge and the A40 Westway. The scheme offers the opportunity for the public realm to open up routes through to the surrounding neighbourhoods.
Lund Quarter
As part of a team with Hawkins Brown and Fisher Cheng, we have been selected to develop Lund Quarter, a 480 home neighbourhood at the heart of the Carpenter’s Estate Masterplan.
The development includes the refurbishment of Lund Point, a 23 storey tower, and a collection of new high and mid-rise buildings.
Barking Riverside
Barking Riverside Limited has appointed us to develop the Sub Framework Plan (SFP) for a new 1000 home neighbourhood.
The SFP will provide a clear framework for housebuilders to work to, maintaining the identity of the area and making any future planning submissions more straight forward.
The scheme is a new phase in Barking Riverside’s Stage 3 North masterplan, adding to the 2000 homes already built adjacent to the site.
“Their bid demonstrated an extremely high level of design capability, presenting and testing us with all the possibilities based on our brief. We are excited to be working with this team for the first time and we were very impressed with their collaborative approach throughout the bid process.”
Joe Burke BRL
Work in Progress
Mount Close
Dolphin Living has selected us to redevelop Mount Close Estate in Ealing. The scheme includes the refurbishment of a number of blocks to improve the thermal performance of the existing homes as well as the provision of 140 new homes within infills across the estate. Extensive landscaping is focused around a new mews and play street that is situated at the heart of the estate, providing high quality communal amenity for the residents.
Brent Cross Energy Centre
Following an invited competition by Related Argent, we were appointed to design the main energy centre for the new park town, Brent Cross Town (BXT) in North London.
Expected to be one of the biggest electric-only centres in Europe, the building will generate zero carbon heat and cooling to supply the BXT masterplan with green energy to help meet the BXT Net Zero Carbon commitments and ambition.
We have also been appointed by Vattenfall to complete the fit-out of the commercial spaces within the centre.
Tendring Colchester Borders Garden Community
Along with Haworth Thompkins, Jas Balla and HAT, Clarion Housing Group and their development arm, Latimer, have appointed us to develop phase 1 of their Essex masterplan. The 850home neighbourhood is set within the larger new town and focuses on sustainable urban design with carfree streets, mews developments and a rapid transport system.
The project is an opportunity for us to further test our innovative zero-carbon house typologies we developed for Clarion Latimer as part of our William Sutton Prize research project.
