2023 Business Review: Good design - Design for Good

As part of our ongoing succession strategy, we have diversified the ownership of Chapman Taylor to include key members of the international business. Mikel Barriola based in Madrid, Jon Hale based in Prague, and Ruprecht Melder based in Dusseldorf, have joined the LLP, joining existing Group Board members Adrian Griffiths and Michael Cottam based in London.

Key growth markets over the last year were Azerbaijan and Saudi Arabia, where we expect to see significant expansion in the coming financial year. Mixed-use remains our strongest sector and we have many large ongoing projects under construction in China, Egypt, Germany, Saudi Arabia, Portugal, Czech Republic, Turkey, and the UK. We continue to promote Responsible Design approaches in all our projects, extending our design considerations beyond environmental issues to include the social, economic, well-being, and ethical dimensions.

UK

Two key city centre residential schemes have been completed this year - Eda and Meadowside both in Manchester and in London, a number of large residential projects are on-site including Friary Park - the former Nestle Factory in Hayes, Springfields in East London, Westend Lane in Hampstead, Eastman Village - the old Kodak site in Harrow, Greenford Road in Greenford and Capella in Kings Cross. We have also just been awarded planning permission for a new 30-storey residential tower in Lower Riverside, Greenwich Peninsula, London, which will provide 300 new homes.

We have been selected to develop the architectural design of Soapworks, a significant mixed-use project in Bristol. Construction is just finishing at Hotel Indigo in Coventry, and the four-star Holiday Inn and three-star Ibis at Airport City Manchester have now been completed. Construction has also been completed for a new office, Manchester Goods Yard, which is part of a new media technology hub in St John’s Quarter. We are continuing to lead on major urban regeneration projects, and it is good to see Coventry City Centre South, for which we developed the masterplan, moving forward.

Europe

We have had two completed projects in Paris this year; Le Spot in the shopping centre Evry 2 near Paris, and the refurbishment of Creteil Soleil shopping centre. In Madrid, our asset enhancement project for the Gran Plaza 2 shopping centre also opened. We continue to work on several luxury residential schemes in Spain, including the Sabina project in Ibiza and various luxury residential projects in the centre of Madrid, reusing protected buildings.

Several mixed-use developments are in the pipeline including Meppen, Germany; Tbilisi, Sioni and Kobuleti in Georgia, and Marnach, Luxembourg. Two residential projects in Nürnberg and Fürth are currently on site and will be finished at the beginning of 2024. Two low-energy use workplaces are planned for client BOB AG, one in Düsseldorf and the second, nearby in Hamm. We are also currently working on major retail refurbishments in Croatia, Germany, Italy, Slovenia, and Spain. The second phase of construction at Pinea Resort, in the Baltic city of Pobierowo, Poland, is now fully underway.

In the Czech Republic, construction was completed at Molo Lipno; a luxury residential destination that offers 79 lakeside apartments and penthouses together with a public pier featuring a high-class restaurant. An adjoining luxury hotel at the resort is due to commence construction in 2024.

China

Construction is ongoing on a 680-hectare urban district in Chongqing, with the first buildings completed and already occupied. A large proportion of the landscaping and infrastructure is also complete, including a new central lake. This “new area” for the city of Chongqing is due to complete construction in 2025. The workplace-led, mixed-use Zhangjiang Gaoke Office Block 2B-6 is onsite in Shanghai. Construction at Future Hotel in Chongqing is due to complete in late 2023. Our Shanghai studio has also designed three important bridges that are currently under construction including Yun Qiao Road Bridge in Shanghai.

This year we have won a number of prestigious design competitions, further cementing our reputation as one of the leading masterplanners in the South East Asia region. Among the winning designs were Yangpu Bay, an area of 5.21 km2 in Hainan’s West Wing Development Belt; a 99km2 development ‘One Line and Four Mines’ for the mountains west of Beijing, and a large-scale transport-orientated masterplan in the Chinese city of Jiaxing, in the Yangtze River Delta.

We also won design competitions for a new Healthcare Research Campus in Shanghai’s Waigaoqiao Free trade area and for the Tianjin South Railway Station Urban area. On a smaller scale, we were successful with a Baoshan residential project for China Railway Corporation - these apartments will improve the quality of life of the ‘dispatchers’ and 'controllers', who work on China’s extensive railway system.

Middle East

Chapman Taylor is now working in over 20 cities in Saudi Arabia. Construction has started at the 123,000m² GBA Porta Jeddah mixed-use development in Jeddah. Design work is ongoing at the mixed-use 'Airport City' development adjacent to Jeddah's King Abdulaziz International Airport. This will become a leading destination for visitors from across Saudi Arabia and the GCC region. The 2 million m² GBA masterplan for Airport City will create diverse tourism and business opportunities while also providing a dynamic lifestyle and family entertainment venue. KEC Hub, in the pilgrimage city of Madinah, is making good progress on site. This 392,000m² development will deliver a comprehensive mixed-use district for the city.

Central Asia

The prestigious 167-metre-high Port Baku Tower 2 development has been completed in Baku, Azerbaijan. This elegant addition to the Baku skyline offers a mix of uses including offices, restaurants, and retail. We are also working on several important city masterplans in Azerbaijan.

The doors have now successfully opened at the innovative MyCar auto centres in Almaty and Astana in Kazakhstan, and construction is well advanced on Almaty Museum of Art, which will display an important collection of Central Asian and international contemporary art.

South and South-East Asia

Chapman Taylor’s Bangkok studio has completed the renovation of the Outpatient Department and the ICU1 ward at the prestigious Bumrungrad International Hospital. Phase two of the refurbishment of the British Club, Bangkok, is also now complete. Construction has completed on the first of five luxury villas on the island of Koh Phangan, Thailand. In Vietnam, we are working on large urban masterplans and hospitality projects in various parts of the country.

In India, a 47-storey development, Hyderabad 1, due to complete in 2026, has achieved gold certification by the Indian Green Building Council and will be the world’s tallest co-living development at 160 metres. A series of significant workplace projects in Hyderabad are currently progressing on site.

Construction work is progressing at Dolmen Mall in Lahore, Pakistan, for a 180,000m2 shopping centre located within the Defence Housing Authority grounds, which is due to be completed in 2024. Another major mixed-use development of with retail, leisure, hospitality, office and residential functions has just been launched in Islamabad.

Rest of the World

Chapman Taylor is exploring off-site manufacturing opportunities in the United States, Gibraltar, and the Falkland Islands, and we are undertaking the concept design of several retail and mixed-use developments in Central and South America.

Responsible Design

As a business, we continue to focus on our sustainable design capabilities across our studios. Our architects are using speaking opportunities and media articles to communicate on Responsible Design issues such as the circular economy, the housing affordability crisis and decarbonisation of our building stock through retrofits. We continue to work closely with external consultants to deliver high levels of certifications for our projects, including BREEAM, LEED, Nabers, and WELL.

Each year we undertake Carbon Footprint Assessments of our studios and identify KPIs that allow us to set realistic targets for reducing our GHG emissions. In 2023, we also published our Carbon Management Plan which sets out our strategy for decarbonising both our projects and our business operations in the coming years, in line with the Paris Agreement targets.

Awards

Chapman Taylor won 25 industry-leading awards in 2022 and 2023, including City Centre South Coventry masterplan Gold at the Urban Design & Architecture Design Awards, Kampus in Manchester ‘Apartment Development of the Year (more than 300 apartments)’ Northwest Residential Property Awards 2022, and Castle Park View 'Best Residential Development' at the Bristol Property Awards. Molo Lipno in the Czech Republic won Best Large Scale Residential Project’ at the Best of Realty Awards in the Czech Republic and won the main sponsor’s award from Wienerberger in the Stavba Roku (Building of the Year) 2022 competition. Zhangjiang IC design Industrial Park 2b-6 recently won an Asia Property Award in the category of mixed-use. Our responsibly designed workplace project U Center 2 in Bucharest picked up five design and property awards in 2023.

Moving into 2024 ...

We have many projects being designed and under construction in countries across the world and in all our key market sectors, with notable schemes in Albania, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Belgium, China, Côte d'Ivoire, Czech Republic, Egypt, Georgia, Germany, India, Kazakhstan, Maldives, Mexico, Morocco, Oman, Pakistan, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Romania, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Spain, Thailand, UAE, United Kingdom, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam. We look forward to working collaboratively with our partners in the year ahead, to create successful, creative, and sustainable places and environments.