{"id":7813,"date":"2025-09-09T03:13:55","date_gmt":"2025-09-09T03:13:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bespokecareers.com\/?p=7813"},"modified":"2025-09-15T03:15:59","modified_gmt":"2025-09-15T03:15:59","slug":"mark-middleton-on-leadership-learning-and-running-a-global-practice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bespokecareers.com\/articles\/mark-middleton-on-leadership-learning-and-running-a-global-practice\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Middleton on leadership, learning and running a global practice"},"content":{"rendered":"<p data-start=\"224\" data-end=\"247\">Mark Middleton is Group Managing Partner at Grimshaw, where he has spent three decades shaping some of the practice\u2019s most significant rail, aviation and metro projects. After leading the London studio he is now based in Sydney, responsible for the practice\u2019s eight international offices. Here he talks about growing up around building sites, the culture that defines Grimshaw, what it takes to run a global studio, and why he rejects the clich\u00e9s of the profession.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Grimshaw\u2019s Group Managing Partner On What It Takes to Be a Great Architect\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/1F8h_5F1aaI?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h3 data-start=\"224\" data-end=\"247\"><\/h3>\n<h3 class=\"article-editor-heading\">Why architecture?<\/h3>\n<p class=\"article-editor-paragraph\">I\u2019ll answer it in two ways. Why in the first place? All my family are tradesmen. They\u2019re bricklayers and plumbers and what have you. I grew up playing in the sharp sand on building sites. I worked out two things. One, I didn\u2019t want to do that job. But I liked building things and being involved in all that. I was relatively good at drawing and I naturally went into architecture. I wanted a professional job. I didn\u2019t want to do the things that my dad and my uncles were doing.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-editor-paragraph article-editor-content__has-focus\">What keeps me going is the people you meet. Realising architecture is part of it and walking around the spaces you create is incredibly rewarding, but in between that there\u2019s a lot of conversation, getting on with people, collaborating, having ideas together. When you\u2019re surrounded by good people it makes you want to come into work every day and enjoy what you\u2019re doing. So I would say it\u2019s the people.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"562\" data-end=\"890\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-7819 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn-01.cms-eu-v2i.applyflow.com\/bespoke\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/mark-child-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1900\" height=\"1069\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn-01.cms-eu-v2i.applyflow.com\/bespoke\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/mark-child-1.jpg 1900w, https:\/\/cdn-01.cms-eu-v2i.applyflow.com\/bespoke\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/mark-child-1-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/cdn-01.cms-eu-v2i.applyflow.com\/bespoke\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/mark-child-1-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/cdn-01.cms-eu-v2i.applyflow.com\/bespoke\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/mark-child-1-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn-01.cms-eu-v2i.applyflow.com\/bespoke\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/mark-child-1-1536x864.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1900px) 100vw, 1900px\" \/><\/p>\n<h3 class=\"article-editor-heading\">How practical experience shapes better design\u2026<\/h3>\n<p class=\"article-editor-paragraph\">I think I\u2019m very practically minded as a result of my upbringing. I used to bring my toy soldiers and play in the sharp sand. In the 70s they put dye in the sand to make it yellow, so I used to come back like a Simpsons character and be scrubbed clean by my mum. Later my dad put me to work, trying to teach me how to lay bricks, which I was hopeless at, but I\u2019d take his tools and make dens and do all those things.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-editor-paragraph\">When I got into my architectural career, I worked on the Jubilee line for a period as an industrial designer. I curated my career to get the job at Grimshaw because I knew they were into castings and metal processing and forming and all that. I sought out a job to do that. My drawing style is very graphicky, so it was always good for details. I always found I could sit down with a pad of A3 and rattle through the details. Building and the process of building was in the forefront of my mind. I don\u2019t do so much of that now because my role\u2019s changed, but I really enjoyed that and the problem-solving, putting these things together.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-editor-paragraph article-editor-content__has-focus\">It helps in design. When younger architects are designing I can immediately say they\u2019re going to have trouble building that. You need to think about the building process and manufacturing and how that might help you. That\u2019s what we do a lot at Grimshaw. Practices should be taking students on a ride-along. They should be going to sites, listening to the meetings. Maybe controversial, but work from home is not necessarily good for young architects, because the incidental conversations, the \u201cdo you want to come to site,\u201d they miss those. You\u2019ve got to be present and available to get those opportunities. It\u2019s essential for a young architect.<\/p>\n<h3 data-start=\"1957\" data-end=\"2010\">Architecture school and a switch in work ethic\u2026<\/h3>\n<p class=\"article-editor-paragraph\">I wanted to go to Dundee because it was one of the few architecture schools in an art school. I wanted to be surrounded by that. Plus it was cheaper to live. I wanted to work in London, but not necessarily study there. No shade on anyone who did. I was a terrible student until university. Boyish, didn\u2019t put time into stuff, just enough. Then at uni a penny dropped. I treated the whole thing like a job. I was in studio 8 till 6 or 9 till 6, working like that all the time. I was that irritating student. In the first two weeks when everyone\u2019s down the coffee bar getting drunk and not coming in early, I was in the model shop making all the bases to my models, so when the final thing was due and all was drawn, everyone would go how have you done all those models. I\u2019d done them in the first three weeks. I was very organised. It changed me and my attitude to learning. I was training for the job.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-editor-paragraph\">I was lucky to go to Copenhagen for most of an academic year on an Erasmus exchange, which unfortunately people can\u2019t do anymore. It was formative. The students there designed in a totally different way. The Danish thing about light and how light enters, big models, hours on solar analysis. I found it super interesting. Dundee was good because there wasn\u2019t much else to focus on, so you focused on your studies. If I had a regret, I didn\u2019t have enough fun.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_7821\" style=\"width: 1250px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-7821\" class=\"wp-image-7821 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn-01.cms-eu-v2i.applyflow.com\/bespoke\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/mark-graduating-dundee-e1757388001830.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1240\" height=\"906\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn-01.cms-eu-v2i.applyflow.com\/bespoke\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/mark-graduating-dundee-e1757388001830.jpg 1240w, https:\/\/cdn-01.cms-eu-v2i.applyflow.com\/bespoke\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/mark-graduating-dundee-e1757388001830-300x219.jpg 300w, https:\/\/cdn-01.cms-eu-v2i.applyflow.com\/bespoke\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/mark-graduating-dundee-e1757388001830-1024x748.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/cdn-01.cms-eu-v2i.applyflow.com\/bespoke\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/mark-graduating-dundee-e1757388001830-768x561.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1240px) 100vw, 1240px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-7821\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mark graduating from the University of Dundee<\/p><\/div>\n<h3 data-start=\"2799\" data-end=\"2894\">Joining Grimshaw, working with Sir Nicholas Grimshaw and staying in one job for 30 years\u2026<\/h3>\n<p class=\"article-editor-paragraph\">Grimshaw were my favourite architects when I was a student and I really wanted to work there. I didn\u2019t know this when I got there, but you think things are top-down and some practices are still like that. With Nick, he was always \u201cthrow your ideas on the table, fight for them.\u201d The most junior person could come up with the best idea, they just might not know what to do with it. He\u2019d say, I don&#8217;t mind arguing, but I am going to win a lot of the arguments because I\u2019ve been arguing longer than you have. There was a great equality in discussions. Nick wasn\u2019t involved in everything either. It was different partners doing things. I was given a great chance by Andrew Whalley, who\u2019s now the chairman, who was an associate at the time. That\u2019s why I stayed, and upholding that legacy is part of what I\u2019m doing now. Make sure younger architects get chances to come up with ideas.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-editor-paragraph article-editor-content__has-focus\">We\u2019re very big on origination and projects and trying to move up the chain, not just waiting at the letterbox for a tender invitation. Actually go and chase and generate our own projects. We try to get those who are good at that into positions where they can use those skills, because what defines a partner or an owner is the ability to win work, through competition or relationship or whatever. That\u2019s the differentiator. It\u2019s always been a fun place with great people, because people feel they\u2019ve got the opportunity to speak up. They\u2019re not in some monastic tutelage, waiting for the big pen to float in and pass down ideas &#8211; which is nonsense. Architecture isn\u2019t created that way.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"3256\" data-end=\"3589\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-7825 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn-01.cms-eu-v2i.applyflow.com\/bespoke\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/young-mark-at-grimshaw.jpg\" alt=\"Young Mark at Grimshaw\" width=\"1500\" height=\"997\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn-01.cms-eu-v2i.applyflow.com\/bespoke\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/young-mark-at-grimshaw.jpg 1500w, https:\/\/cdn-01.cms-eu-v2i.applyflow.com\/bespoke\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/young-mark-at-grimshaw-300x199.jpg 300w, https:\/\/cdn-01.cms-eu-v2i.applyflow.com\/bespoke\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/young-mark-at-grimshaw-1024x681.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/cdn-01.cms-eu-v2i.applyflow.com\/bespoke\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/young-mark-at-grimshaw-768x510.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1500px) 100vw, 1500px\" \/><\/p>\n<h3 data-start=\"3591\" data-end=\"3641\">Becoming Group Managing Partner at Grimshaw\u2026<\/h3>\n<p class=\"article-editor-paragraph\">You\u2019ve got to live it. One big change we made, ten or fifteen years ago, was that roles like managing partner or group managing partner are roles. If you move an architect into a business role only, what do they do after that? So what we said was no, you\u2019re an architect but you take on a role. I\u2019ve still got projects. I\u2019m doing a lot of West Metro projects and Sydney Airport and other things.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-editor-paragraph article-editor-content__has-focus\">We do it like a presidential thing. It\u2019s a three-year term. You can never do more than two terms. It keeps it fresh. You\u2019ve been asked by your fellow partners to take on the responsibility, then you hand it on. When I was London managing partner I handed it to Kirsten Lees and supported her into the role. Then I went back to projects. You don\u2019t lose connection with the market. If you\u2019re making business decisions, you\u2019re still connected to winning projects and resourcing and all that stuff. You\u2019re not hovering above it. You\u2019ve got to have that connection. It\u2019s a real benefit.<\/p>\n<h3 data-start=\"4304\" data-end=\"4370\">Transitioning into leadership and staying close to projects\u2026<\/h3>\n<p data-start=\"4371\" data-end=\"4648\">You\u2019ve got no training. There\u2019s the Peter Principle. You can be promoted into incompetence. You don\u2019t know whether someone will be good at it. At some point in the future you\u2019re going to sit around the table and most people will have held that role. They\u2019ll understand the responsibility that comes with it. There are elements that aren\u2019t glamorous. I\u2019m naturally decisive, so I find it quite easy. A lot of architects shy away from decisions. I\u2019ve learned in business that making a decision is the most important thing. Even if it\u2019s the wrong decision, as long as you\u2019ve got the humility to change your mind if it turns out wrong. There are no rules against it. You don\u2019t lose face.<\/p>\n<h3 data-start=\"4650\" data-end=\"4702\">How the global studio runs, board and regions\u2026<\/h3>\n<p class=\"article-editor-paragraph article-editor-content__has-focus\">If you talk about the offices, we\u2019ve got a unique approach. Other practices are versions of fly-in fly-out. They\u2019ve got a headquarter model, maybe one or two people somewhere. We have a much more meaningful connection with the cities. We\u2019ve got 65 people in Sydney, about 50 in Melbourne. They\u2019re proper local studios connected to the market. Our fees are pegged to the local market. The internationalness comes for free effectively. If you want to know how we\u2019re building metros or aviation or lessons learned from abroad, we can bring that. If you don\u2019t, we don\u2019t.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-editor-paragraph\">In my job it\u2019s a lot of conversations. I chair the global board, which we\u2019ve changed to have regional representatives. I\u2019m also the regional managing partner for Australia as well as Group Managing Partner, just to keep the numbers down. We\u2019ve got North America, Europe, and the Middle East as an opportunity region. We\u2019ve got about 20 people there who are working away and do some work, but generally they\u2019re helping other studios run projects into there. It\u2019s a structured set of meetings. I meet the chairman once a week. We have a global board every other week. We go through the financials and make strategic decisions.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-editor-paragraph\">I\u2019ve got a separate meeting that does all the operational departments. Marketing, sustainability, all sorts of behind-the-scenes stuff. Important members of our company who are non-architectural need to be looked after and have good ideas on operations. Then we put strategies together for five-year business plans and all that.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-editor-paragraph\">During the day I do Sydney stuff. Run projects, design reviews, normal architectural stuff. I\u2019m supposed to be fifty-fifty, but it feels like 200 percent. I\u2019m doing two jobs. It seems to work fine. No complaints from the partners yet. I\u2019m very good at partitioning stuff. There are tasks that expand to fit the time available, so you\u2019ve got to be disciplined. I\u2019ve become very clear and quick in decision-making. Do the necessary consultation with partners and the chairman, make a clear decision, communicate it clearly and move on to the next one, because there\u2019s always another one. Procrastination is the enemy.<\/p>\n<h3>Did you see yourself in this position?<\/h3>\n<p class=\"article-editor-paragraph\">No, it wasn&#8217;t an ambition at all. I thought I could become a director. I\u2019m naturally ambitious. You\u2019ve got to back yourself. I was confident about having ideas. I always thought I was good with people, so I could be good with clients and win work, which is a differentiator. In terms of this job, you\u2019re asked to do it. Your fellow partners show their faith by asking you. There\u2019s something grubby about trying to become it. It shouldn\u2019t be an ambition. It\u2019s a trust. It\u2019s a role you\u2019re given and then you walk away from it. The reward is making sure the business makes the right decisions at that time.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-editor-paragraph\">I progressively thought I could do it as I was lucky enough to do big projects, manage bigger teams. It\u2019s not such a big step from managing big teams to managing a studio. I was pretty good at economics at A-level. I\u2019ve always had a reasonable business mind. Business is really easy. It\u2019s revenue and cost. It\u2019s an overly simplistic thought, but there you go.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-editor-paragraph article-editor-content__has-focus\">The chairman asked me to do this role just as Lindsay Urquhart and I were thinking about moving to Australia, so I made one contingent on the other.<\/p>\n<h3 data-start=\"5887\" data-end=\"5949\">On moving to Australia&#8230;<\/h3>\n<p class=\"article-editor-paragraph\">I\u2019d got to the end of being in London, to be honest. We\u2019d been nominated for the Stirling Prize with London Bridge, which I thought we should have won. I still think we should have won. But you know, zeitgeist. Bloomberg won the year before, so a giant project in the City of London was never going to win again. There was an end there and I wanted a different challenge. I wanted to work in a smaller studio and feel that again.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-editor-paragraph\">My connection with Australia goes back to the beginning. I did the bid with Keith Brewis and the design work on Southern Cross Station, which set up our office in Melbourne and started our presence in Australia. I\u2019d been back more or less every year since, for work or to visit. A lot of my friends had transferred. I liked Australia. Maybe it was always going to happen. It was Lindsay\u2019s choice. Lindsay wanted to move. I was up for a move. I thought I was going to go to America before I met Lindsay, then this came up. It was exactly the same time Vincent Chang was stepping down at the end of his term. They wanted me to do it. There was an established business there that does a lot of metro, rail and aviation, which are the three things I\u2019ve got more experience in. I could slot in. There are a lot of Brits there, engineering firms and people I know. It wasn\u2019t entirely new.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-editor-paragraph\">But Australia is different to the UK. Your connection to market is a bit like it was at the start of Grimshaw. There\u2019s a closer connection. In London there\u2019s a veil of tendering and other processes. It\u2019s very regimented. Gone are the days where you haven\u2019t done a school but can illustrate you could do a school. Now it\u2019s \u201cwhat are the last five schools you\u2019ve done.\u201d Young practices can\u2019t break into that. It\u2019s impossible. We partner with younger practices and HS2 and others have been good at pushing that.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-editor-paragraph article-editor-content__has-focus\">In Australia you\u2019re close to it. You can meet clients, ministers, they\u2019ll come to your office and chat. It\u2019s a better way because you understand clients better. I\u2019ve managed to establish, in nearly five years, some good connections. Each studio has its own character and things they do. We\u2019re more connected in Sydney to developer clients and workplace and resi than anywhere else in the world. We probably don\u2019t have much of that in London, but we have lots of it in Sydney. Each place has its own connection to market because markets are different.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"article-editor-heading article-editor-content__has-focus\">Does that mean the strategy morphs in different locations?<\/h3>\n<p class=\"article-editor-paragraph\">Yes. It\u2019s different in different places, but we also get larger significant bids. Those go up to the board for agreement if they involve more than one studio, or fees are more than 30 percent of fees in any one year, or a large number of people will work on it. We strategise that, or if it\u2019s going to cost a lot. It\u2019s usually aviation or metro projects. You can kind of go for anything you want. For me it\u2019s been great. I\u2019m now bidding a high school. We\u2019ve got some residential stuff, a lot of industrial. I\u2019ve been able to do lots of things. In London I was firmly in the rail and aviation box, and other departments had other connections. It was difficult for me to have a diverse influence on projects. By moving, I could.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"article-editor-heading\">Working on monster projects&#8230;<\/h3>\n<p class=\"article-editor-paragraph\">Architecture is a slow profession. People\u2019s expectations should be calibrated correctly. It does take a long time. We had Neil McClements, who won the Stirling for the Elizabeth line, giving a keynote in Sydney last week. He gave it again to our office. It was 13 years on that project. I think I did the bid with him. He wasn\u2019t even a partner when we started. There have been lots of people on that job, some now in Sydney.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-editor-paragraph\">To young people, it\u2019s in stages. On London Bridge we had a good strategy. There was myself, a principal and an associate principal. We strategised. I\u2019ll run the project now, when it goes on site the principal runs it, then you\u2019ll run it for a year and a bit, then you\u2019ll hand it over and come back to the office and hand to this person. We had a strategy laid out over the life of the project on site, and people cycled in and out. Project leaders are sometimes reluctant to do that because they think they hold all the knowledge. They don\u2019t. Knowledge can be passed on. Professionals can pick things up. You can\u2019t hand over relationships, but you can plan for it. You\u2019ve got to be active. Some leaders are just lazy. Keep it as it is. People stagnate or get bored and want a new challenge. It\u2019s up to us to recognise abilities and place people in the right place.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-editor-paragraph\">When you\u2019re designing and building a project there are different skills. Being a generalist who can design, do the commercials, manage on site, do details, is rare. Partners tend to be generalists, but others are too. You need all those skills and experience. Break it down, make it fun and interesting. I get joy from walking around public buildings we do. Paddington, London Bridge. I\u2019ve had a hand in it as part of the Grimshaw team. There\u2019s a sense of pride. Yes, it\u2019s eight years of your life, but we cycle people in and out. If you want to change cities you\u2019ve got to be in it for the long haul. It\u2019s daunting when you\u2019re younger, but embrace it, don\u2019t run away from it.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"article-editor-heading\">London Bridge was up for the Stirling and the Elizabeth line won it. What is the impact of such a prestigious award?<\/h3>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-7824 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn-01.cms-eu-v2i.applyflow.com\/bespoke\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/elizabeth-line.jpg\" alt=\"The Elizabeth Line. Stirling Prize Winner 2024\" width=\"1900\" height=\"1069\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn-01.cms-eu-v2i.applyflow.com\/bespoke\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/elizabeth-line.jpg 1900w, https:\/\/cdn-01.cms-eu-v2i.applyflow.com\/bespoke\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/elizabeth-line-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/cdn-01.cms-eu-v2i.applyflow.com\/bespoke\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/elizabeth-line-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/cdn-01.cms-eu-v2i.applyflow.com\/bespoke\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/elizabeth-line-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn-01.cms-eu-v2i.applyflow.com\/bespoke\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/elizabeth-line-1536x864.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1900px) 100vw, 1900px\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"article-editor-paragraph\">It was very well deserved. It\u2019s a complete work, down to the industrial design. Fantastic project. It was nice for Nick. He\u2019d had the disappointment of Eden, then we had the disappointment of Bloomberg, and London Bridge. It was nice to win finally. Everyone felt a collective glow around the world and we all raised glasses.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-editor-paragraph\">How much will it affect our business? To be controversial, I don\u2019t think it will affect it at all. We\u2019ve won a prize for metro and everyone knows we can do metro. We\u2019re one of the best in the world at transportation. It\u2019s an affirmation. It won\u2019t change our business. Why you win is zeitgeist. I don\u2019t think the best building wins. The Eden Project didn\u2019t win. It depends on politics and what\u2019s being talked about and the jurors. That\u2019s not sour grapes. It\u2019s just the facts. It\u2019s difficult for a jury to reconcile back-to-back housing in East Anglia with a station in central London. How do you do that? It\u2019s super hard. It depends on the jury. Sometimes they\u2019re good, sometimes you think how on earth did these people get on the jury.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-editor-paragraph\">Neil was about to go through the process and I\u2019d gone through it earlier. He asked for advice. I said enjoy it. It doesn\u2019t matter whether you win or lose. Who cares really. Enjoy it, because it\u2019s nice. You\u2019re in the limelight. The project is talked about. Fantastic whether you win or not.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-editor-paragraph article-editor-content__has-focus\">My best memory from that whole thing was in Sheffield. They do a thing up north where you give a presentation. They asked who do you think is going to win. Everybody did the \u201cthey\u2019re all worthy\u201d thing. It got to me and I said I think Annalie\u2019s is going to win. They went what do you mean. I said we want to do regional housing, it\u2019s on the agenda, the president of the RIBA runs a housing practice, there\u2019s the thing about gender equality and Alex is a strong leader of that. It ticks all the boxes. I put a bet on to win. My only regret was I only put ten pounds and not a thousand. Eleven to one. Brilliant. It\u2019s a lovely scheme. Great that they won. Fantastic for their business. Transformative.<\/p>\n<h3 data-start=\"8930\" data-end=\"8983\">Film at Grimshaw, telling complex stories well\u2026<\/h3>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-7823 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn-01.cms-eu-v2i.applyflow.com\/bespoke\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/mark-filming-in-pulkovo.jpg\" alt=\"Mark filming in Pulkovo\" width=\"1600\" height=\"1198\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn-01.cms-eu-v2i.applyflow.com\/bespoke\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/mark-filming-in-pulkovo.jpg 1600w, https:\/\/cdn-01.cms-eu-v2i.applyflow.com\/bespoke\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/mark-filming-in-pulkovo-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/cdn-01.cms-eu-v2i.applyflow.com\/bespoke\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/mark-filming-in-pulkovo-1024x767.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/cdn-01.cms-eu-v2i.applyflow.com\/bespoke\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/mark-filming-in-pulkovo-768x575.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn-01.cms-eu-v2i.applyflow.com\/bespoke\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/mark-filming-in-pulkovo-1536x1150.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"article-editor-paragraph article-editor-content__has-focus\">Film has always been important to me. My mum used to take me to the ABC cinema. I was obviously a bit of a nightmare child, so she\u2019d drop me off on a Saturday while she did the shopping, give me some money, and I\u2019d go and see the Children\u2019s Film Foundation films. I was the kid wide-eyed watching films. I watch anything to this day.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-editor-paragraph\">I did the MA when I was London managing partner. I felt like my brain was turning to mush. I wanted to become a better writer and have some structured learning. I wanted to walk into a room where I wasn\u2019t expected to talk first. When you\u2019re London managing partner, everyone looks at you to start talking. I wanted to sit at the back and have someone else talk to me and structure my learning. I was really interested in Korean film, which has become very popular with Parasite and all that.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-editor-paragraph\">I love the language of film. It\u2019s a really effective way of getting complicated stories across. Film has gone a bit weird recently with digital and improv and two- and three-hour films. They\u2019re rubbish. I thought The Brutalist was just not a good film and should never have won the Oscar. I love storytelling and getting so much information across through visuals and speech.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-editor-paragraph\">I decided to make two films. I made a film at Pulkovo and a film in Reading. I was key grip, best boy, I did all the editing and the music. We did everything. It\u2019s a bit shonky, but I did it to show Nick [Grimshaw] and said, Nick, this is how we should get some of the stories about our projects out.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-editor-paragraph\">We\u2019ve done 40 or 50 films now, two or three a year. They\u2019re really valuable. The issue is the architects and project leaders want to tell the whole story. You should only tell part of the story, the bit that\u2019s most interesting and important. The edits go out to six or seven minutes. Nobody cares. It\u2019s got to be two and a half, three minutes. Two and a half hour films don\u2019t interest me. Ninety-minute films interest me, because there\u2019s discipline.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-editor-paragraph\">It\u2019s a great thing we do. There\u2019s an archival legacy as well, because we can get people who\u2019ve done the project. Some are still with us, some are not. We\u2019ve gone back through older projects to revisit them. It\u2019s a great resource. We\u2019ve never made enough of it on our socials. Typically Grimshaw, we\u2019ve hidden our light under a bushel. We\u2019ll continue to make them. We\u2019re thinking about the ones we\u2019ll make in future. We want to do Parramatta Pool and a couple of other projects. We\u2019ve got a filmmaker, Ned Williams, who\u2019s done the majority. I\u2019ve got a great relationship with Ned. As a producer, I don\u2019t try to take over like a lot of architects. I\u2019ll say it\u2019s a bit too long, I don\u2019t like the beginning, we should start like this, and give general notes. He\u2019s the filmmaker.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-editor-paragraph\">It\u2019s important to have something else that\u2019s architecture-adjacent. It\u2019s helped with our CGIs and animations. I\u2019ve encouraged dolly shots and other techniques, because we\u2019ve all got filmic language. We watch so much visual media we\u2019ve been schooled in it. The GoPro walking round a building nonsense like a video game, nobody wants to experience that. You\u2019re selling a building. We\u2019re selling an idea or an experience or a feeling. Use filmic language.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-editor-paragraph\">I really enjoyed doing Some Kind of Joy, the film about Nick [Grimshaw]. We had a filmmaker do it but I enjoyed being involved. We had a proper premiere at a cinema by Piccadilly Circus. It was fantastic.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-7822 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn-01.cms-eu-v2i.applyflow.com\/bespoke\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/some-kind-of-joy-premiere.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1500\" height=\"1000\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn-01.cms-eu-v2i.applyflow.com\/bespoke\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/some-kind-of-joy-premiere.jpg 1500w, https:\/\/cdn-01.cms-eu-v2i.applyflow.com\/bespoke\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/some-kind-of-joy-premiere-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/cdn-01.cms-eu-v2i.applyflow.com\/bespoke\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/some-kind-of-joy-premiere-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/cdn-01.cms-eu-v2i.applyflow.com\/bespoke\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/some-kind-of-joy-premiere-768x512.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1500px) 100vw, 1500px\" \/><\/p>\n<h3 class=\"article-editor-heading article-editor-content__has-focus\">Speak plainly and drop the archi speak\u2026<\/h3>\n<p class=\"article-editor-paragraph\">Architects should take complicated things and make them simple and then communicate them simply. Too often architects wrap it in what I call archi-bollocks. They talk in a weird language that only architects use, with self-aggrandisement and pomposity and pretentiousness. It turns me cold. Why can\u2019t we speak clearly about it, because we\u2019d have more effective communication with users, clients, developers, engineers and collaborators who don\u2019t use architectural language. They would respect us more. I think we harm ourselves.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-editor-paragraph\">Architects want to show how clever they are. It\u2019s a difficult job. I\u2019ve balanced all these conflicting things and now I\u2019m going to show you how I did it. It\u2019s like a magician telling you how he\u2019s done the trick straight after. Just leave it as it is. Simple communication. The building\u2019s about this. Leave it at that. They seem to want to write a 5,000-word essay. It\u2019s pointless.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"article-editor-heading\">Lessons for young architects\u2026<\/h3>\n<p class=\"article-editor-paragraph\">I was determined to become an architect. I thought it matched my skills. I wanted to work for Grimshaw, so I set out a plan in terms of the work I got, so my CV was built the right way. I had a really good work ethic. My dad used to say let no one outwork you. You can be as clever as you want, but let no one outwork you. I\u2019m not advocating long hours. I don\u2019t work long hours. I like to work normal hours but super effectively. Don\u2019t let anyone outwork you. Find something you enjoy and surround yourself with great people. Align yourself with people who are fun and share their experiences and stories. I\u2019ve been lucky at Grimshaw with people I\u2019ve worked with and for, generous with their time and influential. I\u2019ve really enjoyed it. I feel lucky and I\u2019m looking forward to many more years of doing projects and completing amazing spaces around the world. I haven\u2019t built anything in Sydney yet, so that\u2019s an ambition.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-editor-paragraph\">Be decisive and don\u2019t procrastinate. There\u2019s too much weight put on decisions. It starts at college. There\u2019s pressure to have the idea. When I do design reviews, people sit up and do them for hours on end. I don\u2019t. Ten or fifteen minutes. Are we going this way. Then they go away and test it and come back. I\u2019d rather have five fifteen-minute reviews than sit around for an hour with everyone speaking and self-aggrandising.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-editor-paragraph\">The other thing is &#8211; I\u2019m not sure architecture is an art. It\u2019s a way of operating that involves creativity and ideas and great thoughts and some philosophising and social values, but it\u2019s a method of working. You shouldn\u2019t think it\u2019s an art. I don\u2019t know much art you do with 70 or 80 other people and other disciplines. You rely on other disciplines. It\u2019s different.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-editor-paragraph\">Hopefully you can pick the peanuts from the poo there.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"article-editor-heading\">The gripe with architect stereotypes\u2026<\/h3>\n<p class=\"article-editor-paragraph\">I generally hate architects. The more you look like an architect, the less good you are. People swanning in with big glasses, all in black. It is like a middle aged man buying a sports car. You are making up for something, my friend. The best architects I know look normal. Architecture is normal. You\u2019re not a master of the universe. You\u2019re in the middle and your job is to bring everything together. That\u2019s why architects can do it until they\u2019re 80 or 90, because it\u2019s collaborative, not on your shoulders alone.<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"Spotify Embed: Grimshaw\u2019s Group Managing Partner On What It Takes to Be a Great Architect\" style=\"border-radius: 12px\" width=\"624\" height=\"351\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen allow=\"autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; fullscreen; picture-in-picture\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/embed\/episode\/4ZQahC4gXlL5rGQmV6FMRP\/video?si=5cf874a712a64d2e&#038;utm_source=oembed\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Grimshaw&#8217;s Group Managing Partner reflects on his career in architecture and the culture that has shaped his work.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":7816,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","footnotes":""},"categories":[21,68,69,22,67],"tags":[],"location":[],"class_list":["post-7813","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles","category-employers","category-jobseekers","category-podcast","category-students-and-graduates"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bespokecareers.com\/af-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7813","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bespokecareers.com\/af-api\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bespokecareers.com\/af-api\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bespokecareers.com\/af-api\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bespokecareers.com\/af-api\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7813"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.bespokecareers.com\/af-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7813\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7831,"href":"https:\/\/www.bespokecareers.com\/af-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7813\/revisions\/7831"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bespokecareers.com\/af-api\/wp\/v2\/media\/7816"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bespokecareers.com\/af-api\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7813"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bespokecareers.com\/af-api\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7813"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bespokecareers.com\/af-api\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7813"},{"taxonomy":"location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bespokecareers.com\/af-api\/wp\/v2\/location?post=7813"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}