AJ100 Champion 2024: HTA Design

The adoption of volumetric designs is part of HTA’s efforts to integrate sustainability into every aspect of its operations. Speaking from the firm’s east London office, managing partner Simon Bayliss and partner Simon Toplis point to a study they did with Cambridge and Napier universities, which showed some of its volumetric projects reduce embodied carbon by 40% compared with traditional construction methods. Volumetric designs are “more faithful to what we draw in the early stages, which is much more satisfying,” says Toplis. “And – selfishly – seeing our buildings delivered faster is hugely gratifying.

Other environmental benefits include reduced on-site energy use, less construction waste and more energy efficient buildings.

The practice just achieved B Corp certification, established an in-house sustainability team and used AI to improve microclimate planning, among a number of other recent initiatives.

Their latest volumetric project, the 937-apartment College Road in Croydon, was completed last October after 28 months and at 163m is the tallest modular scheme in Europe.

College Road is a co-living scheme, meaning residents have self-contained flats which are complemented by shared facilities. In this case, it includes a spa, an “air garden” and even a podcast studio.

Advocates argue that cohabitation is a useful bulwark against widespread loneliness in big cities. The HTA is currently on site with two other conviction schemes, in Kingston and Acton.

“Co-living is a really interesting idea,” says Bayliss, and while “it won’t solve the housing crisis, it’s a very interesting component.”

Toplis says they like to conduct post-occupancy evaluations as part of a wider focus on the experience residents have of their buildings. Toplis himself stayed and worked in College Road for three days after it was built.

And for the Aylesbury Estate regeneration that HTA is planning for Southwark Council, the project team presented their work in a relaxed setting and used engaging design processes as part of efforts to get to know local residents. Says Bayliss: “They would bring their grandmother and their mother. People were just talking and we absorbed all that knowledge.

“It also created a level of understanding that wasn’t just about us sitting next to boards with big plans that nobody understood,” adds Toplis.

Aylesbury itself – a controversial, multi-phase regeneration not scheduled to finish until 2036 – is “a complicated project, a big problem”, says Bayliss. Work on part of the scheme stalled earlier this year when a disgruntled current resident won a High Court battle. Bayliss says they “remain committed” to the scheme.

The last year has been challenging in some ways, in part due to the difficult housing market and new regulations such as the second ladder rule. HTA has about 20 fewer people on staff than a year ago, with its first layoffs in more than 10 years.

“But the key point as a practice,” Bayliss says, “regardless of economic conditions, is that you can never give up on your efforts to keep moving forward.”

HTA has literally moved on in 2023, moving its London office to a Victorian warehouse in Hackney Wick, North East London. The firm has also moved its Bristol office to a space with a “similar ethos” to its locations in London, Manchester and Edinburgh.

HTA won this year’s AJ100 Employer of the Year award for the third consecutive year and says a key part of that success is its diversity. The practice hired an outreach leader last year to engage with local communities.

Asked why diversity was important to the architects, Toplis says, “We design for everyone. I think the projects we come up with together are much richer because architects are a diverse group.