Sheppard Robson (previously Richard Sheppard, Robson & Partners) is a British architecture firm, founded in 1938 by Sir Richard Herbert Sheppard, with offices in London, Manchester, and Glasgow. It was particularly influential in the 1950s–1960s, pioneering the use of concrete shell structures, and in the present day as a leader in

sustainable architecture Sustainable architecture is architecture that seeks to minimize the negative environmental impact of buildings through improved efficiency and moderation in the use of materials, energy, development space and the ecosystem at large. Sometimes, su ...

, building the UK's first net zero carbon house in 2007 as well as designing the LEED Platinum Siemens Middle East Headquarters at Masdar City, which completed in 2014. The latter project was cited as exemplifying "a new generation

hat A hat is a Headgear, head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorpor ...

has emerged t the practice which is balancing performance, especially of the sustainable variety, with form". In the 2000s, the practice established an award-winning interior design group, ID:SR Sheppard Robson.

History

Sheppard Robson was founded in 1938 by Richard Sheppard, a technically skilled designer with a talent for developing new materials, who was disabled as a teenager by polio, and Jean Shufflebottom, his wife, a gifted architect in her own right. The company's first big success was the Jicwood Bungalow in 1944, which used materials from aircraft manufacture. By 1950, the company had built a reputation for large modern projects, and Sheppard had a new business partner, Geoffrey Robson, who added his name to the practice. At first they specialised in schools, building more than 80 in the 1950s. In 1958, the practice won a competition to design a science college and memorial to Winston Churchill –

Churchill College, Cambridge Churchill College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. It has a primary focus on science, engineering and technology, but retains a strong interest in the arts ...

. Later they branched out into other public buildings, and by the 1970s had built a strong reputation in commercial, university and retail buildings. In the 1990s and 2000s, the firm entered a period of growth with often large-scale buildings such as The Helicon, Toyota/Lexus HQ,

MediaCityUK MediaCityUK is a mixed-use property development on the banks of the Manchester Ship Canal in City of Salford, Salford, Greater Manchester, England. The project was developed by The Peel Group, Peel Media; its principal tenants are Mass media, ...

, the Lighthouse,

Barking Riverside Barking Riverside is a mixed-use development in the area of Barking, east London, England, within the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham. It is being built on land formerly occupied by Barking Power Station, adjacent to the River Thames, a ...

and Siemens HQ Middle East. Many of these were important landmarks in the development of sustainable architecture. For instance, the Lighthouse was the UK's first net zero carbon house, the Helicon was an early sustainable office/retail building, and MediaCityUK was built as a sustainable community, verified by international sustainability regulator

BREEAM The Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM), first published by the Building Research Establishment in 1990, is touted as the world's longest established method of identifying the sustainability of buildings. Ar ...

(the first corporate building to achieve this). The firm's recently completed and ongoing projects include the transformation of an urban block in London's Fitzrovia (Fitzroy Place), the completion of a new science building at the

University of Hertfordshire The University of Hertfordshire (UH) is a Universities in the United Kingdom, university in Hertfordshire, United Kingdom. The university is based largely in Hatfield, Hertfordshire, Hatfield, Hertfordshire. Its antecedent institution, Hatfield ...

, and the creation of new residential-led neighbourhoods of 1,500 homes at

Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park is a sporting complex and public park in Stratford, Hackney Wick, Leyton and Bow, in east London. It was purpose-built for the 2012 Summer Olympics and Paralympics, situated adjacent to the Stratford City devel ...

(East Wick and Sweetwater).

Sustainability

Sheppard Robson is known for sustainable architecture, which it helped to pioneer in the early 1990s with buildings like the Helicon and the Lighthouse, which was the UK's first net zero-carbon house. The Lancaster Institute for the Contemporary Arts, completed in 2010, was the first college or university to win a BREEAM Outstanding rating for sustainability. The Helicon was an early sustainable office/shop building, and MediaCityUK was built as a sustainable community, verified by the international sustainability regulator

(the first corporate building to achieve this).

Company

Sheppard Robson has three offices in London, Manchester and Glasgow, and about 350 employees, mostly architects. Sheppard Robson Architects LLP, trading as Sheppard Robson, became a Limited Liability Partnership in 2014, also incorporating Sheppard Robson Limited and Sheppard Robson International as limited companies. At the moment, Sheppard Robson is the fourth biggest architectural practice in the UK.Sheppard Robson, Emporis.com . Retrieved 30 December 2007 Sheppard Robson has an interior design group, ID:SR, the largest integrated interior design group within a UK architecture practice, which has produced work for

BBC North BBC North (Group) is an operational business division of the BBC. It is also a brand that has been used by the BBC to mean: *The large ''BBC North'' region, centred on Manchester, that was active from the late 1920s until 1968 and was based u ...

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

and

London Borough of Newham The London Borough of Newham () is a London borough created in 1965 by the London Government Act 1963. It covers an area previously administered by the Essex county boroughs of West Ham and East Ham, authorities that were both abolished by ...

. Although Sheppard Robson is best known for its modern looking high-impact buildings, the company headquarters is a refurbished piano factory hidden in a courtyard in Camden Town, London.

Major projects

Schools and universities *

Loughborough University Loughborough University (abbreviated as ''Lough'' or ''Lboro'' for Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a public university, public research university in the market town of Loughborough, Leicestershire, England. It has been a university sinc ...

Brunel University Brunel University of London (BUL) is a public research university located in the Uxbridge area of London, England. It is named after Isambard Kingdom Brunel, a Victorian engineer and pioneer of the Industrial Revolution. It became a university ...

* City University *

Manchester Polytechnic Manchester Metropolitan University is located in the centre of Manchester, England. The university has 40,000 students and over 4,000 members of staff. It is home to four faculties (Arts and Humanities, Business and Law, Health and Education ...

* Waingels College * Stockwell Park High School *

London Business School London Business School (LBS) is a business school and a constituent college of the federal University of London. LBS was founded in 1964 and awards post-graduate degrees (Master's degree, Master's degrees in management and finance, Master of B ...

* Lancaster Institute for Contemporary Arts (LICA) Arts and media *BBC Broadcasting House *

Tate Modern Tate Modern is an art gallery in London, housing the United Kingdom's national collection of international Modern art, modern and contemporary art (created from or after 1900). It forms part of the Tate group together with Tate Britain, Tate Live ...

(executive architects) *Campus West Offices *Salvation Army HQ *Toyota HQ *The Helicon *Motorola HQ *Siemens HQ Middle East *Royal Mint Court *One Fitzroy Place *245 Hammersmith Road *Barts Square *Interserve UK Hub Retail *Armani at 1 the Avenue *The Helicon *1 Hanover Street (Apple's flagship in Europe) *Tesco-Love Lane development,

Woolwich Woolwich () is a town in South London, southeast London, England, within the Royal Borough of Greenwich. The district's location on the River Thames led to its status as an important naval, military and industrial area; a role that was mainta ...

Science and healthcare *

Glaxo GSK plc (an acronym from its former name GlaxoSmithKline plc) is a British multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology company with headquarters in London. It was established in 2000 by a merger of Glaxo Wellcome and SmithKline Beecham, wh ...

Merck Sharp and Dohme Merck & Co., Inc. is an American multinational pharmaceutical company headquartered in Rahway, New Jersey. The company does business as Merck Sharp & Dohme or MSD outside the United States and Canada. It is one of the largest pharmaceutical co ...

* Nelson Mandela Children's Hospital * Scottish Centre for Regenerative Medicine (SCRM) *New Science Building, University of Hertfordshire *Life Sciences Building, University of Bristol Residential *The Lighthouse *Barking Riverside *East Wick & Sweetwater *Fitzroy Place *79 Camden Road *103–109 Wardour Street International *Nelson Mandela Children's’ Hospital *Minna Airport City *Siemens HQ Middle East Interiors *London Borough of Newham *Channel 4 Headquarters *BBC North at MediaCity *Commonwealth Bank of Australia *KPMG Leeds *Arcadia Group Headquarters

References

External links

Sheppard Robson's company website

A detailed article about the Sheppard Robson's history
by Martin Pawley {{DEFAULTSORT:Sheppard, Robson And Partners Architecture firms of the United Kingdom Design companies established in 1938 1938 establishments in England