August 3rd marked not only the start of the first ever UCI Cycling World Championships in one of our home cities (Glasgow) but was also #cycletoworkday, reputedly the UK's biggest cycle commuting event. We asked our intrepid cycle commuters to capture the essence of their journeys and were not disappointed.

Take a look at what they captured.

Cycling [to work] has many, well documented health and well-being benefits and we’ve been actively encouraging it for years. In 2006, whilst many of our current colleagues were still at school, we eagerly implemented the first of our three cycle-to-work schemes and have since delivered dozens of wheeled steeds through the various salary sacrifice schemes we subscribe to. Those bikes, ranging from entry-level mountain bikes to elite road rigs, even recently venturing into the world of electrical backup, have covered countless miles over a multitude of terrain since.

The advantages of cycling to work aren’t limited to personal benefit, of course, and there are significant carbon (or equivalent greenhouse gas) savings when people choose active travel over even public transport, something we've been looking at in detail over the past few months and are pleased to be doing well in – watch this space for more on that soon.

With the burgeoning use of bicycles on our roads, however, alongside all manner of other vehicles, we must remain cognisant of the dangers inherent in sharing surfaces and continue to encourage consideration and respect on all sides, as well as doing what we can to keep reviewing and design out those risks we can.

Our friends at New Practice chose this date to launch ‘waiting to happen’ in memory of their friend and colleague, Emma Burke Newman who was killed whilst cycling into the city from her home in the Southside, in January this year. They are undertaking a process of reviewing how we organise different layers of traffic at some of our city’s most challenging interchanges, and need our help “to gather anecdotal, qualitative and quantitative data around these junctions”.

Please take a look, and contribute if you can:

https://new-practice.co.uk

As Mental Health Awareness Week draws to a close, we take a look at some of the support measures we have in place within our organisation.

At Hoskins Architects, we have long prioritised the wellbeing of our employees. We strive to create a supportive and inclusive environment that fosters psychological safety and encourages personal and professional growth. It is important to us that everyone feels supported and included, and we believe in cultivating a space where you can be yourself, feel safe, and thrive both in your career and personal life.

To help us keep on top of how we are all feeling, we cultivated a new workgroup: The Wellbeing Group.

Every month, the Wellbeing Group distributes our Monthly Pulse Questionnaire, to anonymously gather feedback from everyone. By identifying areas that impact our overall wellbeing, we can focus on where we need to enhance support and ensure that everyone's voices are heard, resulting in a better sense of wellbeing for all.

Wellbeing co-ordinator, Melanie, loved her experience with formal mentoring programmes in 2022, both as a mentee for her RIAS conservation accreditation and as a mentor for the Women in Architecture UK mentoring scheme. This inspired us to launch our own Mentoring programme in February 2023, to enable team members to seek advice and support from colleagues outside their immediate team. Our programme covers everything from career development to office culture, knowledge sharing to skill building, networking to work/life balance and mental wellbeing.

The group organises talks and discussions to raise awareness of potential challenges that our colleagues may face, covering topics such as reproductive health, mental health, and diversity. These talks aim to break down barriers and provide support to all members of our team. We want to ensure everyone feels comfortable and supported, no matter what challenges they might be facing.

We recognise that our employees are by far our most valuable asset and are committed to fostering a working environment that promotes their wellbeing and happiness. We prioritise a positive and supportive culture that enables our talented team to thrive and achieve their best work.

Sophie joined our practice in May 2003, having studied at the Mackintosh School of Architecture in Glasgow and worked in practice for a number of years. She quickly adopted a role as project architect on the Bridge Arts Centre in Easterhouse, a cohesive and inclusive project providing community facilities including library and auditorium space, and connecting an existing FE College and swimming pool.

An accomplished architect, Sophie’s outstanding design talents, along with her creativity, excellent interpersonal skills and pragmatic approach to problem-solving saw her become an invaluable asset to the firm, as she helped define and deliver numerous high-profile projects over the years, most recently completing Greenock Health & Care Centre, then moving on to help shape the Parkhead Hub project, Scotland’s largest health centre building.

Having risen though the ranks as a senior architect, associate and associate director, gradually taking on more responsibility for managing the business, alongside project delivery, Sophie was entrusted with a company directorship in 2018. Throughout her early career she maintained a part-time teaching post at the University of Strathclyde, and has been instrumental in the implementation of several initiatives undertaken by Hoskins Architects to nurture new talent, both internally and outwith the practice.

Sophie has consistently been a dependable and compassionate member of the team, always willing to offer assistance and support to those in need and we are incredibly lucky to have her!

At Hoskins Architects, we have always been committed to the work experience placement programme that we undertake for young people curious about studying architecture.

Often the reality of working as an architect can be very different to their expectations, and the placement can provide valuable insight.

Our current studio member, Chloe Van Grieken, joined Hoskins Architects for work experience in 2007, which helped to inform her decision to study architecture. Chloe is now instrumental in mentoring young people undertaking our studio's work experience placement programme.

Work experience placements can play an essential part in increasing diversity in architecture.

Work experience placements can play an essential part in increasing diversity in architecture.

Our programme centres around the student designing a small bathing hut, exposing them to key aspects of a project and the various skills required in an engaging way. At the end of the weeklong placement, we aim for the student to have an understanding of the stages and process of developing a concept to a finished building.

At the start of 2022, we trialled a longer-term paid work placement beginning with a Glasgow School of Art graduate who had difficulty, post Covid, finding employment with their degree. We provided real-life experience working within a busy creative design studio, so they could gain employment in their chosen field.

Recently, Maisie Chan, a school leaver, undertook our paid work placement as she was looking for more experience during her year out prior to applying to university courses.

During the year, we have provided Maisie with a range of experiences which, as well as providing training in design software, also involved regular site visits to projects, including photographing and documenting progress and attending project team meetings.

Maisie has felt that her experience has been valuable in developing her knowledge:

‘I have really enjoyed my placement at Hoskins Architects. I’ve had the opportunity to work on lots of different types of projects and learnt new useful skills. It has given me a much clearer understanding of what an architect’s job involves.’

We are delighted that Maisie has been accepted to study architecture at Edinburgh College of Art and wish her all the best in her studies.

Hoskins Architects currently has openings for experienced and enthusiastic architects to join our employee owned practice in Glasgow. The successful applicants will work alongside architects, associates and directors, on a wide range of projects.

Our practice is a busy and creative environment with an award-winning portfolio of projects across a whole range of sectors. We are looking for the right people to help us build on that success by joining our talented teams working on recent project wins and our existing, varied workload.

We look for people who are articulate, curious, creative and interested in design. We want good designers, good communicators and people who want to contribute as part of a team.

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Architects

Experience working closely with design teams and contractors to deliver a range of work packages is essential. Our studio uses Revit, Vectorworks and Adobe Creative Suite packages and knowledge of these is preferred but not essential. Experience across all work stages is desirable.

Our studio is fast paced, friendly, focused and fun. It’s a great place to grow your architectural career with fascinating project opportunities and a studio culture that nurtures your personal areas of interest through our non-project workgroups that include Sustainability, Conservation & Community.

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Image: Potluck Lunch 01.03.23

Lunchtimes normally see our meeting tables adopted as convivial eating spaces, with small groups enjoying lunch together, but once a month we go a little further. Everyone brings a little something to share and we sit down to enjoy a diverse mix of foods, both savoury and sweet, and to digest whatever topics of conversation come up.

Hoskins Architects is an equal opportunities employer. We are a Disability Confident Employer and can provide information in other formats if required; we commit to take positive action to interview any candidate who meets the role requirements. No agencies, please.

Please email your CV and examples of work to: recruitment@hoskinsarchitects.com

Successful applicants will be invited for interview and required to present their portfolio. Unfortunately due to the volume of enquiries we cannot respond to every application directly and aim to respond to everyone we would like to invite to interview within 4 weeks.

Imagine participating in a competition for the Lindenau Museum in Altenburg and being chosen as one of the selected firms. Along with five other architectural firms, we submitted our ideas on how to redesign the entrance area of the historic building. After almost seven hours of deliberation, a fourteen-member jury chose our design as the winning proposal.

A huge thank you to the jury (A-Z): Christiane Deckert, Christoph Ellermann, Matthias P. Gliemann, Dr. Roland Krischke, Uwe Melzer, André Neumann, Holger Reinhardt, Dr. Stefan Rhein, Hellmut Seemann, Dr. Jürgen Tietz, Dr. Ulrike Wendland, Bernd Wenzlau, Prof. Thomas Will and Christoph Zippel.

Congratulations to all who contributed to this project. Your dedication was admirable and played a key role in our success. Keep up the great work! Especially our talented team: Sarah Mooney, Gabriele Bernatzky, Key Wang and Robert Freudenberg.