Passionate and collaborative placemakers that combine the expertise of large company experience in a small practice setting

Tara Gbolade

/boh-lah-day/

RIBA, BA (Hons)| BArch | DipArch | MSc PM | Passivhaus Designer

Tara is Co-Founding Director of the practice and a Mayor’s Design Advocate. She is a winner of the UK Net Zero Climate Champions Powerlist and an RIBAJ Rising Star winner. An Architect and Passivhaus designer with expertise in net-zero design and deep retrofit, Tara’s over 15year experience in sustainability sees her lead strategic design and policy work for varying client groups including the development of the Harlow & Gilston Garden Town Sustainability Strategy (shortlisted for the Urban Design Group awards), with contributions to the industry-leading LETI Retrofit Guide and the GLA’s Net-Zero initiatives.

Tara sits on the Board of Trustees at the UK Green Building Council (UKGBC) and is on the steering group of Architects Declare: organisations addressing our climate emergency. Her design expertise sees her sit on Design Review Panels including; RBKC and Lambeth Councils - advising on major planning applications in and around London.

As a Founding Member of the Paradigm Network, Tara champions Black and Asian representation in the built environment. She has previously held strategic roles at: Public Practice, Quality of Life Foundation, and Guys & St Thomas Impact on Urban Health.

Lanre Gbolade

/boh-lah-day/

RIBA, BA (Hons)| BArch | DipArch | MSc PM | Offsite + MMC Adviser

As a Co-Founding Director of the practice, Lanre’s expertise lies in medium to large scale sustainable residential architecture, Offsite Construction, Design for Manufacture & Assembly (DfMA) and design management.

He has a passion for and expertise in all things Digital, Innovation, Off-site Construction & collaborative working. He has worked with some of the largest developers in London as well as successfully leading the MMC and DfMA transformation programmes for the one of the UK’s leading Housing Associations. He is a Design Review Panel member for Oxford, Ebbsfleet Design Forum and Design South East, as well as a Part 3 Examiner for Newcastle University.

Lanre is a founding committee member of the Paradigm Network: a professional network championing Black and Asian representation in the built environment. He’s also proud to have co-created the Architects’ App as one of the studio’s self-initiated projects and a gift to the industry. He volunteers his time to support Build Studios and Naked House as a Board Director and was an elected RIBA Council Member between 2017-2020.

ARCHITECTURE

As experts in Architecture, our responses to briefs look to optimise the environmental, social and economic impacts of sites through measurable solutions including; energy efficiency, climate change adaptation and mitigation, renewable energy technology. 

Placemaking for us starts with stakeholder engagement, using this as the foundation to create thriving communities; strengthening the connection between people and the places they share. Our process help maximise shared value, promote health & wellbeing, and ensure communities feel their voices are represented and heard, through paying attention to the physical, cultural, and social identities that define a place and support its ongoing evolution.

5.+SUSTAINABLE+MOVEMENT-1.jpg

PLANNING

We work with our multi-skilled expert team to provide planning application services to our clients, ensuring applications and strategic promotions are well considered, prepared and presented to maximise the opportunities for success. We work with local planning policies, and have in-house knowledge of how local authorities operate, giving us a unique advantage in preparing successful applications. 

Our team have delivered successful planning outcomes for many leading residential developers including McCarthy & Stone and Sanctuary Group.


SUSTAINABILITY

We develop Sustainability strategies to help Local Authorities meet their goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2030. Our technical strategies are used by LA’s to ensure the proposals they receive from applicants/developers meet the net zero-carbon ambitions of the authority. This tool is also used by planning officers to asses planning applications against; acting as the practical application of planning policies. Our strategies are specific to local authority context, policies, and ambitions; and use our in-house technical expertise. We work with authorities including; Epping Forest DC, East Herts DC, and Harlow DC, LB Croydon.


  • Constructing Excellence 2020

Finalist for the Constructing Excellence SECBE Award: Future Leader. Winner announced in July

  • Sunday Times: British Homes Award

  • Archiboo 2019


2019 - Peoples Choice Awards Shortlist (winner not yet announced)

Winner of the Architects Pitch Crossing Boundaries

  • BD Architect of the Year Award 2019

Female Architectural Leader of the Year – Shortlist

  • RIBA J Rising Star 2018

Winner of the coveted RIBA Journal Rising Star Award in November 2018

Award Winning Architects’ App

Gbolade Design Studio are the creators of the award-winning Architects’ App; an app designed for Architects which is downloaded in the UK and across the world. Visit Website here.

As a black-owned / black led UK, London based architecture practice, we’re passionate about innovation and entrepreneurism and the Architect’s App is just one of our non-traditional means of diversifying our application of architectural creativity…Contact us to speak to us about how you can get involved with it.