About us
Collingridge Architects is a small, independent architectural practice nestled in the picturesque English Lake District. Established in 2023, our practice draws on over a decade of experience collaborating with Phil Smith as part of Collingridge And Smith Architects. Phil now continues his work in New Zealand as Smith Architects.
We have collaborated with homeowners, self-builders, businesses, authorities, and communities across the public, private, charitable, and commercial sectors. All of them share a commitment to creating high-quality, sustainable, and healthy buildings and environments. We thrive on partnering with ambitious clients and firmly believe that excellent design should be affordable and environmentally responsible.
Sustainability sits at the heart of everything we do. Whether working on new buildings or existing ones, our passion for energy-efficient design runs through every project. With extensive experience across a wide range of building functions, forms, and architectural styles, Graham is also a Certified Passive House Designer.
Collaboration is one of our core strengths. By working closely with other architects, consultants, clients, contractors, and consortia, we are able to engage in a diverse range of projects both across the UK and globally.
As a RIBA Chartered Practice, all architects are ARB-registered and RIBA-chartered. Through extensive training and ongoing continuing professional development (CPD) — as regulated by the ARB and RIBA — our professional standards are maintained to the highest level.
If you have a project in mind, we would be delighted to discuss it with you.
Graham Collingridge
BA(Hons) Arch Grad Dip (Arch) PG Dip Arch Prac ARB RIBA
Collingridge Architects
Director
11/01/2023 – present
Collingridge And Smith Architects
Director
03/03/2012 – 11/01/2023
Foster + Partners
Associate Partner
07/2001 – 12/2011
Studio BAAD
Architectural Assistant
03/1998-08/1999 & 06/2000-09/2000
Graham Collingridge studied at De Montfort University in Leicester, gaining his degree / Part I in 1996, graduate diploma / Part II in 2001, and Part III with an additional diploma in project management in 2002.
While studying, he worked for Studio BAAD on projects ranging from domestic interiors to large urban-scale interventions, and took part in a variety of competition entries — including Limavady Arts Centre; Britannia Basins (with Buro Happold) – a new-build housing competition for Urban Splash in Manchester; and Westoe Colliery, a masterplan for a new town in the North of England, in conjunction with West 8, Urban Splash and Buro Happold. He also contributed to the design of an urban retail complex at Chavasse Park, Liverpool (in collaboration with Philip Johnson Alan Ritchie Architects and Cecil Balmond of Ove Arup), and was central to the detailed design of Warrington Arts Centre — a RIBA competition won in 1996 to transform redundant law courts into a cultural hub.
After completing Part II, he joined Foster + Partners in 2000, initially working on No.1 London Wall — a Design and Build project involving complex boundary conditions, preservation of part of the London Wall, link bridges to the Museum of London, and new public realm along London Wall and to St Paul’s Cathedral. Subsequent projects included Willis Towers, Walbrook Square, The Walbrook, Hermitage Plaza in La Défense, Principal Place in Hackney (600,000ft² offices occupied by Amazon, a 50-storey residential tower and 46 affordable apartments); and The Corniche on the Albert Embankment. He also served as Project Architect for the Patent Office Building Roof Enclosure at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C., leading design and managing the Architect/Engineer Contract alongside presentations to multiple stakeholders including the Commission for Fine Arts.
In 2012, he joined Phil Smith to transform the listed South Fulham Conservative Club into an early learning centre in Parsons Green, London, forming CASA — a collaborative practice operating across New Zealand and the UK, with early success as runners-up in the RIBA-sponsored York Guildhall competition, collaborating further afield with colleagues in Spain, Israel and Canada.
He subsequently wrote the brief for The Macallan’s international architectural competition for their new £120 million distillery in Speyside, managing the full process from Expressions of Interest through to selection of the preferred architect. Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners won the commission, with the resulting building shortlisted for the Stirling Prize.
Graham has also worked with Harris Calnan on a number of their projects — including Fleet House, designed by Stanton Williams.
He also works with Lister + Lister, assisting with the design and coordination of complex, large scale commercial Build To Rent schemes around the UK. These include Deansgate Square, Whitehall Road and Tai Afon, in Cardiff.
From 2020, he collaborated with Align Property Partners on projects including a new building for HM Coroner in Cumbria and Earnse Bay Outdoor Centre, on Walney Island – both granted planning permission in 2023, with Earnse Bay forming part of Barrow’s successful £25 million Town Deal bid. The Coroner’s building, designed with a fabric-first approach and 120 photovoltaic panels, was designed to generate more energy than it consumes.
In 2023, Collingridge Architects was established to focus on opportunities in the North West, including the delivery of two new almshouses for the Kendal Almshouse Charity.
Qualifying as a Certified Passive House Designer the same year reflects a long-standing commitment to buildings that are comfortable, low-energy, and sustainable.
Architecture is the simplest means of articulating time and space, of modulating reality, of engendering dreams.
Ivan Chtcheglov
