James joined gcp in 2013, part way through a 2-year HNC course at the City of Bristol College, where he studied Construction Management. Prior to this, James worked within the construction industry for over 12 years and holds thorough knowledge of the built environment with his time working on sites as a general builder.
James is currently studying at Oxford Brookes University where he is undertaking an Office-based Part 1 accreditation with the RIBA Studio.
James is celebrating his six-year anniversary at gcp in August, so to celebrate we interviewed him for the blog!
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Hi James, we’ll jump right in with the big questions. What inspired you to pursue architecture?
The opportunity to improve lives, wellbeing, communities and the built environment. I enjoy making more of existing spaces that currently do not work, you don’t always need more space to create better space.
And If you weren’t an architectural assistant, what would you be?
I’ve always played some sort of sport, so probably a sportsman but it’s so competitive, I’d like to be good at golf – as you also get to travel. I have a recent interest in photography so maybe something in that field.
What’s your favourite project that you’ve worked on to date?
My favourite project has probably been my current one, which is the new Pavilion building for Swindon Town Football Club Community Foundation. We have a great design team, contractor and client, who are all different, but together work so well and most importantly have a good laugh doing it!
You’ve been here six years now, but let’s hear about your best moment at gcp in the last year?
Best moment would probably be finally gaining planning approval on the Oldbury Court Project – three years in the making! Although the opportunity to eat cake every Monday is always a good moment.
James often brings in amazing homemade cake, so this seems like a good segue into a few personal questions. First up, what do you like to do in your spare time?
I don’t have a huge amount of spare time as I’m doing my studies too, but when I do have five minutes I will most likely be working on the house (renovating our Victorian Terrace) or playing some sort of sport, Cricket mainly.
What’s your proudest personal achievement?
Cycling to Paris from my front door (in Bristol) last year was pretty cool, the beer under the Eiffel tower is the best beer I’ve ever had!
Yikes! You do quite a bit of travelling, so what’s the top place you’ve visited?
Hvar or Santorini, both beautiful places and some of the best food I’ve ever tasted!
Okay, now I’m hungry. Thanks for your time today James, it’s been fun. Before we go, how about you tell us something we might not know about you?
I hate olives, shouldn’t be allowed if you ask me.
Time for lunch!
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James (with a beer), under the Eiffel Tower
As mentioned above, over the last year or so James has been heavily involved in Foundation Park, the new Pavillion Building for Swindon Town Football Club Community Foundation. Most recently, this work has expanded to writing blog posts about this project, creating display materials for it and attending networking events there, such as the WIP site visit.
Keep your eye on our blog for more meeting the team posts over the next few weeks as we are celebrating several work anniversaries through August.