Leonard Design Architects[edit]

Leonard Design Architects (Leonard Design or LDA) is an international firm of architects, master planners, interior architects and interior designers working from offices in the United Kingdom, Malaysia & Australia. Leonard Design specialise in the design of large mixed-use projects which include retail, residential, offices, hotels, leisure and resorts.

Company History[edit]

Founded by David Leonard in 2006 off the back of his extensive knowledge in the retail sector due to working as Head of Design for Westfield and Design Director previously at Benoy. The company originally focused on the retail design but began to expand and develop this speciality into larger scale mixed-use projects.

Leonard Design has rapidly expanded from its headquarters in Nottingham, with offices opening first in London, followed by Kuala Lumpur and finally Sydney. With this expansion the employee count is verging on 100 and as of 2017 Leonard Design secured a spot on the AJ100 list. Published annually by the Architects' Journal, the AJ100 is regarded as a key measure of success in the UK within the architecture industry. 2017 saw the company enter the list at no.100 and since then it had increased its ranking to no.82 in 2018.

Ethos[edit]

A strong believer in putting staff first, Leonard Design have introduced several initiatives that promote the well-being of their staff. Inspired by Richard Branson and Virgin, Leonard Design embraced an unlimited annual leave policy in 2016 and have reported it to be a resounding success.

"We have an extremely dedicated and hard-working team that often go above and beyond to meet tight client deadlines, so why wouldn’t we trust them to manage their leave?"^[1]

John Morgan, Director of Leonard Design

Another notable initiative has been giving each member of staff a £100 voucher to improve the working environment of the office. Staff could choose to purchase something solely or team up with others to buy larger items. Items purchased have included:

Multiple plants;
Large bean bags and other comforts for relaxing;
Kitchenware including a Nespresso coffee machine;
Bose speakers integrated with everyone's computer allowing group playlists and also different sectors of the office being loud or quiet;
Table football;
Board room table which converts for staff to play table tennis;
Industry literature;
Light boxes;
Inflatable balls to act as a chair for better posture when working at a desk;

One item stood our particularly to John Morgan, Director. A member of staff purchased multiple inexpensive wooden stools to encourage people to sit rather than stand next to colleagues when they came for a discussion at their desk. Morgan admits that he would "never have dreamt of buying them, but it’s made a real difference to the way the team works"^[2]

Other initiatives include private healthcare, professional magazine subscriptions, company away days, Friday afternoon beers, family away days and much more. These initiatives were recognised by Best Companies in 2018 awarding Leonard Design with a 1 Star accreditation for "very good levels of workplace engagement".^[3]

The Future[edit]

Leonard design have always looked toward the future with both design and technology. Embracing various softwares at early stages of development have kept the company at the forefront of design. One notable instance from 2015 was being selected as 1 of 300 companies in the world to beta test the HTC Vive headset for commercial use. Using the Virtual Reality headset allowed David Leonard and the team to draw spaces in 3D in front of the client and to place the client directly into a proposed design giving a much more immersive experience for the client and allowing a strong point of visual communication without any confusion of scale etc. Take a look at a short film here of the headset and design process in action.

More recently, Leonard Design have looked to the future of mixed-use developments and have focused their strategy on 4 main trends:

Densification;
Creating communities;
Physical vs online sales;
Out of town retail;

This strategy outlines how Leonard design are working closely with clients and contractors to design and build functional and pleasing spaces for the public. For more information on their insights take a look at the short film - Global Trends in Retail-Led Mixed Use Developments

Office Locations[edit]

Nottingham, UK (headquarters);
London, UK;
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia;
Sydney, Australia;

Notable Projects[edit]

Westfield London, London;
Westfield Stratford City, London;
Lotte C2 Avenuel, Seoul;
Sheffield Heart of the City II, Sheffield;
Azuri Village, Mauritius;
Lotte Duty Free, Sogong Dong, Seoul
Kronen Vanløse, Copenhagen;
Garden City, Nairobi;
Lotte Incheon International Airport Landmark, Incheon;
Puerto Venecia, Zaragoza;
Song Pa Square, Seoul;
The Croydon Partnership, London;
Polo Ralph Lauren Flagship, Cheshire Oaks;
Oasis Meadowhall Food Court, Sheffield;
Ruby Violet, Kings Cross, London;

Awards[edit]

Company Awards[edit]

Westfield London, London[edit]

MAPIC Awards (2009) - Best Shopping Centre in Europe;
BCSC Gold Awards (2009) - Shopping Centre of the year > 300,0000 sq ft
BCSC Gold Awards (2009) - Supreme Award for Best Overall Scheme;
Global Retail and Leisure International Awards Winner (2009) - Shopping Centre of the Year;
Global Retail and Leisure International Awards Highly Commended (2009) - International Retail and Leisure Destination of the Year;
ICSC Awards (2010) - Shopping Centre of Europe;
UK Inbound Awards (2010) - Tourism Shopping Destination Winner;
ICSC European Shopping Centre Awards (2011) - Best New Development: Extra Large;
Oracle Retail Week Awards (2011) - Retail and Leisure International Destination of the Year;
UK Inbound Award Winner (2011) - Retail Destination of the Year;
Group Leisure Awards (2011) - Best Shopping Centre;
Group Leisure Awards (2012) - Best Shopping Centre;

Westfield Stratford City, London[edit]

BREEAM - Excellent Rating;
BCSC Gold Awards Winner (2011) - Retail Property Development > 300,0000 sq ft;
Property Awards (2012) - Urban Regeneration Award;
Oracle Retail Week (2012) - Retail Destination of the Year;
Constructing Excellence Awards Winner (2012) - Building Project of the Year;
London Planning Awards (2012) - Best Built Project Commendation;
ICSC Regeneration Distinction Winner (2012) - In conjunction with London Borough of Newham;
ICSC New Development: Extra Large (2012) - In conjunction with London Borough of Newham;
Group Travel Awards (2013 - 2015) - Best shopping venue for groups;
Group Leisure Awards (2013, 2014) - Best shopping venue for groups;
Retail Recycling Champion Award (2014) - For Excellence in Waste Management
Green Apple Gold (2014) - Environmental Best Practice;

Puerto Venecia, Zaragoza[edit]

MAPIC (2013) - Best Retail and Leisure Centre in the World;
AECC: Spanish Association of Shopping Centres (2014) - Best Shopping Centre in Spain;
Urban Land Institute (2013) - Global Award for Excellence (finalist);
LEED - Gold Certificate;

Garden City, Nairobi[edit]

Awarded Vision 2030 Status (2013) - by the Government of Kenya, in recognition of its potential economic growth impact;
LEED - Gold (pre-certification): first in Kenya;
API: Africa Propert Investment Summit & Expo (2017) - Best Green Building Development in Sub Saharan Africa;

Azuri Village - Phase 1[edit]

International Property Awards - Africa (2014) - Best Architecture Multiple Residence Mauritius;
International Property Awards - Africa (2014) - Best Apartment Mauritius;
International Property Awards - Africa (2014) - Best Architecture Multiple Residence Africa (Regional Winner);
International Property Awards - Africa (2014) - Best Residential Development Mauritius;

Meadowhall Oasis Food Court, Sheffield[edit]

BCSC Gold Award (2012) - Best Refurbishment Project

External Links[edit]

Official Website - http://leonard.design/

References[edit]

↑ Christie, Sophie (2018-06-05). "What job-seekers now want more than anything else: unlimited holiday". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 2018-10-08.
↑ "Leonard Design engages employees with working environment initiatives". www.employeebenefits.co.uk. 2017-10-05. Retrieved 2018-10-08.
↑ "Leonard Design Architects Company Profile | Best Companies". Best Companies. Retrieved 2018-10-08.

Category:Architecture