Member Article

400 up as Johnson Design Partnership celebrates project milestone

A visionary Bridgnorth-based architects practice is celebrating a major milestone after it was appointed on its 400th project.

Johnson Design Partnership (JDP), which employs nine people at its Station Lane headquarters, will complete a major feasibility study for a large church complex in Shrewsbury, with the aim of creating a dynamic venue that can support the activities of a number of community groups.

This latest contract is the 33rd of 2018 and means the company has now been involved in designing and planning projects that have a construction value in excess of £120m and spans community, education, ‘grand designs’, healthcare and industrial.

Its reputation is spreading too, with enquiries taken from the South of France for a large retirement home and St Lucia for a second property.

Vic Johnson, who founded the business in 2003, commented: “I’d been involved in large architect practices in London and found that people always went to the capital if they wanted to get the best design talent. Personally, I didn’t feel that needed to be case so decided to do something about it by launching JDP in Shropshire.

“The first project was a major feasibility for a large Victorian Primary School in Wembley, which ultimately led to eight more feasibilities for schools in the London Borough of Brent. This gave us the catalyst to grow and bring in young and exciting architects to the team to share ideas and push the boundaries of design in the West Midlands to new levels.”

He continued: “It has been a real rollercoaster over the 15 years and we’ve completed some wonderful designs, transforming a water tower into a luxury living space, created a ‘James Bond’ style High Dependency Unit and inspired a school at the heart of an urban village.

“We care about our Shropshire roots so it is almost fitting that the 400th project would be opening up a large church complex so that it can provide facilities that will support vital community activities. That is the beauty of ‘design’ – it doesn’t just look good, it can create new opportunities and spaces that improve people’s lives.”

Johnson Design Partnership offers a complete project management service from feasibility work and planning to detailed design, project monitoring and contract administration.

The practice operates a four-point strategy when working with clients, focusing on ‘Understanding, Exploring, Resolving and Delivering’.

To cope with the increase in new appointments, the firm has recently expanded its team with the appointment of Italian architect Giovanni Agro, who previously worked in Agrigento, Sicily.

Matt Spinks, Director at JDP, continued: “We are delighted to have hit the 400th milestone, but this is just the start, we’ve already got our sights on 500.

“To support this we have just launched our new website (www.johnsonltd.co.uk) that highlights our expertise and gives a detailed insight into some of the projects we’ve completed and the unique design features we use.”

He concluded: “There is also an Open House planned for early 2019, where we’ll be opening the doors at our Station Lane office so that existing and new clients can meet the team, discuss future ideas and enjoy some of our models that help bring our designs to life.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Russ Cockburn .