Chris Manning

My early professional years were focused on restoration and conservation projects, gaining experience working on many listed buildings, including Somerset House, The Royal Courts of Justice and the Brunswick Centre. Observing first hand from site was an invaluable opportunity to study different buildings from both a design and a construction perspective. It was during this time that I learnt the importance of careful observation and gave me an understanding of detailing.

My focus since 2007, however, has been on residential design. I have extensive experience delivering built projects across a variety of housing types and scales for a wide range of clients in the UK and abroad. My particular interest is in developing formative design principles and taking them through to final proposals, ensuring that the project can grow to fulfil the criteria and vision of the initial brief.

I enjoy the challenge of expanding a residential brief to combine other uses and features within the project. Cinemas, sports facilities, day care and a children’s crèche have, for instance, offered opportunities to explore how these elements can work within a residential development to create a positive social, economic and physical impact. In each instance a unique and tailored environment for new homes has been enriched through this diversity of uses, enlivening and animating new places.

Most recently, at Studio Egret West's New Bermondsey scheme, this merging was manifested in the pairing of a new residential scheme with a church, delivering new homes within an unusually constricted site. The complex brief necessitated an inquisitive and inventive approach, each element of the design requiring careful analysis bringing them together to exist in an intricate synergy.