About the practice

Architecture is a social act. We design places and spaces communities want to call their own. Cullinan Studio is a 20-person employee-owned practice with studios in London and Nottingham. Our structure shapes how we work: a shared commitment to getting it right for the people who will live, learn, and work in the places and spaces we build. Since 1965, we have worked with the people who are accountable for what they build; local authorities, housing associations, NHS trusts, further education colleges, universities, and the developers who build for communities to benefit... People who need to do the right thing with the opportunity in front of them, and who want an architecture practice that shares that ambition. What connects our work across housing, education, community health, and retrofit is our approach: empathetic, collaborative, and technically rigorous. We design alongside communities. We listen carefully before we draw. We bring Passivhaus thinking, regenerative design, open-book cost management, and sixty years of working in the public and community sectors to every project, however complex the brief. We have delivered three of only five global Integrated Project Insurance projects - a procurement model that removes adversarial contracting, fosters cross-team collaboration, and gives clients genuine certainty on cost and outcome. We believe how a building is procured is as important as how it is designed and delivered. Our work is fabric first. We promote a Circular Economy approach, prioritising materials, performance, and long-term adaptability. The best buildings use the least to achieve the most.