Behind the B: James Lewis

What drew you to apply for a role at Buttress?

What I liked about Buttress is that it’s a people-focused business, both in terms of its culture and the way it designs. There's also no one style of architecture, it's much more of a collaborative process with the end-user experience at the heart of it, which I find really refreshing to see.

What have your first impressions of the practice been?

For a company that is as big as it is, collaboration is truly at the heart of the culture. Although people work across a range of sectors and have different areas of expertise, everyone shares knowledge well and is willing to support one another. You feel well supported and encouraged to pursue whatever goals you have.

Why is Leeds a great place to be doing business right now?

Leeds is a hive of activity right now; there's just so much going on.

Last year, around 5,000 people moved into the city centre and that number is predicted to increase in 2022. As a result, the PRS sector has been particularly buoyant with a strong development pipeline.

There’s also been an obvious transition to hybrid working for many companies. Although I think that working from home will continue post-pandemic, I believe that the office will remain a focal point for collaboration, social interaction, and learning. This will mean that many businesses across the region will be looking at adapting their existing spaces to support this new, flexible way of working.

The shift to home working has also, sadly, deepened the decline of the high street and many of the city’s stores have closed. As a result, developers and designers will need to start looking at ways these empty units can be repurposed to create unique experiences that encourage people back into the city and onto the high street.

I think this will all equate to some interesting developments across the city in the next few years.

What do you think Buttress can bring to the Leeds market?

Sustainability is high on everyone’s agenda right now and I think that Buttress has a lot to offer the Leeds market in that respect. The practice is currently working on some of the largest affordable housing Passivhaus schemes in the country and the expertise to deliver these types of large-scale schemes is not readily available in Leeds.

Buttress is also taking steps to embed sustainability at the heart of the business with the pursuit of BCorp certification. If accredited, it will place the Buttress among a handful of UK architectural practices that have been recognised for meeting the highest standard of social and environmental performance, transparency, and accountability.

The practice’s heritage expertise is something else that really sets it apart and its work on the restoration of Leeds’ First White Cloth is a strong example of the conservation skills within the team. Having sat on the heritage at risk register for more than 20 years, the challenge of bringing the building back from the brink of decline and into 21st-century use was huge. Repurposing buildings is crucial in order to reduce our carbon footprint and Buttress are well equipped to help clients adapt their buildings and create new uses.

What type of work interests you most?

The built environment is a major contributor to the escalating climate crisis. In the UK, it's responsible for 25% of the country's total greenhouse gas emissions As architects, we have a responsibility to seek ways of minimising the environmental impact of our work. For me, adopting a retrofit first approach is a powerful tool in helping the industry advance towards net-zero targets.

As a practice, Buttress has a long history of finding creative ways to reuse existing buildings and I’m excited by the potential of applying this experience in Leeds to create sustainable, characterful places for clients and occupiers.

What are you most looking forward to this year?

I'm most looking forward to working with new and existing clients in Leeds to design great places and buildings that enhance people’s lives and environments.