At Millers Quay, the first residential buildings within the Wirral Waters regeneration, we have helped set the quality benchmark for an entirely new neighbourhood. Delivered with a demanding sustainability brief, Millers Quay demonstrates our ability to drive design excellence while achieving robust, buildable solutions at scale with strong relationships across the client and contractor teams, making delivery possible.
Our work at Kidderminster Town Hall has brought similar values into a civic and heritage context, delivering a carefully considered renovation of one of the town’s most significant public buildings. The project demanded a deep respect for the fabric of the original architecture while bringing new life, functionality, and relevance to the building for future generations. It reflects our ability to combine craft and technical rigour in the service of civic pride and public benefit.
In Octagon, Birmingham, we have brought to life a world-first: a 49-storey octagonal residential tower. It's a building that's unachievable without the technical depth and collaborative mindset of our team, who worked side by side with fabricators and site teams to ensure the geometry, tolerances, and safety of every element. This project exemplifies how bold design must be underpinned by technical mastery to succeed in practice.
Building Buildings
At Howells, we judge our work not by the drawings we produce, but by the experience of the buildings and places we create—how they feel to inhabit, how they endure, and how they serve their communities over time.
This mindset is made possible by the exceptional team we’ve built: architects, technologists, and designers whose construction competence is equal to their creative ambition. They bring years of experience, site-tested judgement, and an unwavering commitment to delivering the best outcomes for our clients and the communities we serve.
For over 30 years, we have been building buildings, and with each project, our team continues to raise the standard of what great delivery looks like. As we approach the middle of 2025, this ethos has already shaped some of our year’s most significant completions—a reflection of the pace at which we are delivering and the level at which our team is capable of performing.
Across all of this work, one thing is constant: our buildings are a reflection of the skill, dedication, and experience of our people. I work with a team that thrives on the discipline of delivery—working hand in hand with contractors, resolving details where it matters most, and staying with projects through to completion. We believe that excellence comes not just from what is drawn, but from what is built, and this demands deep collaboration, careful attention to craft, and a culture of technical rigour.
As the demands of the Building Safety Act and the introduction of the Building Regulations Principal Designer (BRPD) role reshape professional responsibilities, we see this as a natural extension of how we already practise. We are currently acting as the BRPD across all of our active projects, including eight Higher-Risk Buildings (HRBs) progressing through design and delivery. Our team brings proven understanding of Gateway submission requirements, robust process clarity, and a collaborative approach that supports both clients and contractor partners in meeting their obligations. For us, design, buildability, compliance, and performance have always been inseparable, and we welcome this formal reinforcement of the architect’s role through to delivery, where lasting value and safety are achieved.
Ultimately, architecture is judged in the real world. At Howells, we are proud to bring our buildings into that world, built with care, built with craft, and built for the long term. And as we look ahead to the next wave of projects, we remain committed to raising the bar on how great buildings are designed, delivered, and experienced.
Written on 16.07.2025, by Alan McCartney
