Arcadis bolsters its architecture and urbanism capabilities with two new strategic hires

Significant appointments reflect significant investment by Arcadis in design-led services and advisory
Appointments underscore a commitment to design excellence and plans to grow its architecture and urbanism team
Arcadis remains laser focused on creating sustainable and resilient communities that improve quality of life

Arcadis (EURONEXT: ARCAD), London – Arcadis, a leading global company delivering sustainable design, engineering, and consultancy solutions for natural and built assets, has appointed senior industry figures Rory O’Hagan and Simon Carter to strengthen its architecture and urbanism capabilities across the United Kingdom (UK) and Europe.

Best known in the UK for its engineering, project management and construction solution services, Arcadis distinguished its capability as one of the strongest innovators among global consulting players with its acquisitions of IBI Group and CallisonRTKL (CRTKL) last year.

As a result, Arcadis is now recognised as the second largest architecture firm in the world and is now advancing its design and delivery services, built-asset specific decarbonisation strategies, deep retrofit programs, green certifications, and supporting digital tools with greater focus and scale than ever before.

Strategic hires continue to play a key role in the firm’s growth, particularly in the UK where Rory O’Hagan has been appointed to lead Arcadis’ residential and hospitality design work, which includes the design and delivery of over 3,500 Build to Rent homes and award-winning schemes including Station Hill in Reading, Corkfield in Birmingham, City Suites II and Lampwick Quay in Manchester.

Bringing together the Build to Rent (BTR), Co-living, Senior Living, Student Living and Hotel portfolios, Rory is focused on a creating a culture of collaboration and designing assets of enduring value with strong social and sustainable impact. Having held the position of board director at AJ100 London practice Assael Architecture and with over two decades of experience, Rory has an enviable track record spearheading some of the UK’s first purpose-built BTR communities.

Also new to the firm is Simon Carter, who has been appointed as an associate principal to advance Arcadis’ work and innovation in life sciences. Drawing on the group’s proven track record in the allied health and education sectors, Simon is finding new opportunities for private and public sectors with clients including the NHS and major healthcare investors.

With nearly 30 years of experience, Simon is a specialist in the design of higher education and research facilities and former partner at Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios.

The pair join an established leadership team and over 100 registered architects who work across the UK from Arcadis’ design hubs in London, Manchester, Brighton, and Cardiff. Backed by the weight and resource of Arcadis’ global network, this specialist multidisciplinary team is driving forward new design innovations, sustainable solutions and digital leadership with greater focus and scale than ever before.

Simon Bimpson, Country Director, Arcadis UK and Ireland, comments:

“Arcadis has formed one of the most dynamic and diverse design firms in the world. Here in the United Kingdom, the expansion of our architecture and urbanism expertise means we are now able to add value to every stage of a project’s lifecycle and imbed sustainability best practice in from the outset.”

“With Rory O’Hagan and Simon Carter joining our architecture and urbanism leadership team, we deepen the subject matter expertise of a highly skilled group who are proving the power of design in solving some of the most pressing challenges facing our cities and communities when it comes to accessibility, affordability, housing, healthcare, education and wellbeing.”

Rory O’Hagan, Principal – Living at Arcadis Architecture and Urbanism, comments:

“At the intersection of architecture, engineering, and construction, Arcadis is uniquely positioned to deliver insights, efficiencies, and innovations in ways other firms can’t because we provide services across all three pillars not just one or two. We see the full picture and are able to zoom in on the minutiae of every stage of the development lifecycle, with 3D, model-based workflows and digital tools that enable us to generate new efficiencies and design safe, sustainable and deliverable buildings for our clients.”

“We also unlock a great deal of cross-sector learnings from our work across placemaking, residential, healthcare, hospitality, education, industrial, retail, life sciences, and workplace around the world. This is what I am most excited about, the opportunity to champion hybrid solutions borne off the overlap between these sectors, for instance our healthcare design work in pediatrics informing pedagogy and our K-12 education design philosophy, so too our work on luxury hotels around the world which we’ve applied with our healthcare expertise to create new senior living concepts. We are only just scratching the surface, with Arcadis better positioned than ever to positively impact on the design, development and resilience of this country.”

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