RIP Queen Elizabeth II

We are saddened to hear about the death of Queen Elizabeth II. She was a remarkable woman, who was not only a constant in our rapidly changing world, but also someone woven into the history of our practice through many small, but meaningful, encounters.

We thought it would be fitting to share a few of these at this time…

Over the years, we have worked on many projects that bear her name, from the Water Polo Arena at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, to Queen Elizabeth Hall at the Southbank Centre, to the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Galleries at Westminster Abbey.

Queen Elizabeth also paid a royal visit to open one of our projects, The Hive in Worcester, back in 2012.

In 2004, the practice received an honour from Queen Elizabeth when we were awarded the Queen’s Award for Enterprise, Sustainable Development.

On another memorable occasion, in 1994, Max himself was honoured with an OBE (Order of the British Empire) from the Queen, for ‘Services to Engineering’. It is said that on meeting her to receive his honours, when asked what he did, Max replied “I’m a plumber, ma’am” to which the Queen politely smiled.

Our thoughts are with her family and friends at this sad time.