Max Fordham projects win three 2025 Civic Trust Awards

The redevelopment of the National Portrait Gallery, completed in 2023, was the largest since it first opened its doors to the public in 1896. This sensitive restoration breathed new life into the historic buildings, providing the best possible environmental conditions for both the artwork and the people inside the gallery.

The Grade I-listed National Portrait Gallery, London, houses the most extensive collection of portraits in the world. Our goal was to improve the internal conditions of the gallery in the most sustainable, energy-efficient, and sensitive way possible.

The redevelopment included the creation of a new public forecourt, a spacious entrance hall, new retail and catering facilities, and a new learning centre. Office spaces have been converted into beautiful, top-lit galleries on the first floor, extending the public gallery space by around 20%. There has been a complete re-hang and reinterpretation of the extensive collection of artworks across 40 refurbished galleries which now presents an updated and more diverse selection of portraits.

We were tasked with integrating state-of-the-art engineering systems as well as safely reintroducing daylight into the galleries through windows which had been hidden for nearly 100 years.

For significant heritage projects of this scale, our engineering solutions need to be sympathetic and inventive. We strove to find the right balance between providing better conditions and greater functionality, while respecting the historic fabric of the building.

Brighton’s Grade I-listed Corn Exchange and Grade II-listed Studio Theatre have been refurbished for a 21st-century audience, to provide a dynamic cultural venue for the city and the region.

The project makes major technical and operational improvements to the venues, restoring and upgrading four existing buildings: the Corn Exchange, Studio Theatre, 29 New Road and the Church Street entrance, while a new link building captures a former courtyard space, providing a foyer and public and support facilities.

Essential conservation work to the listed buildings peels back the layers to restore hidden spaces and reveal them to the public. The brand-new foyer, top lit bar and gallery space, and a restaurant that opens out onto New Road improve the visitor experience and new toilets and circulation provide better facilities and accessibility for visitors, performers and artists. 

Brighton Dome’s remodelled buildings will give it much-needed flexibility in terms of layout, seating, infrastructure and accessibility – allowing a wider range of artists and performers to come to Brighton. A new creative space called Anita's Room will also be available for artists and community groups to use for workshops, meetings and rehearsals.

The striking new dining hall for Homerton College in Cambridge features sustainability standards that far exceed best practice.

Homerton is Cambridge University’s youngest college, but is now the largest by student numbers. Working alongside Feilden Fowles Architects, we were appointed to drive the environmental strategies and integrated MEP design for its newest addition to the campus, a scheme comprising the design of the college's kitchen, dining, social and welfare spaces. 

Beyond its distinctive exterior featuring a dramatic roof clad in 3,200 green ceramic tiles, the building delivers numerous considerable improvements for Cambridge’s largest college community: the new dining hall was designed to host much bigger events, all main social spaces feature large integrated openings that deliver natural ventilation for comfort and fresh air during most of the year, and the plant space has been carefully positioned alongside the large catering kitchen to simplify integration of ventilation equipment and facilitate maintenance.