We Made That

Oliver co-founded We Made That in 2006. He has led the practice’s work on a variety of public spaces and urban scale strategies, including an innovative incremental masterplan in Streatham, award-winning interventions in Blackhorse Lane industrial area and an ambitious development framework in Old Oak and Park Royal. He is responsible for the creative direction of the practice and is committed to delivering projects for public and third sector organisations.

Oliver has a background in both design and architecture. He holds a Masters Degree from the Royal College of Art in Design Interactions, having previously graduated from the Bartlett School of Architecture in 2005. 

Oliver is a member of the Design South East review panel, Hackney Design Review Panel and Harrow Design Review Panel. He is appointed to the Greater London Authority’s Specialist Assistance Team to help with the shaping and realisation of Mayoral projects across the capital.

Holly co-founded We Made That in 2006. She has led a unique range of urban projects for the practice, from pioneering industrial intensification work through to comprehensive high street regeneration projects. This includes the research portfolio of the practice, with particularly incisive studies of local economies and placemaking across London.

Holly graduated from the Bartlett School of Architecture, is a registered architect and affiliate member of the Landscape Institute. She was shortlisted for the AJ Emerging Woman Architect of the Year Award 2012. In her roles as Mayor’s Design Advocate for the Greater London Authority and CABE Built Environment Expert, Holly advocates for community involvement within the design process, empowering women in the built environment and equitable city-making.

Holly has taught BSc Architecture at the Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL and London Metropolitan University. She has also lectured in the UK and abroad, including Russia, Denmark, Spain and Argentina. Holly is a trustee of The Architecture Foundation.

Nisha joined the team in 2017 as Project Architect with a significant amount of mixed-use regeneration experience in London-based practices and has recently been promoted to Associate. At We Made That she is leading various community-focused design projects, including delivery of an extension to East Street Library - a critical component of the What Walworth Wants strategy - and an improved public events space in Waltham Forest which is accompanied by a programme of activity.

Nisha studied at Newcastle University and a completed her Diploma in Architecture at London Metropolitan University.

She has experience in undertaking feasibility studies, managing projects at various stages and working on site with contractors. Prior to joining We Made That, Nisha was involved in mixed-use, civic and masterplanning projects at Adam Khan Architects, Maccreanor Lavington Architects and CarverHaggard Architects. 

Nisha is a member of the LLDC Quality Review Panel and has been a guest critic at a number of architectural schools across the UK.

Laida is a Project Architect a range of experience running a wide range of different architectural, urban and design projects in the UK, Netherlands and the Basque Country. At We Made That, Laida is responsible for two civic-focused projects in Wealdstone, including the public realm for Harrow Council’s new Civic Centre and a separate commission to deliver a new public space that will see the town centre enlivened with activity. Both projects combine technical design and delivery with social agendas, including the delivery of a youth-focused training programme of events and meanwhile uses.

Laida graduated from Higher Technical School of Architecture of San Sebastian in 2010, and studied with a scholarship at Potsdam University, Germany.

She previously worked at Wayward Plants, London where she was responsible for Farmopolis on the Greenwich Peninsula and courtyard and playground in LB Kensington & Chelsea, and delivery of civic buildings whilst at Toki Arkitekturak, Basque.

Rachel is an Architect with a wide range of experience in both architecture and urban design. Her work at We Made That has covered a range of scales, including urban strategy work for the Tolworth Area Plan combining mixed-use development, Metropolitan Open Land and key transport needs to support good growth and, in Barking & Dagenham, industrial intensification proposals for retaining employment and supporting a resilient economy in the borough.

Rachel completed a Professional Diploma in Architecture degree at London Metropolitan University, graduating with a Distinction. She also holds a first-class degree in Architecture from University of Nottingham. She has previously held positions at Levitate Architects and Farrells.

Emily joined the team in 2019. She completed her Part I at University of Sheffield School of Architecture and was then awarded a place on a prestigious exchange programme to complete her Part II at Kyoto City University of Art in Japan. After completing her Part II she returned to the UK to complete her Masters in Architecture at Royal College of Art where she was awarded a distinction for her dissertation ‘Future Margins: The Case for Working Together’.

Prior to joining We Made That, Emily worked at CarverHaggard Architects where she was involved in a variety of work including working on the planning application for a Good Growth Funded community building, writing bids, and winning significant new work for community consultation and public realm projects. 

Emily has led a Young Creatives workshop at the Design Museum and has taken part in various self-build projects such as a boat shed in Cumbria and a Visiting School in Japan. 

Lili joined the team as an Urban Researcher in 2018. She is a geographer-urbanist with a master’s degree in Urban Studies from the Sorbonne University in Paris and has five years’ experience working on project management and research.

Prior to joining We Made That Lili worked for the London Borough of Lewisham where she worked in the Planning team. She has also spent a year working on an interdisciplinary research project for the The French National Center for Scientific Research in Guatemala investigating daily mobility inequalities.

At We Made That, Lili has built a considerable profile of the social value of creative, cultural and community sectors and spaces in different areas and using both secondary and primary research methods. She has also worked across a range of creative industries studies for London boroughs and the GLA, including Thames Estuary Production Corridor, multiple Creative Enterprise Zones, GLA research on creative workspace and production services. 

Will joined the team in 2019. He trained in architecture at London Metropolitan University, graduating from diploma with distinction in 2015. Prior to joining We Made That, Will ran public realm projects, developed designs, and produced reports at Adams and Sutherland Architects. He also spent seven years at Publica where he worked on design and advice on public realm schemes, including leading an ambitious public realm strategy for Savile Row, Burlington Gardens and Cork Street for the Pollen Estate and The Royal Academy.

As well as a Diploma and BA in Architecture, Will also holds a BA in Graphic Design from UWE Bristol, and works as a professional freelance graphic designer. He has worked in a variety of fields and media, including map design for Transport for London, signage for London boroughs, websites and branding for film production companies, and short films.

He has served as a guest critic at the Welsh School of Architecture and the University of East London where he also helped run a drawing workshop for an undergraduate architecture unit.

Liam joined the team as an Urban Designer and masterplanner in 2018 and has more than eight years’ experience working on a wide variety of award-winning architectural, public realm and social projects. He also has solid academic and practical design and management ability and experience. 

Prior to joining We Made That Liam worked at What If: projects Ltd, where he was involved in a wide range of projects; including walking and cycle infrastructure improvements, refurbishments to a sheltered housing scheme, and public realm design. In addition to this, Liam has run a number of personal projects and helped establish a new sports club in his hometown of Sheffield by providing a phased development program and helping to gain funding.

Liam gained his BSc (Hons) in Architecture at University of East London. He went on to complete a Post Graduate Diploma in Architecture at London Metropolitan University, where he also gained a Masters Degree in Spatial Planning and Urban Design.

He is a regular guest critic for architecture courses at London Metropolitan, East London and Brighton Universities. 

Lorna joined the team as an Urban Researcher in 2019 and is an experienced manager and researcher in the fields of architecture, innovation and urban regeneration. She is a European Urban Cultures MA graduate across European universities, with a BA in History from Nottingham University. She completed her masters thesis on the practice of urban squatting and housing policy in London and Amsterdam, and has a vast knowledge of London’s architectural practices and housing policy.

Her interests lie in contemporary architectural discourse and public planning policy, and prior to joining We Made That she spent three years working within the architectural and built environment field in research and development, managing written projects for practices such as David Chipperfield Architects, DK-CM and Publica. She has also been a guest lecturer at the RCA, taking MA Design students through the processes of applying innovation to design.

Mark joined the team in 2015 and has been responsible for a range of public realm and placemaking proposals. These include a projects for local authorities, the Greater London Authority and Transport for London, such as Nine Elms on the South Bank cycling and public realm proposals, an incremental area strategy for Southwark Council; What Walworth Wants, proposals to improve public spaces in a housing estate in the Whitechapel area and delivery of strategic interventions in Burnt Oak town centre. 

He graduated from the Liverpool School of Art & Design with a Masters degree in Architecture in 2013. Shortly following his graduation, he was awarded the Deutsche Bank Award in Architecture 2013 and founded ‘RAAD’ - an architecture and urban design collective that promotes the use of vacant and under-used spaces in the city through temporary pop-up architecture and events.

Stavros joined the team as a Senior Architectural Assistant in 2019 after completing the City Design program at the Royal College of Art, where he earned his Masters. Prior to this he completed a five-year degree in Architectural Engineering Democritus University of Thrace (D.U.TH) in his native Greece.

Prior to joining We Made That, Stavros worked on a range of different projects in Thessaloniki including national and international competitions for public buildings, participatory design in urban regeneration projects and conversions.

He enjoys working on urban-scale projects which are both socially engaged and innovative in their approach.

Zivile joined the team in 2017 and works across a number of projects in the office. Zivile graduated from University of Westminster and has recently completed her Professional Diploma at the London School of Architecture. 

At her previous position with Bisset Adams she was involved with public sector, retail and higher-education projects; including Blackpool Conference Centre. Zivile also volunteered at Architecture for Humanity, working on a project based within London housing estates to develop Re-Use Hub workshops to promote on-site up-cycling to avoid fly-tipping and landfill waste.

Cristina joined We Made That as a Senior Architectural Assistant in 2019. She started her studies at the Glasgow School of Art and has recently completed her part II at the London School of Architecture where her thesis project explored the integration of new industrial typologies within the city through symbiotic exchanges between businesses and the community.

Alongside her studies at LSA, Cristina worked at Orms on the delivery of commercial projects within central London. Prior to joining We Made That, she was part of the interior design team at State of Craft gaining experience in furniture and lighting design.

She has a keen interest in social-participatory architecture and has previously volunteered with the Arhipera group on a number of interventions in Romania.

Freya is a Senior Architectural Assistant who joined We Made That after completing her masters at Delft University of Technology. She has previously held positions at East architecture, landscape, urban design, Adams & Sutherland and Ash Sakula Architects.

She has a broad range of experience of different urban design, public realm and co-design projects in London. These include Rainham Creekside, as part of the London Riverside OAPF, Scrubs Lane Masterplan for Old Oak and Park Royal Development Corporation and detailed design phases for a public realm scheme in Tottenham Hale for Haringey Council.

Freya has a wide range of experience outside of the UK having undertaken an artists residency in Mexico City producing sculptural works and an exhibition, a workshop regenerating a disused kiosk in Bulgaria, and working as a voluntary English teacher in Chile. Whilst completing her masters in Delft, she was a part of a group called WORK OUT who organised a series of participatory events. She completed her Part I at The Mackintosh School of Architecture in Glasgow in 2015.

Shamiso joined We Made That as an Urban Research Assistant in 2019. She graduated in 2018 with a Part II Masters degree in Architecture from Central Saint Martins’ department of Spatial Practices, prior to which she completed her Part I at University of Nottingham.

She has worked in a diverse range of organisations as well as on self-directed projects, which has given her experience in establishing briefs, developing strategic frameworks and delivering rigorously designed spatial products and services. Prior to joining We Made That, she worked at The Decorators and has also worked at LSE Cities and Hayatsu Architects.

Shamiso has contributed to several publications and reports, including making a speculative proposal on ‘The Future of Education’ for FRAME magazine based on her independent research on cultural institutions. She has also been a guest speaker on Tate Exchange event ‘Pedagogies of the Temporary’, curated by Publicworks.

Ella joined the team as an Architectural Assistant in 2019 after graduating with an architecture degree from the University of Cambridge. For her third year project, Ella designed a university building in Manchester with a focus on introducing greater public involvement to the institution.

Ella was the Architecture Society (Arcsoc) president at university, and as part of this collaboratively organised, designed and built the Cambridge Summer Exhibition in London. She enjoys working in teams on creative projects that celebrate communities and bring people together. 

Katie joined the team in 2016. She is an experienced studio manager whose organisational skills contribute to both general administration and project-specific tasks. Katie is responsible for the practice’s general administration, day-to-day financial management and human resources.

She has a background in graphic design and holds Adobe Certified Associate qualifications in both Photoshop and InDesign. Katie is also an award-winning freelance photographer specialising in live music photography with experience in the UK and globally. As well as live music, Katie has experience photographing nature, the built environment and events.