Submission by PEARCE+.
Being a good ancestor
Practice
1. Do you have a clearly stated purpose aligned with the planetary emergency? We’re looking for a bold ambition here, and a culture which recognises the need for long-term thinking.
We are a small, experimental studio with a practice that weaves together architecture, land art and collective making. Our practice is founded on four core propositions:
Architecture must be allied to the earth and connected to nature, not an imposition on it.
Making is an exploratory process for learning and betterment, not a task to be outsourced.
Collaboration is the foundation of enjoyment and advancement, not a box-ticking process.
Design is a behaviour and a commitment, not a body of knowledge.
2. Do you have a clearly stated purpose aligned with the planetary emergency? We’re looking for a bold ambition here, and a culture which recognises the need for long-term thinking.
No.
3. Do you share research and knowledge for the benefit of society and the wider world?
Yes. We share research and knowledge openly through our website, social media, public talks, teaching and published project material. Our founding director teaches within architectural education, where lessons from practice are shared with students and colleagues.
We also develop our built work as design-led research. Through our open “Project Profiles”, we document the design process, material decisions, construction methods, collaborators, challenges and lessons learned. These profiles are intended to make knowledge from small-scale experimental projects accessible to clients, students, practitioners and wider communities, rather than keeping it within the practice.
Project
1. Do you advocate for long-term thinking at the outset of work? Do you initiate work with long-term thinking and challenge clients? Also, can the organisation demonstrate that this approach has worked?
Yes. Long-term thinking is embedded at the outset of our projects. We regularly challenge clients to think beyond the immediate object or commission and consider local material supply, future maintenance, adaptability, reuse, community value and ecological benefit.
As designers and makers, we are directly involved in the construction and aftercare of our work. This means we consider durability, repair, weathering and maintenance from the beginning, rather than treating them as issues for others to resolve later. We often advocate for the use of local materials, local labour and site-specific skills, which can challenge conventional procurement routes but creates projects with stronger connections to place.
2. Does your work take account of the future climate and the need for resilience?
Yes. Our work takes account of future climate resilience through material choice, detailing, repairability and close engagement with the landscapes in which projects are built. We specialise in using local and natural materials, particularly timber harvested from or near the project site, and we aim to reduce reliance on high-impact materials where appropriate.
Because we often act as both designers and makers, we understand how our buildings and structures perform over time. We design with maintenance, weathering, drainage, exposure and future repair in mind. This is particularly important in rural and exposed sites, where structures must respond to changing weather patterns, wetter conditions, higher winds and the need for robust, low-impact construction.
Our approach is not only about reducing harm, but about creating work that can be cared for, adapted and understood by the people and organisations who inherit it.
3. Does the majority of your work go beyond mitigating negatives and towards optimising positives?
Yes. We aim to work on projects where architecture can actively contribute to social, cultural or ecological good. Rather than only reducing negative impacts, our work seeks to create positive value for communities, landscapes and non-human life.
This includes public realm projects, community-focused structures, rural cultural infrastructure, natural play environments and wildlife-supporting architecture. We are currently developing wildlife infrastructure projects, including a wildlife tower for Somerset Wildlife Trust, designed to support bats, owls, kestrels, invertebrates and other species.
Across our work, we aim to make projects that are useful, joyful and ecologically generous. We see buildings and structures not just as objects for human use, but as opportunities to support habitats, tell local stories, strengthen communities and reconnect people with the living systems around them.
Co-evolving with nature
Practice
1. Do you use biophilia within your premises and/or do you regularly gather in natural settings?
We do not use biophilia as a superficial design technique or aesthetic. However, nature is central to how we work. We are a rural-based practice, and much of our work takes place in rural, woodland, coastal or landscape settings.
We regularly gather, design, prototype and build in natural environments, and our projects often begin by understanding the materials, ecology, climate and stories of a place. Our connection to nature is therefore practical and embedded: through site work, material sourcing, making, observation and long-term engagement with landscapes.
2. Can you share examples of where you have considered nature in decision making?
Yes. Nature is regularly considered as a client, stakeholder and context in our decision making. We are currently designing and preparing to build a wildlife tower for Somerset Wildlife Trust, intended to support bats, kestrels, owls, invertebrates and other species. The project is being developed as a piece of wildlife infrastructure as well as a public-facing demonstrator for biodiversity-led design.
In other projects, we have used untreated natural materials, local timber, textured surfaces and construction methods that allow for weathering, habitat potential and ecological value. At Westonbirt Arboretum, the playscape used timber from the arboretum itself, creating a direct relationship between woodland management, public play and material stewardship. Rather than importing standardised play equipment, the project used the character of the site’s own material to shape the design.
3. Are you supporting nature locally and nationally?
Yes. We support nature through built projects, research and advocacy. Locally, we are working with Somerset Wildlife Trust on wildlife infrastructure that supports multiple species and communicates the value of biodiversity-led design to the public.
We are also developing wider research into how small architectural interventions can support ecology, habitat creation and public engagement with nature. This includes Arts Council-funded work exploring how these ideas can be developed more fully and shared with broader audiences.
Nationally, our work with organisations such as Forestry England at Westonbirt Arboretum demonstrates how architecture, public engagement, natural materials and ecological thinking can come together in public landscapes. Through teaching, project profiles and dissemination, we aim to share this knowledge beyond individual project sites.
Project
1. Can you demonstrate work that strives to match the performance of a mature ecosystem?
Our work does not claim to replicate the full complexity of a mature ecosystem, but it does strive to learn from ecological systems and contribute positively to them. We aim to design projects that are layered, locally specific, materially efficient and beneficial to more than one form of life.
Examples include greening work to studios at East Quay in Watchet, projects using local and found materials, and the green oak playscape at Westonbirt Arboretum, where site-sourced timber was transformed into public play infrastructure. The forthcoming wildlife tower for Somerset Wildlife Trust takes this further by designing directly for multiple species, including bats, birds and invertebrates.
Across these projects, we try to move from single-purpose objects towards structures that support people, place, habitat, learning and long-term stewardship.
2. Are you working on material stewardship?
Yes. Material stewardship is central to our work. We manage a small piece of woodland ourselves, which gives us direct experience of timber, growth cycles, maintenance and responsible use. This informs how we approach materials in practice.
We also work with clients who manage landscapes and forests, including Forestry England at Westonbirt Arboretum. In the Westonbirt playscape, timber from the arboretum was used directly within the project, connecting woodland management, local processing, design and construction.
More broadly, we prioritise local, reused, found and low-impact materials where possible. As designers and makers, we are closely involved in how materials are sourced, detailed, assembled, maintained and potentially reused. This helps us treat materials as long-term resources rather than disposable products.
3. Does the majority of your work demonstrate the use of biologically-inspired approaches such as Bioregionalism, Biophilia or Biomimicry?
Our work is not based on copying the appearance of nature, so we would not describe it primarily as biomimicry. Instead, our approach is closer to bioregionalism. We begin with the specific conditions of a place: its materials, climate, ecology, skills, stories and communities.
Many of our projects are hyperlocal in this sense. They use materials from the site or surrounding area, involve local makers and respond to the particular ecological and cultural conditions of each setting. We are interested in buildings and structures that emerge from their place rather than being imposed upon it.
While we do not use biophilia as a stylistic device, our work aims to create direct, practical and meaningful relationships between people, materials and the natural world. This includes public play, wildlife infrastructure, woodland structures and projects that invite people to notice, touch, inhabit and care for their environment.
Creating a just space for people
Practice
1. Do you have a progressive EDI policy and can you evidence many forms of diversity, which are welcomed and acknowledged, within your company/organisation?
No.
2. Do you operate a no overtime culture, meet the living wage consistently, and stipulate a fair salary ratio between staff of all levels?
No.
3. Do you support charities, community groups, social enterprises, action groups and others through pro-bono work, charitable giving or in-kind donations?
Most of our clients are social enterprises. Onion Collective CIC, Root Connections, Black Horse Workshop to name a few.
4. Do you use an ethical framework to assess opportunities and/or supply chain partners and is them team consulted on these decisions?
No.
Project
1. Does your work demonstrate deep engagement with local stakeholders and end users?
We undertake meaningful engagement design processes, construction processes and in use.
2. Does your work create connected and resilient communities which positively contribute to neighbourhoods and allow equality of access?
Yes, we have developed a co-design and building process which helps engage and strengthen communities.
3. Does the majority of your work promote equity in society, and consider all people, not only building inhabitants
Yes. The majority of our work is concerned with public benefit, shared access and wider social value, rather than only serving direct building users or private clients. We often work with social enterprises, charities, community organisations and public-facing clients, where the success of a project depends on how it supports a wider group of people.