Early years 1930s and 1940s
In the early years of the Practice was based in Gower Street, London, the workload was across a number of sectors including commercial and some residential work for high profile clients. Much of the work was in London and South East England.
1938 – 1949: Lansdown and Devereux
The Practice was founded in 1938 by Alan Devereux and Alidair Davis.
1949 – 1962: Devereux & Davies.
In 1949 ELW Davies joined the Practice. In 1962 ELW Davies left to set up on his own.
Second half 20th Century
In the 1950s the Practice started working more extensively on public sector projects. The Practice’s specialism in healthcare commenced in this decade. The success in this sector was rewarded with the RIBA Bronze medal for the innovative hospital project in Balham. During the 1950s and 60s the Practice had a considerable workload in healthcare in the West Indies through the UK Government. Healthcare work was led by Eladair Davies. In this same period the practice started to develop work in the education sector. One particular client was the Royal Veterinary College for whom the Practice designed projects for 30 years. Up to the late 1980s the Practice was based in Doughty Street in London WC1. It then moved to Putney in South West London to larger offices. Devereux Architects expanded considerably in the 1990s and widened its workload across sectors and also geographically.
1967 – 1970: Alan H Devereux & Partners
In 1967, Bertram Carter and Alan Mitchell, who had their own practices, amalgamated with Devereux. Bertram Carter had been a member of the Mars Group (Founded in 1933 by a group of architects and critics as a ‘think tank’ for British modernism, the MARS GROUP (Modern Architectural Research Group) produced visionary plans and exhibitions before disbanding in 1957). Alan Devereux retired form the practice in 1976. Colin Pryce Davis became the senior partner.
1972 – 1991: Devereux & Partners
The partners steering the practice through this period were John Stokes and Brian Godding. Nic Allen joined the practice as a partner in 1986 to assist in the development of the practice during a period of increasing challenges and competition.
1991 – 2001: The Devereux Partnership.
During this period the practice went through significant change with increased focus on design quality and client service. Peter Hughes came into the practice as design lead and Rosemary Jenssen and Darius Umrigar joined Devereux and became key members of the partnership leading on high profile projects. The practice adapted to new procurement processes such as the UK government’s Private Finance Initiative (PFI) and Public Private Partnerships (PPP) and new structures in the public sector. In 2001 Michael Earle joined the practice from the Sports Council where he was Deputy Chief Architect, to head Devereux Earle, a specialist sports and leisure division.
21st Century
In the first decade of the 21st Century Devereux Architects became a significant UK practice and won work through new procurement methods such as the PFI and PPP. In addition to work in the south half of England work was generated in the South West of England and projects were won in Northern Ireland, Gibraltar, the Caribbean and Middle East. The Practice opened offices in Plymouth and Manchester and then added through the PM Group and Dewjo’c mergers offices in Newcastle, Teesside, Dublin, Cork, Warsaw, Wroclaw, Moscow and Riyadh.
2001 – 2007: Devereux Architects Limited.
The Practice became a limited liability company with Nic Allen as the first Managing Director with Michael Deadman, Peter Hughes, Tim Magee, Rosemary Jenssen and Darius Umrigar as the shareholding directors. In February 2005 the Limited Liability Partnership DevereuxLHC was formed. This partnership with the English West Country practice Lacey Hickie Caley was formed to service Devereux’s work in the South West of England and also to jointly generate new public sector work.
2007: Devereux Architects Limited became a member of the PM Group. Through this merger the practice expanded its geographic and sector extent. Devereux Architects gained a substantial portfolio and expertise in sectors including pharmaceutical, medical technologies and advanced manufacturing. Approximately 70 architects in the architect teams in Ireland and Poland increased the size of the architectural section in the group to 170 staff. Tim Magee, one of the five directors relocated to Ireland to help promote the practice’s architectural presence under the Devereux Architects name in Ireland with the practice registered with the Royal Institute of Architects of Ireland.
2009: Devereux Architects merged with Dewjo'c Architects, a renowned architectural practice in North East England. With this merger the practice became one of the larger UK practices with an increased spread of work and offices across the UK. The practice grew to 250 staff and one of the top 100 architectural practices globally. Peter Walker became managing director of Devereux Architects in the North East of England.
2010: In recognition of the extending international nature of the Practice’s work an International Architectural Board was formed. Nic Allen became the Chief Executive of the overall practice and Darius Umrigar the Managing Director of the UK operation.
2011: Devereux Architects continued geographic expansion has resulted in architects in the Group’s offices in Belgium and Singapore.
Key projects
1954: Out-patients' Department, St James's Hospital, Balham, London, UK - this project won the RIBA Bronze medal.
1959: Mermaid Theatre Auditorium, Puddle Dock, London, UK
1960: Century House, Lambeth, London, UK - 20 storey office building which was occupied by MI6 until 1995
1989: National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, UCLH, London, UK
1995: Dame Alicia Markova Theatre, Arts Educational Schools, Tring, Herts, UK
1999: Shaftesbury House, Shaftesbury Avenue, London, UK
2002: Social Genetic and Development Psychiatry Centre, King's College London, London, UK
ICI Headquarters, London, UK
2004: Gibraltar General Hospital, Gibraltar
2006: Queen Mary’s Hospital, Roehampton, London, UK
Zahra Island Mixed Use Masterplan, Abu Dhabi, UAE
2006: London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK
2008: New Biopharmaceutical Facility, Centecor Biologics, Cork, Ireland
New Cosmetics Manufacturing Facility, Oriflame, Moscow, Russia
Strategic Masterplan for Cambridge Biomedical Campus, Cambridge, UK
New Pharmaceutical Facility, Genzyme, Geel, Belgium
Dell, Wroclaw, Poland
Jagiellonian University Lifescience, Poland
Monkseaton High School, North Tyneside, UK
2010: Al Ain Cromwell Women and Children’s Hospital, Al Ain, Abu Dhabi, UAE
Turks and Caicos Islands Hospitals, West Indies
New Biopharmaceutical Facility, GSK, Wavre, Belgium
Bexhill High School, East Sussex, UK
2011: Land Utilisation Study, JTC, Singapore
Masterplan, Roche, Singapore