img(height="1" width="1" style="display:none" src="https://www.facebook.com/tr?id=2939831959404383&ev=PageView&noscript=1")

Contacts book: Who helps Buckley Gray Yeoman satisfy its quest for detail

Header Image

Words:
Laura O’Hagan

From facades to lighting, furniture to metalwork, where does Buckley Gray Yeoman go to source the details that put its architecture on point?

The Furniture Practice

The Furniture Practice is one of our preferred consultants when specifying furniture and fabrics – I’ve worked with the company for more than 15 years on a wide range of projects. It has relationships with all the key brands globally, so when we say what we are after, they know just how to achieve it.

One of the more challenging projects we worked on together was Roedean School in Brighton. We were refurbishing four Arts & Crafts boarding houses that had been designed by John Simpson, the architect of the old Wembley Stadium, and wanted to specify robust furniture with a very British feel. It was important to create a sense of cosiness and a home from home for the mostly overseas students. Each of the four boarding houses had its own identity, and we brought that out more through the choice of furniture.

  • The Furniture Practice sourced furniture that was UK-made, sustainably-sourced and with a very British feel for Buckley Gray Yeoman’s refurbishment of dormitories at Roedean school in Brighton.
    The Furniture Practice sourced furniture that was UK-made, sustainably-sourced and with a very British feel for Buckley Gray Yeoman’s refurbishment of dormitories at Roedean school in Brighton. Credit: Hufton + Crow
  • As well as sourcing loose furniture, The Furniture Practice helped find a manufacturer for fixed elements of bedroom furniture at Buckley Gray Yeoman’s refurbishment of dormitories at Roedean school in Brighton.
    As well as sourcing loose furniture, The Furniture Practice helped find a manufacturer for fixed elements of bedroom furniture at Buckley Gray Yeoman’s refurbishment of dormitories at Roedean school in Brighton. Credit: Hufton + Crow
  • The Furniture Practice collaborated with Buckley Gray Yeoman on the selection of furniture and fabrics at Roedean school in Brighton.
    The Furniture Practice collaborated with Buckley Gray Yeoman on the selection of furniture and fabrics at Roedean school in Brighton. Credit: Larry Bray
  • The Furniture Practice collaborated with Buckley Gray Yeoman on the selection of furniture and fabrics to create a cosy, home-from-home environment at dormitories at Roedean school in Brighton.
    The Furniture Practice collaborated with Buckley Gray Yeoman on the selection of furniture and fabrics to create a cosy, home-from-home environment at dormitories at Roedean school in Brighton. Credit: Hufton + Crow
1234

The Furniture Practice’s knowledge was invaluable to match the right products to our brief. We wouldn’t have wanted to specify all the furniture from the same place, so we needed that key consultant in the middle with specialist knowledge of all the best suppliers, and crucially how to get furniture that was UK made, sustainably sourced, and had that quintessential Britishness. We couldn’t have done it all without them. They helped to source all the loose furniture and fabrics, and organised showroom tours and mock-up reviews.  They also found the right manufacturer for the elements of fixed bedroom furniture.

Just Facades helped select the rustic, handmade brick for Buckley Gray Yeoman’s extension of Channing School in Highgate, north London.
Just Facades helped select the rustic, handmade brick for Buckley Gray Yeoman’s extension of Channing School in Highgate, north London. Credit: Dirk Lindner

Just Facades

Just Facades is an agent for a huge number of different facade companies, but we typically turn to it for its specialist brick relationships. They give us great advice on how to find the right brick product for the context.

We collaborated with the firm on Channing School, located in a conservation area setting in Highgate, north London. Here, it was important that we found appropriate, rustic red handmade brick for the new buildings, a series of pitch-roofed extruded forms.

  • Just Facades helped select the rustic handmade brick for Buckley Gray Yeoman’s extension of Channing School in Highgate, north London.
    Just Facades helped select the rustic handmade brick for Buckley Gray Yeoman’s extension of Channing School in Highgate, north London. Credit: James Jones
  • Mock up of brick panel for Channing School. Just Facades advised on the selection of handmade bricks by Charnwood Bricks.
    Mock up of brick panel for Channing School. Just Facades advised on the selection of handmade bricks by Charnwood Bricks. Credit: Buckley Gray Yeoman
  • Just Facades advised on the selection of bricks for Buckley Gray Yeoman’s 77 Coleman Street in the City of London.
    Just Facades advised on the selection of bricks for Buckley Gray Yeoman’s 77 Coleman Street in the City of London. Credit: Timothy Soar
  • Just Facades helped select bricks for Buckley Gray Yeoman’s Ice Factory project in Victoria, London.
    Just Facades helped select bricks for Buckley Gray Yeoman’s Ice Factory project in Victoria, London. Credit: Dirk Lindner
  • Just Facades advised on the selection of bricks for Buckley Gray Yeoman’s 77 Coleman Street in the City of London.
    Just Facades advised on the selection of bricks for Buckley Gray Yeoman’s 77 Coleman Street in the City of London. Credit: Buckley Gray Yeoman
12345

Just Facades helped us to find the right brickworks for our requirements – Charnwood Bricks, who were able to came up with a bespoke selection for us including quite a lot of specials. We went down to their works in Loughborough to see the production, and had a go at making our own bricks while we were there.

We also had Just Facades’ expertise on the sourcing and detailing of the bricks for the Ice Factory at Victoria for Grosvenor, and 77 Coleman Street in the City of London, where we used a charcoal-coloured Coleford brick.

We’ve worked with them for over 15 years, and value their knowledge finding the right product to suit our aesthetic, technical and cost requirements. The company saves us valuable time by doing extensive research on our behalf.

Pritchard Themis designed pendant lights in for the reception of Buckley Gray Yeoman’s 77 Coleman Street in the City of London.
Pritchard Themis designed pendant lights in for the reception of Buckley Gray Yeoman’s 77 Coleman Street in the City of London. Credit: Dirk Lindner

Pritchard Themis

There are a few great lighting designers out there. Pritchard Themis is a name that often comes up in conversations with clients, and has a great reputation. So we are very pleased to work with it when we get the chance.

At 77 Coleman Street, we significantly refurbished the 1980s building, revealing this fantastic coffered concrete soffit in the reception space. It had been cast with real skill, and we wanted a meticulous lighting design to work with it. Pritchard Themis suggested a bespoke pendant that really brought the concrete grid to life.

  • Pritchard Themis’s pendant lights illuminate the concrete coffers in the reception of Buckley Gray Yeoman’s 77 Coleman Street in the City of London.
    Pritchard Themis’s pendant lights illuminate the concrete coffers in the reception of Buckley Gray Yeoman’s 77 Coleman Street in the City of London. Credit: Dirk Lindner
  • Pritchard Themis’s pendant lights create a warm glow in the coffered soffit of the reception at Buckley Gray Yeoman’s 77 Coleman Street in the City of London.
    Pritchard Themis’s pendant lights create a warm glow in the coffered soffit of the reception at Buckley Gray Yeoman’s 77 Coleman Street in the City of London. Credit: Dirk Lindner
  • Design development of lighting by Pritchard Themis for Buckley Gray Yeoman’s 77 Coleman Street in the City of London.
    Design development of lighting by Pritchard Themis for Buckley Gray Yeoman’s 77 Coleman Street in the City of London. Credit: Buckley Gray Yeoman
123

Together, we came up with a brass finish that nestles in the coffers to give a very warm glow. The same pendants hang from long cables in other areas to create intimacy. The lighting really enhances the luxurious finishes throughout the large reception area. It’s beautiful. It was great to create a bespoke solution that’s all about the building.

A Edmonds & Co created the metalwork for Buckley Gray Yeoman’s Central Cross scheme in Chinatown, London.
A Edmonds & Co created the metalwork for Buckley Gray Yeoman’s Central Cross scheme in Chinatown, London. Credit: Luke Hayes

A Edmonds & Co

Edmonds is a long-established family business based in Birmingham that specialises in high-quality joinery and metalwork.

We went to visit its fantastic factory, where lots of really skilled craftsmen work by hand. You could see their craftsmanship and knowledge, and watch the whole process – it was beautifully old-school. That experience was key to us having the confidence the firm could deliver the metalwork at our Central Cross scheme in Chinatown, London.

This refurbishment project has a ground floor facade stretching over 100m from Charing Cross Road through Newport Court to Newport Place. We wanted a modern design that reflected East Asian cultures and traditional Chinese shopfronts. The selection of brass was key, as was creating a rich patina through the use of acid and bronzing powder.

  • A Edmonds & Co created the metalwork for Buckley Gray Yeoman’s Central Cross scheme in Chinatown, London.
    A Edmonds & Co created the metalwork for Buckley Gray Yeoman’s Central Cross scheme in Chinatown, London. Credit: Dirk Lindner
  • A Edmonds & Co created the metalwork for Buckley Gray Yeoman’s Central Cross scheme in Chinatown, London.
    A Edmonds & Co created the metalwork for Buckley Gray Yeoman’s Central Cross scheme in Chinatown, London. Credit: Dirk Lindner
  • Sample metalwork by A Edmonds & Co for Buckley Gray Yeoman’s Central Cross scheme in Chinatown, London.
    Sample metalwork by A Edmonds & Co for Buckley Gray Yeoman’s Central Cross scheme in Chinatown, London. Credit: Buckley Gray Yeoman
  • Sample metalwork by A Edmonds & Co for Buckley Gray Yeoman’s Central Cross scheme in Chinatown, London.
    Sample metalwork by A Edmonds & Co for Buckley Gray Yeoman’s Central Cross scheme in Chinatown, London. Credit: Buckley Gray Yeoman
  • A Edmonds & Co preparing the metalwork for Buckley Gray Yeoman’s Central Cross scheme in Chinatown, London.
    A Edmonds & Co preparing the metalwork for Buckley Gray Yeoman’s Central Cross scheme in Chinatown, London. Credit: Buckley Gray Yeoman
12345

We came up with a design for the metalwork that varied throughout the scheme to suit the different street conditions. This included laser-cut fretwork as part of the ventilation strategy. Fixed brass canopies with a curved uplift reference the sweeping profile of a pagoda roof. Edmonds built one-to-one prototypes of the column detail, canopy and fretwork pattern so that we had the confidence that it was the right solution.

We were really pleased with the results. I don’t think many manufacturers could have got to that level of quality and done that level of experimentation with the brass to get the effect that we were looking for.

Buckley Gray Yeoman specified FormaFantasma’s ExCinere glazed tiles at Technique in Clerkenwell, London.
Buckley Gray Yeoman specified FormaFantasma’s ExCinere glazed tiles at Technique in Clerkenwell, London. Credit: Jack Hobhouse

FormaFantasma

FormaFantasma is a research-based design studio that works on all sorts of projects including product design. One of its products is ExCinere, a collection of glazed tiles made from Italian volcanic ash from Mount Etna. These are a new take on the use of volcanic lava as a building material.

A colleague was introduced to the company at a design fair in Milan, and loved the richness of the tiles, which use a traditional process to create something very new and modern. He immediately saw an opportunity to collaborate on one of our projects, Technique in the heart of Clerkenwell – that's all about sustainability and the juxtaposition of old and new.

  • FormaFantasma’s ExCinere glazed tiles in the reception at Technique, designed by Buckley Gray Yeoman in Clerkenwell, London.
    FormaFantasma’s ExCinere glazed tiles in the reception at Technique, designed by Buckley Gray Yeoman in Clerkenwell, London. Credit: Jack Hobhouse
  • Detail of FormaFantasma’s ExCinere glazed tiles in the reception at Technique, designed by Buckley Gray Yeoman in Clerkenwell, London.
    Detail of FormaFantasma’s ExCinere glazed tiles in the reception at Technique, designed by Buckley Gray Yeoman in Clerkenwell, London. Credit: Jack Hobhouse
  • FormaFantasma’s ExCinere glazed tiles are created using volcanic ash.
    FormaFantasma’s ExCinere glazed tiles are created using volcanic ash. Credit: FormaFantasma
123

The dedication to luxurious but low impact materials in this project is exemplified by FormaFantasma’s concept for the reception. It is a nod to the sumptuous modernism of Milan’s mid-century ingressi (entrance halls), with sharp-edged stretches of rich ochres. The effect is rigorous and minimalist yet almost glowing. They become a sort of installation that challenges the traditional idea of an office reception.

FormaFantasma’s work is a fascinating bridge between materials, their historical context and sustainability. We would love to collaborate with the firm again.

Laura O’Hagan is a director of BGY

As told to Pamela Buxton

 

Latest

A Melbourne office tower features over 1,000 solar cells on its facade, generating more energy than the building consumes and cutting CO2 emissions by 70 tonnes per year

A Melbourne office tower has over 1,000 solar cells on its facade, generating more energy than the building consumes

Exploitation of this traditional and plentiful material is opening opportunities in the region, ticking all the environmental and heritage boxes while scoring highly on aesthetics too

Traditional material scores highly on heritage and aesthetics too

Shocking reports from the RIBA and ARB revealing dangerously low wellbeing among architects prompt RIBA president Muyiwa Oki to insist we make a just and supportive workplace more than a platitude

Make wellbeing more than a platitude, demands Muyiwa Oke

Continuing our mini-series, Wayne Head is enthralled by this account of Detroit's underground music scene, which thrived in the buildings left empty by the city's decline

Wayne Head is enthralled by this account of how Detroit's underground music scene benefited from the city's industrial decline

Create a centre of conservation excellence in Norfolk, design an artistic trail through an Oxfordshire housing development, work on the regeneration of a County Durham harbourside - some of the latest architecture contracts and competitions from across the industry

Latest: Norman church preservation