Former Foster man to head Make’s Birmingham office

Architect Make is about to continue its expansion by opening an office in Birmingham headed by the architect behind the Swiss Re tower in London.

Ken Shuttleworth’s practice has hired Paul Scott, an ex-project director at Foster and Partners, who for the past two years has been one of four senior directors at Glenn Howells Architects.

Scott is being brought in to head up Make’s work for the £60m final phase of the Mailbox development in Birmingham. In June, Make beat five other shortlisted architects, including Glenn Howells, to design the 36,000 m2 mixed-use “Cube”.

Scott said he was sorry to leave Glenn Howells but was attracted by the challenge of heading a new office.

He said: “I’m leaving here on good terms. I’ve been given an opportunity that I probably wouldn’t be given again. There’s the opportunity to lead on some very exciting projects.

“I’m leaving one organisation to go to another that’s working in a similar environment on the same kind of projects,” he added.

Scott said it would take a while to establish the office and that he would not be setting a target in terms of how many people he wanted the office to grow to as yet.

Scott joined Foster and Partners in 1991 and worked extensively with Ken Shuttleworth on numerous projects, including Swiss Re, where he led the team that delivered the project.

Latterly, he was part of the Glenn Howells Architects team that gained planning consent for Lime Street Gateway in Liverpool, as well as working on the Rotunda in Birmingham with developer Urban Splash.

He was also involved in the successful bid for the 93,000 m2 West Bar scheme in Sheffield, as part of a consortium led by developer Castlemore alongside masterplanner Urbed and public realm specialist Landscape Projects. Ironically, the Glenn Howells team beat Make to the project.

The Cube will include 6000 m2 of shops, 2500 m2 of restaurants and bars, 6000-10,000 m2 of flats, 5000-10,000 m2 of offices and a small boutique hotel.