Glenn Howells

Glenn Howells
Glenn Paul Howells (born 1961) is a British architect and a director and founder of Howells.
Early life
Howells was born in Stourbridge, England and educated in Plymouth.
Practice
His practice, Howells (formerly Glenn Howells Architects), has offices in Birmingham and London. Howells founded his practice in London in 1990 but later moved the main office to Birmingham in 1992. The practice now employs 150 people in its Birmingham and London studios and works across the UK and the Republic of Ireland in many sectors including masterplanning, residential, offices, education, retail, health, hotel and leisure.
Early projects included the award-winning Custard Factory, an affordable creative business space in Birmingham for developer Bennie Gray and a series of arts projects including the Market Place Theatre in Armagh, Northern Ireland (which won a RIBA regional award) and the Courtyard Theatre in Hereford.
The practice subsequently expanded into residential and mixed-use regeneration schemes with a series of projects for innovative developer Urban Splash. These included Timber Wharf and Burton Place in Manchester and the remodeling of Birmingham's landmark Rotunda office building into residential use.
Among its public projects is the Savill Building at Windsor Great Park, shortlisted for the 2007 RIBA Stirling Prize. The competition winning scheme run by The Crown Estate, was intended to create a gateway to the listed gardens reflecting the character and quality of the park. The building grouped all visitor facilities under a grid shell roof creating a series of linked spaces. The roof is constructed from larch and clad with green oak from sustainable sources from the Windsor Estate. It is supported by an earth structure on the entrance side which houses ancillary facilities, while the garden side is elevated on legs to take advantage of the views. It opened to the public in June 2006.
Another key public project is the acclaimed English National Ballet at the Mulryan Centre for Dance, winner of the RIBA London Building of the Year 2021 and the Architects' Journal AJ100 Building of the Year 2020. This public-facing, purpose-built facility opens up to a civic square and invites the passers-by in through a ground-floor exhibition and café, which in turn opens up to an atrium that connects to all the levels with a feature stair.
Today, the practice is working on a number of large scale projects and masterplans including thousands of homes as part of the regeneration of London's former docks and the mixed-use redevelopment of the historically sensitive Paradise Circus area of central Birmingham for Argent. In addition, GHA are masterplanning Port Loop, a new canalside community in Birmingham for Urban Splash and Places for People.
The practice is continuing to work with developer Ballymore by masterplanning former brownfield sites along the River Thames such as Royal Wharf, Riverscape, London City Island in East London and Brentford Waterside in West London.
The practice's design approach was featured in an interview for the RIBA Journal in 2019. In 2018 Glenn Howells was appointed visiting professor at Birmingham City University in its School of Architecture and Design and chair of the Birmingham Hippodrome Board of Trustees.
The practice rebranded from Glenn Howells Architects to Howells on 28 April 2023.
Howells has often pushed the development of young, local talent and engages with Birmingham teenagers at the practice's annual work experience programme.
Awards
Howells' projects have won a diverse range of awards including those of the Royal Institute of British Architects National Awards, the Architects' Journal AJ100 Building of the Year Award, the Chicago Athenaeum International Architecture Award, the American Institute of Architects Award, the British Council for Offices, National Homebuilder, Housing Design and RICS awards, Civic Trust and Civic Voice awards, British Construction Industry Awards and Concrete Society and Brick Awards. In 2019 Glenn Howells was awarded the BCO Regional Committee Chair's Award in recognition of outstanding contribution to the regional property industry.
External roles
Outside his architectural practice, Howells has spent time on a number of boards for creative and education organisations and advised government bodies and local authorities. He delivers lectures and keynote addresses and in 2017 gave a TEDxBrum talk on intensity and density.
Advisory roles:
2018-present: Birmingham Hippodrome Board of Trustees, Chair
2017-present: Birmingham City University Board of Trustees, Member
2005-present: Design:Midlands, Trustee
2018-present: Ikon Gallery, London Advisory Board Member
2015-2017: HS2 Design Review Panel, Member
2011-2017: University of Warwick Estates Committee, Chair
2009-2017: Ikon Gallery, Chair
2008-2011: University of Warwick Council, Member
2006-2018: Birmingham Hippodrome Board of Trustees, Member
2006-2017: Ikon Gallery, Board Member
2006-2012: CABE London 2012 Olympic Panel, Member
2006-2009: Birmingham Prospectus Steering Group, Member
2000-2015: CABE National Design Review Panel, Member
Education roles:
2018-present: Birmingham City University, Visiting Professor
2017-present: Birmingham City University, Trustee
2010-present: Centre for Alternative Technology, Visiting Lecturer
2011-2012: Sheffield Hallam University, External Examiner
2007-2010: Nottingham Trent University, Visiting Professor
2003-2006: University of Nottingham, External Examiner
1998-2001: Queen's University, Belfast, External Examiner
1995-1998: Birmingham City University, Visiting Lecturer
Awards judging:
2015-2017: RIBA Competitions Judging Panel
2012-2014: British Council of Offices National Judging Panel
2003-2010: RIBA National Awards Judging Panel
2000-2010: RIBA National Awards Panel
Projects
Selected projects include:
Masterplanning
Royal Wharf, Royal Docks, London
Paradise, Birmingham,
Maple Quays, Canada Water, London,
London City Island
Blackwall Yard, London
Port Loop, Birmingham
Martineau Galleries, Birmingham
Brentford Waterside, London
New Garden Square, Birmingham
Abbey Street, Nuneaton
Housing
Brick House, Port Loop, Birmingham
Burton Place, Castlefield, Manchester
Elliott Road, Birmingham
Luna Building, Bermondsey, London
Kent Street, Birmingham
Maple Quays, Canada Water, London
The Mercian, Birmingham
Octagon, Paradise, Birmingham
Parkside, Cambridge,
Perry Barr Village, Birmingham
Printworks, London,
Rotunda, Birmingham,
Southside, Birmingham,
Straits Village, Nottingham
Timber Wharf, Manchester,
The Triangle, Swindon,
Urbanest King's Cross, London,
Urbanest Vauxhall, London,
Wardian, London
Wembley Link, London
Wirral Waters One, Birkenhead
Single Houses
Glass House, Hampstead
Moat House, Dorsington
Workplace
125 Deansgate, Manchester
Custard Factory, Birmingham
Eleven Brindleyplace, Birmingham
i9, Wolverhampton
Maltings Place, Bermondsey, London
One Centenary Way, Paradise, Birmingham
One St Peter's Square, Manchester
Severn Trent Water, Shrewsbury
Two Chamberlain Square, Paradise, Birmingham
Ty Admiral, Cardiff
Public and Education
Alley Theatre, Strabane (with AJA)
Aspex Gallery, Portsmouth
Bramall Music Building, University of Birmingham, Birmingham
English National Ballet at the Mulryan Centre for Dance, London
Lime Street Gateway, Liverpool
Moss House, University College Birmingham
National Memorial Arboretum, Alrewas, Staffordshire
National Film and Television School
Newman University
Saint Martin's School, Solihull
Savill Building, Windsor Great Park
The Courtyard, Hereford
The Marketplace, Armagh, Northern Ireland
Westonbirt Aboretum, Tetbury
Westonbirt Walkway, Westonbirt Arboretum, Tetbury
Wirral Metropolitan College, Wirral
Retail and Leisure
Edgbaston Priory Club, Birmingham
Gloucester Services, Gloucester
John Lewis, Exeter
John Lewis, Oxford
Lakeside Activity Centre, Nene Park, Peterborough
One Ratcliff Square, Paradise, Birmingham
Water Pavilions, Canary Wharf, London
Health and Extra Care
Brassington Avenue, Sutton Coldfield
Institute of Translational Medicine, Birmingham
One Bayshill Road, Cheltenham
TouchBase, Birmingham
University Hospital Birmingham
References
External links
Glenn Howells presents a talk as a part of the London Festival of Architecture 2008 (video)
Architects from Worcestershire
Living people
People from Stourbridge
1961 births