Welcome to Mae

Creativity-led. Community-led. Drawing on the DNA of the neighbourhood, we create welcoming places for people.
We design policy as well as buildings. Inspired by our founder’s work at CABE, our thinking advances best practice.
We manage complexity. With carefully crafted architecture, we turn challenging sites into buildings with a distinct identity.

Mæ's Unit 5 at London Metropolitan University School of Art, Architecture and Design 2020 Summer Show Research News

London Metropolitan University's School of Art, Architecture and Design summer degree show is taking place online this year.

Titled 'Liveness', the online event celebrates the work and successes of students, and the culture of the school which has thrived in new ways while its buildings remain closed during the Covid-19 emergency.

Mæ's Unit 5 postgraduate module has published a portfolio showcasing the research that students on the course have carried out over the course of their studies.

This year’s Unit 5 programme considered the implication construction methods and materials have on the landscape, exploring the tectonics of timber construction to form tactile and expressive collective housing, buildings with civic gravitas and urban gardens.

July 2020 Read more

Mæ appointed as masterplan architect for Meridian Water Project Update

Mæ has been appointed by London Borough of Enfield as masterplan architect for Meridian Water. The £6bn, 20-year regeneration programme will bring 10,000 homes alongside a truly mixed-use community and thousands of jobs to Enfield. As the Borough declares a climate emergency our goal is to make Meridian Water the UK’s most sustainable development and help realise their commitment to making the authority carbon neural by 2030.

April 2020 Read more

Alex Ely takes part in Melbourne School of Design's online event 'From Here; For Now' Research News

'From Here; for Now' is an international programme of talks in collaboration with Melbourne School of Design, University of Melbourne.

The talk was streamed live to a global audience as part of 'Space that can be occupied, where some things can be done'. Alex Ely discussed our research publication 'From City to Room: a manifesto for better living', representing the importance of integrated thinking in solving today's urban, social and environmental challenges.

June 2020 Read more

'From City to Room, A manifesto for better living' talk at the London Society Practice News

As part of a series of events connected to our new publication 'From City to Room, A manifesto for better living', we gave a talk hosted by the London Society at Studio Egret West.

Decades of underprovision, combined with unprecedented population growth mean that buildings have to work more efficiently than ever before, both in terms of their uses and the resources they use. The pressures of climate change also mean sustainability is no longer an add-on but the starting point for any discussion about how, where and what we build. 

So how do we overcome these challenges. How can we ensure that more is also better? And what can we do to give people the homes, buildings, neighbourhoods and cities they need?

The talk explored the integrated thinking that we believe is necessary to solving today’s urban, social and environmental challenges.

February 2020 Read more

Agar Grove 1c wins planning consent Project Update

Agar Grove 1c, the second phase of Mæ's collaborative scheme with Hawkins\Brown for the London Borough of Camden has successfully achieved planning permission.

Following consultations with residents, the scheme draws on the built context of the area, with terraces, villas and mansion blocks facing public spaces.

The largest Passivhaus scheme in the UK, Agar Grove Estate won The Mayor’s Award for Sustainable and Environmental Planning at the London Planning Awards in 2019.

June 2020

Caudale shortlisted for RIBA Regional Awards 2020 Project Update

Caudale, part of our Regent's Park Infill Sites scheme, has been shortlisted for an RIBA Regional Award. The project provides high quality replacement housing for local residents displaced by the path of High Speed 2 in the Regent's Park area.

The RIBA been celebrating outstanding work for over 180 years. Their awards and prizes are regarded internationally as a mark of excellence, recognising the best architecture, architects, and research.

Winners will be announced later in the year.

June 2020 Read more

Helen Clark joins a panel of experts to launch Be First's new design guidance Research News

As authors of new design guidance for Be First, our associate Helen Clark joined a panel of experts at a webinar in partnership with NLA launching the new publication alongside discussions around Barking and Dagenham’s new build programme.

The new design guidance will steer Be First’s ambitious development programme over the next 20 years. The panel discussed Be First's approach to improving design quality and heard how they intend to apply these principles in Barking and Dagenham.

May 2020

Good Quality Homes for all Londoners Research News

Today the Mayor of London has published 'Good Quality Housing for all Londoners' Supplementary Planning Guidance.

Written by Mæ with the team at the GLA and our consultants, the suite of four guidance documents embeds quality at the centre of housing delivery.

Mæ Founding Director and Mayor’s Design Advocate Alex Ely presented the guidance at GLA's 'Designing a City for All Londoners', which sought to recognise the role of design in improving development and delivering quality of life in a growing city. It celebrated the Good Growth by Design programme and the progress that has been made across a range of priority areas including the circular economy, child-friendly cities and high streets.

March 2020 Read more

Mæ selected for the masterplan of Derbent, Russia's oldest city Practice News

The competition is for the remasterplan of Derbent in Russia, Dagestan's second largest city and one of the oldest cities in Russia.

Our multi-disciplinary and international team has been selected from 144 applications, and our winning strategy is aimed at building in resilience; addressing a lack of housing, education and cultural infrastructure and creating economic opportunity.

Based on the guiding principle of a vibrant city, we have developed a forward looking vision for Derbent which respects the unique identity and qualities of the city.

Derbent is located on the western shore of the Caspian Sea, at the foothills of the Tabasaran Mountains of the Greater Caucasus. The historic city centre is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site for its citadel, ancient town, and fortress buildings.

November 2019 Read more