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.

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

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. (Image credit London Borough of Enfield)

April 2020 Read more

Split-level living takes shape at Agar Grove Project Update

Our passivehaus project for the London Borough of Camden at Agar Grove is making good progress on site. Phase 1b will complete in late 2020 and will deliver mixed-tenure homes including our split-level apartments inspired by the work realised by the borough's own architecture department run by Sydney Cook in the 1960s. Split-level living featured heavily in these projects by the likes of Peter Tabori, Neave Brown and Benson & Forsyth.

April 2020 View Project

'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

Staying connected whilst socially distant Project Update

As we change our working methods due to the current lockdown we are finding creative ways to continue to engage with the communities we design for and reach out to local residents.

For our College Green, Croydon scheme we have been conducting consultation using Webinars, online forums, one-to-one telephone consultations and mail shots. We are keen to ensure that we stay connected – whilst isolated – and with an impressive turnout we’ve been able to respond to questions and follow up specific concerns; allowing us to develop our design ideas and keep shaping communities for London.

April 2020

Sugar House Island R2 topped out Project Update

Sugar House Island is a new mixed use development comprising 1200 homes, retail, leisure and office spaces and winner of the New London Award for Masterplans and Area Strategies - a category that champions placemaking and area-wide regeneration. R2 is one of a number of urban blocks by Mæ. It has been designed for manufacture and assembly (DfMA). The generously planned apartments are constructed using factory produced wall panels ensuring a high degree of quality control, reducing assembly time, minimising waste and improving safety.

March 2020 Read more

200225 Ricsawards Shortlisting Regents Park

Regent's Park Infill Sites shortlisted for RICS Social Impact Awards Project Update

Our Regent's Park Infill Sites scheme has been shortlisted for a RICS Social Impact Award.

The project demonstrates how empty or underused sites can be used for new homes whilst improving the public realm and amenity, enriching the lives of both the new and the existing residents.

The RICS Social Impact Awards recognise examples of where the built environment has had a direct positive social and environmental impact on society.

Winners will be announced at an awards ceremony in June.

February 2020 Read more

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