The practice was established in 1926 and is noted for its work in connection with listed
buildings, museums and galleries and religious buildings. The practice employs 22 people,
all full-time staff. It has a stable workload and finances, and owns it own premises.
The partners, and several members of staff, are all active in conservation through membership
of advisory committees and lecturing. Six practice members are AABC accredited. We enjoy a good working relationship with English Heritage and the statutory amenity societies and
have a current Framework Agreement with English Heritage for their Northern Region.
One of the Partners is the recent past-Chairman of the SPAB.
Religious buildings and sites are a significant practice specialisation, with current major projects at Sheffield Cathedral and Wakefield Cathedral, both Grade I Listed. Completed projects at listed religious buildings include a £5 million project to restore, extend and reorder All Saints’ Church,West Dulwich, following a major fire, the restoration of St Paul’s, Deptford; St George, Southwark; St Mary’s, Ealing and a modern extension to the Grade I Listed Bevis Marks Synagogue following an RIBA competition win. We are appointed as inspecting architects for some 350 churches and 4 cathedrals. We have recently completed the conversion of a Listed former church and halls into a theatre school for the University of Essex.
Projects at major sites in, or formerly in, ecclesiastical use include Fulham Palace, Chicksands Priory, Aylesford Priory, Minster Abbey and West Malling Abbey. The practice’s portfolio includes
an unusually high proportion of secular listed buildings and scheduled ancient monuments, together with work at two World Heritage Sites. We have also carried out projects up to £14.5m
in value at some of the country's most important historic buildings. These include
Windsor Castle,St. James' Palace, Somerset House, Kensington Palace,
The Tower of London and The Queen's House, Greenwich.
We relish the challenge of unusual projects which have encompassed everything from
the Royal Gunpowder Mills, Waltham Abbey, where the 71 hectare industrial site is
now open to the public for the first time in 350 years, to the restoration of
A W N Pugin’s own house, The Grange, in Ramsgate.
Thomas Ford & Partners also have considerable experience of museum and gallery projects,
particularly those which are within listed buildings. These include the V&A (Silver Galleries),
Norwich Castle Keep, the Tower of London, National Maritime Museum, Geffrye Museum (in
collaboration with Ronayne:Design), Imperial War Museum and several major projects at the
Horniman Museum. Other work at the Natural History Museum and Science Museum. Recent
projects include major extensions at Hastings Museum and Chelmsford Museum.
We provide a full range of services from feasibility studies to building surveying and from
conservation to new design. We are commissioned to undertake regular inspections
of some 350 buildings, and our consequential knowledge of building
defects informs our own detailing and repairs.