Celebrating 20 Years
When Webb Yates was founded in 2005, our aim was to combine imagination and technical rigour to create artful, efficient structures.
Two decades on, that spirit still drives us as we embrace challenging projects and explore new ways of working with materials. What started as a small practice with a big idea has grown into a team known for inventive solutions and a passion for collaboration.
Our 20th anniversary has been a chance to reconnect with our team, our collaborators and our community, and to reflect on how far we’ve come. We have celebrated, shared stories and revisited some of the milestones that have shaped our practice.
Thank you to our brilliant clients, collaborators and team, past and present, who have brought energy, creativity and dedication to our work. We are proud of what we have achieved together and excited for what comes next.
Celebrations
From London to Birmingham, we celebrated 20 years of Webb Yates with parties, reunions and plenty of good conversation. Here are some highlights from those moments.
Conversations
Our people shared their stories, looking back at what we’ve built together and forward to the challenges and opportunities ahead.
View ConversationsReflections
The stories, recognition and milestones that have shaped Webb Yates. From standout projects to press coverage and key moments in our history, it’s a look at how far we’ve come and what has defined our practice over the years.
20 Projects
Twenty projects that chart our growth as a practice and show the breadth of what we do. From community spaces and complex infrastructure to pioneering stone and timber hybrids and sensitive heritage refurbishments, each project highlights a moment of innovation, scale, or collaboration. Together, they tell the story of a practice that embraces challenges and keeps expanding what is possible.
In the Media
Recognition from press and peers has helped define our reputation. Here are some of the articles and thought-leadership pieces that have captured our work and ideas over the years.
Sustainability: Building structures
Building Magazine, 2011
Fourteen years ago our team was already sharing knowledge about embodied carbon, helping others understand how design choices can drive sustainability. In a six-storey office case study, they showed how reducing design loads and replacing concrete decks with timber could cut costs, shorten programmes and even create a carbon-negative frame.
“As operational emissions fall, the relative importance of embodied carbon has increased and will continue to grow.”
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Time to stop tinkering with global warming
RIBA Journal, 2019
In this hard-hitting article, Steve Webb challenges the construction industry over its continued use of carbon-intensive materials and its reluctance to change entrenched habits. Drawing on striking comparisons and vivid analogies, he argues that architects, engineers and contractors have known about the climate impact of steel, concrete and bricks for decades yet still prioritise style and convenience over sustainability. Webb highlights timber and stone as proven, lower-carbon alternatives and calls for stronger regulation, new benchmarks and a presumption in favour of sustainable materials to shift the market and make low-carbon choices the default.
“The number of times environmental considerations are eschewed for style is startling.”
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How to design naturally ventilated low energy buildings with real fresh air
RIBA Journal, 2022
Andrew Lerpiniere explains how simple design moves and careful control can deliver naturally ventilated, low-energy buildings with genuinely fresh air. Drawing on traditional principles and modern controls, he shows how natural ventilation and low-carbon materials can create comfortable, efficient spaces that work for the future.
“The key is in controlling the supply of fresh air, which adds an element of complexity.”
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Engineering the Future
Building Design, 2022 –
Since 2022 we’ve been publishing a series of opinion pieces in Building Design, sharing ideas on how to build better. The articles look at how engineers and designers can rethink conventional approaches, cut energy demand and embodied carbon, design systems and structures holistically, and use policy, procurement and collaboration to accelerate low-carbon change.
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Milestones
