SPACE @70

Through the Decades

1956

Where it Began

SPACE Architects traces its origins to the post-war reconstruction of Britain and to a conversation between two young architects working in Newcastle City Architect’s Department in the mid-1950s.

Arnold Shaw Waring was working in housing at a time when local authorities were delivering new neighbourhoods at an unprecedented scale, while Leonard Netts was working in education, contributing to the rapid expansion of schools and colleges needed to serve a growing population.

Both shared the belief that architecture should be practical, progressive, and socially beneficial, while also aspiring to quality and longevity. During this time, they began to recognise wider opportunities beyond public-sector practice and set their sights on establishing their own studio.

In 1956, a meeting in Newcastle’s Haymarket Café led to the formation of Waring and Netts. Intended as a one-year partnership, the practice took modest offices on Jesmond Road and set about delivering small housing and local authority commissions.

The timing proved ideal. Britain was in the midst of a major housing programme, and the North East was experiencing rapid physical and social change. The young practice quickly became busy, supported by the volume of work available and a growing reputation for reliable, design-conscious architecture, at a time when speed and economy dominated the profession.

By the early 1960s, the practice had been appointed Consulting Architects to Morpeth, Wallsend and Gosforth Councils. It was working extensively for private developers, including Goftens, Leech, John T Bell (the forerunner of Bellway), Liddell and A Craigie. Although fees could be as low as five guineas per house, the practice insisted on maintaining standards.

To support the expanding workload, James McNeil Squire and Peter Leslie Higgs joined as partners, and the practice moved to larger premises at Lansdowne Terrace, Gosforth. Around this time, David Cuthbert joined the practice as an office junior, the first of many who would build their careers there.

1960s

Civic Confidence, Architectural Ambition

By the mid-1960s, Waring and Netts were operating with a growing sense of civic responsibility and design ambition. The practice was increasingly trusted with prominent commissions that combined scale, visibility and public expectation.

Montagu Court, Gosforth

One of the most visible symbols of this period is Montagu Court, the landmark residential tower overlooking Newcastle’s Town Moor. Commissioned by Cussins Developments, the scheme combined high-density living with a level of amenity and aspiration unusual for its time, including luxury flats, penthouses and a rooftop restaurant. The building remains one of Gosforth’s most recognisable structures.

Gosforth Library and Swimming Pool

For Gosforth Urban District Council, the practice delivered a major library and swimming pool complex, using precast concrete panels, exposed aggregate finishes, Jacobean-faced brickwork and copper roofing.

Avondale Court, Gosforth

By combining a more contemporary look with landscaped courtyards, Avondale Court achieved a strong sense of place. The scheme received both the Ministry of Housing Gold Medal and the Department of the Environment Gold Medal, establishing the practice’s national reputation.

Bulman House

Bulman House holds a special place in the history of Waring and Netts as the practice’s headquarters throughout the 1970s and beyond. The building was created through a collaborative initiative by a group of local professional and commercial firms whose existing offices were under threat of demolition as part of Newcastle City Council’s redevelopment plans for Gosforth.

Rather than acting individually, the group came together to develop an office building that would provide long-term security and modern accommodation. Waring and Netts were both instigators and architects of the project.

Bulman House was conceived as a collectively owned building, with each organisation occupying its own premises within a single, coherent framework. The building was widely regarded as a success and received awards for its quality. For Waring and Netts, it became a long-term base during a period of growth and diversification, and remains a fond chapter in both the practice’s history and Gosforth’s townscape.

1970s

Homes as Social Infrastructure

The 1970s marked a decisive period in the maturation of Waring and Netts. By this point, the practice was no longer defined solely by growth in size and confidence, but by the social intent and civic value of its work, particularly across housing and public-sector commissions.

Architecture during this decade was widely understood as a means of social progress. Waring and Netts were deeply engaged in the delivery of new homes and communities at scale, responding to sustained regional demand for well-designed, affordable housing. Through strong relationships with local authorities and housing bodies, the practice developed a substantial portfolio of social and public housing. These schemes were distinguished by careful planning, integrated landscapes and a pledge to create coherent neighbourhoods rather than isolated developments. In doing so, the practice established a reputation for housing that was humane and grounded in everyday life. At the same time, the practice continued to deliver important commercial and technical projects, reflecting the breadth and complexity of its latest commissions.

Cadcam Centre, Wallsend

A notable example was the Cadcam Centre in Wallsend, built as a research and innovation facility for British Shipbuilders. The building featured a dramatic double-height glazed atrium for meetings, exhibitions and seminars. It was wrapped in advanced curtain walling with tinted glazing and vitreous enamelled steel cladding. It was a confident piece of architecture that reflected the industrial and technological optimism of the period.

In parallel, the practice undertook a series of major corporate and commercial interior projects for Northern Engineering Industries (NEI), including the design and fit-out of the headquarter interiors, directors’ suites, boardrooms and passenger lounge facilities. This work demonstrated a growing capability in high-quality commercial environments and added another strand to the practice’s expanding portfolio.

Organisationally, this was also a decade of generational transition. David Cuthbert became a Partner, and Ken Bell and Joe Gellert, who had joined in 1963, were appointed Associates in 1974 and Partners in 1979, coinciding with the retirement of Arnold Waring. This change ensured continuity while also bringing new energy and direction to the practice's leadership.

1980s

Community Care as a Measure of Maturity

By the 1980s, Waring and Netts had become a fully mature, multi-sector practice, operating with assurance across healthcare, infrastructure and town centre regeneration. Projects were highly regulated, demanding a new level of technical precision.

Blyth Community Hospital

This major integrated hospital and health centre brought together inpatient wards, diagnostics, therapy spaces, a day hospital and shared services around landscaped courtyards. The scheme represented a clear step forward in technical and programme management expertise and anticipated many principles that would later define contemporary community healthcare campuses.

Gosforth Centre

At an urban scale, the practice delivered Gosforth Centre, a town-centre shopping development providing 60,000 square feet of retail space. The project played a key role in revitalising Gosforth High Street, reinforcing its commercial identity and demonstrating the practice’s growing influence on the economic and spatial life of established centres.

Tyne and Wear Metro

In 1980, Waring and Netts were appointed as one of the architectural teams for the Tyne and Wear Metro Rapid Transit System, designing stations including Byker, Chillingham Road, South Shields and Tyne Dock. The Metro remains one of the most iconic infrastructure projects in the region’s modern history, and the appointment reflected the practice’s standing as a trusted delivery partner for high-profile public works.

1990s

Commercial Growth and Technical Confidence

The 1990s marked a period of commercial expansion and increasing technical ambition for the practice. Having established strong foundations in housing, healthcare and public sector work, the practice began to operate across a broader geography and increasingly diverse building types.

A defining strand of work during this decade was the practice’s long-standing relationship with Aldi Stores UK. From 1991, acting as lead consultant, Waring and Netts delivered more than 60 stores across northern England, from the Scottish Borders to Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire. What began as a programme of traditionally constructed buildings evolved into a highly systemised approach. Prefabricated structural and envelope components were imported from Europe. This work placed the practice at the forefront of efficient, repeatable retail delivery well before such methods became commonplace.

At a larger scale, the practice delivered the North Eastern Co-operative Society Hypermarket at Summerville Farm, Stockton. The 120,000-square-foot retail complex combined food and non-food retail, café and restaurant facilities, a petrol filling station, a half-mile canopy walkway and extensive customer parking.

The same ambition was evident at the Teesside Waste-to-Energy Plant. This pioneering industrial facility used advanced clean technologies to convert domestic waste into electricity for the national grid. Alongside demanding engineering requirements, the project embedded environmental ambition by recycling waste by-products into concrete construction materials. It represented an early exploration of circular thinking within large-scale infrastructure.

Alongside commercially driven growth, the 1990s also marked the emergence of a new strand of work in conservation and heritage. The practice began working with the National Trust on historic estates, including Cragside and Gibside, delivering sensitive repair, adaptation and conservation projects to listed buildings of national importance.

By the mid-1990s, the cumulative impact of expansion and diversification was clear. The practice had grown to around 30 architects, technicians and support staff and had once again outgrown its premises. In response, a new headquarters was developed at Balliol Business Park in Benton, opening in 1997. More than a change of address, the move signalled permanence and readiness for the century ahead.

2000s

New Century, New Contexts

As the practice entered the new millennium, it did so at a moment of growing confidence in the UK construction and public sectors. Following the election of Tony Blair’s government in 1997, sustained investment in schools, hospitals and public infrastructure created new opportunities nationwide, while renewed commercial confidence drove development in towns and cities.

Having completed his Part I placement at the practice in the 1990s, Rob Charlton returned to Waring and Netts in 2000 and became a Partner in 2003. This period marked the beginning of a new phase in the practice’s strategic direction.

In the early 2000s, the practice undertook extensive work in the education sector, particularly for Northumberland County Council, including projects such as Blyth Community College. It became a strategic partner to the authority. At the same time, the practice became increasingly involved in PFI (Private Finance Initiative) projects, which were widely seen at the time as an effective way to deliver public-sector investment.

Under PFI, Waring and Netts delivered numerous school projects, including schemes in Gateshead and Dumfries and Galloway. In the healthcare sector, it worked on the redevelopment of the Newcastle RVI and several primary care facilities, including the Langbaurgh Centre in Redcar and Cleveland.

Alongside this growth in public sector work, the practice also expanded its commercial portfolio, working with developers including Silverlink and City & Northern. With Silverlink, the practice delivered the Trinity Gardens mixed-use development on Newcastle Quayside and Baltic Place, a significant commercial office development on Gateshead Quayside.

As the scale and diversity of the practice increased, Waring and Netts evolved their identity. They became SPACE Architects, a change that reflected both a broader ambition and greater flexibility to develop new services and ways of working.

2010s

National Reach and Digital Leadership

The decade included commercial and urban work in the North East, most notably the appointment to masterplan a strategic site beside Newcastle Central Station. Alongside the wider vision, it delivered several major elements of the scheme, including the Crowne Plaza Hotel, a multi-storey car park and new commercial offices for the City Council.

In the early 2010s, SPACE Architects developed a strategic relationship with Balfour Beatty, working on the Building Schools for the Future programme and delivering schools in Sunderland, Hull, Knowsley and several other locations across the UK.

To support this growing national workload, the practice opened offices in Leeds and Manchester and expanded rapidly, reaching a peak of around 200 people.

At the same time, the increasing technical and regulatory nature of projects required investment in digital capability. The practice embedded 3D modelling and BIM workflows, particularly Autodesk Revit, at the centre of its design and technical processes. This digital capability was not an add-on; it became structural to the practice.

As the practice’s digital reputation grew, this capability was further formalised through the creation of specialist businesses: BIM Technologies, providing BIM consultancy services, and Bimstore, established to meet the need for high-quality digital manufacturer content.

To accommodate its growing team, the practice moved into Spaceworks, a 25,000 sq ft headquarters building in South Gosforth, Newcastle.

2020s

Conviction in Practice

The early 2020s brought clarity for SPACE, with education, civic, retail and residential projects focused on long-term value and social purpose. Schools and universities prioritised performance and climate-responsive environments, while residential work explored first-of-its-kind approaches through key partnerships.

By this time, the practice was led by a board including Rob Charlton, David Coundon, Paul Broadfoot, Chris Holmes, David Wise and Andrew Bumfrey.

SPACE Architects continued to lead the way in education design with projects such as Belle Vue Academy and Woodham Academy.

Woodham Academy, Newton Aycliffe

As the North East’s first Net Zero Carbon in Operation secondary school, Woodham Academy offers a calm, intuitive environment that supports both learning and daily routines. Delivered through the Department for Education’s S21 framework, the project integrates sustainable systems, clear circulation, and a strong local identity, serving its students as well as the wider community.

At the same time, the practice became the national specification architect for Lidl and developed strategic technical relationships with major housebuilders, including Vistry and Barratt.

Alongside new-build programmes, the practice built a strong reputation in the creative reuse and transformation of existing buildings, including the remodelling of Darlington Hippodrome and Stockton Globe, the Hopetown development in Darlington, and the award-winning transformation of the Farrell Centre for Newcastle University.

Farrell Centre, Newcastle

A Grade II-listed building reimagined as a public urban room, the Farrell Centre invites everyone to explore, question, and experience architecture. Its design blends sensitive conservation with bold new interventions. Delivered for Newcastle University in partnership with Elliott Architects, the scheme was recognised with an RIBA North East Award in 2025.

Over time, the practice became increasingly focused on its impact on people, planet and place. B Corp certification, the _shift climate conference and an ongoing commitment to creative reuse underscore the practice’s responsibility-led approach. SPACE Architects received wide recognition across projects, ESG categories and individual titles, culminating in three-star Best Companies accreditation and being named Best Small Company to Work For in the North East.

2026

Onwards

Entering its eighth decade, SPACE Architects continues to develop its practice through long-standing principles.

With roots in the North East and work extending across sectors and regions, the studio remains attentive to how architecture can support communities and deliver lasting, positive impact for generations to come.

In 2026, the practice marks seventy years through @70, a year-long programme of talks, exhibitions and creative projects developed with partners, alumni and local institutions. Structured around People, Planet and Place, the programme is outward-facing as well as reflective, reinforcing continuity rather than conclusion and setting a clear direction for what comes next.