Can the role of town architect be revived?

The Greater London Authority (GLA) has announced the appointment of Holly Lewis (pictured), co-founding partner of the architecture firm We Made That, as the new town architect for Hackney Central.

Her role is part of a two-year pilot programme that aims to revive local design leadership within councils, an approach that has waned in the UK since the 1980s. Once an essential part of council operations, the role of municipal architects has seen a significant decline, with Public Practice figures showing that only 1 percent of UK architects worked for local governments by 2020, down from 49 percent in 1976.

“Place-specific design leadership can be incredibly important,” Lewis told Cities Today. “To have someone who is looking at the ‘whole’ of a place, not just an individual project, and thinking about how that whole can be more than the sum of its parts, is really powerful.”

She said that in the UK architects tend to look at a single building while planners with urban designers try to co-ordinate all the pieces across different sites.

“When that system works well, it can be great, but it doesn’t always work and our places suffer when development is disjointed and of low quality,” she said.

Lewis’s appointment, funded by the GLA, is one of ten town architect positions created across London as part of a broader initiative to improve public spaces and development cohesion. As the town architect for Hackney, she will work closely with Hackney’s in-house teams to ensure that developments in Hackney Central align with the council’s place-shaping ambitions, community input, and long-term vision.

Upgrades to transit routes

One of the strategy’s focal points is transport improvements, supported by £19.1 million from the previous fund known as Levelling Up.

“There has been investment into new entrances to the station,” she said. “These will be further supported by upgrades to streets and routes that lead to the station, so that people’s overall journeys are more pleasant and convenient. The funding is being used to restrict vehicular access to some roads so they are used by only buses and cycles, so connections to public transport here will be improved.”

Lewis will oversee the integration of other design projects, such as public realm enhancements and conservation efforts, ensuring they contribute to the area’s civic and cultural character.

The rebirth of town architect

Reviving roles like the town architect are trying to address gaps in local government design leadership. In the past, architects within councils oversaw projects from a community-oriented perspective, helping create cities that were more than just functional—places that reflected local character and cohesion.

Lewis hopes to serve as a bridge between community interests and technical design, helping to unify disparate projects into a single, integrated vision but she sees technology and innovation as tools, not drivers, in this effort, focusing first on the community’s needs.

“We need to understand each place’s specific challenges and ask if technology and innovation can help to address or unlock them,” she said.

At the end of the two-year pilot, the GLA will evaluate whether town architect roles can be a sustainable approach for councils across the UK.

Image: We Made That / Hackney Borough Council