Jim Bryson, Architect

I work with HTA Architects (we were architects for the Greenwich Millenium Village until recently)

The work of the practice is led by community consultation to provide social housing and other related community facilities. The work largely takes place in inner cities and most often encompasses existing neighbourhoods with their own mix of cultures. This entails a process of working directly with residents and other interest groups to deliver solutions with a consensus. The process of consultation is key. The environmental rewards are: transformed existing buildings, redefined land use, new buildings and new external public spaces such as streets and squares, and occasionally completely new environments as with the vision for Greenwich Millenium Village.

I also work independently

My most recent project has been a counselling centre built by a small Christian community in Fife in Scotland. The centre was built wholly with gifted materials, labour and professional advice. From a purchase price of £35000 and materials gifted from local businesses and individuals the Centre was completed and valued at £392,000 by our insurers, without a single penny borrowed at any time. The impact of the building on the individual is beyond my ability to put into words but perhaps expressed by one user, a Solicitor, who on walking into the reception area stopped and in a quiet, almost stunned voice, said that he felt as if he were walking into a beautiful field with wide open spaces, a place of freedom

Jim Bryson can be contacted at: jb@hta-arch.co.uk