Goodbye 2023 Hello 2024

What to say about 2023; ‘A Year of Extraordinary Challenges’.?

As is customary at this time of year, my inbox has been awash with self-congratulatory seasonal greetings from Businesses and Business People reflecting on their own variously defined ‘successes’. But, I’m curious. Across a career in architecture spanning more than three decades, I have built many close relationships with people whom I have the fortune to associate as being close friends, and I cannot think of a single one that has not bemoaned the depth of hardship that the last 12-18 months has presented them.

Be under no illusion, 2023 has been an EPIC slog for everyone. But I believe the struggles shouldered this year have been experienced in a more heightened way at the coal face of practice. We are like litmus paper for the industry, manifesting wider patterns of difficulty earlier and deeper. We have seen many practices shelve staff and freeze salaries, desperate to keep things afloat, but not without notable casualties.

The warning signs were there at the back end of 2022, still suffering the aftermath of the pandemic which impacted global supply chains, in turn causing UK interest rates and inflation to escalate, exacerbating the affects of our isolated trade based economy as a consequence of Brexit. Add to this the impact of international conflict and an energy crisis, and we have a fertile breeding ground for market volatility making borrowing more expensive for clients in both private and public sectors, meaning fewer buildings being commissioned, and thus less work for architects.

Like others, Morris+Company has achieved many successes this last year against these very real odds, with multiple project completions, new commissions, several big competition wins, awards and accolades. But the overarching sense doesn’t feel celebratory. It feels more like relief in the face of the almost insufferable stress endured this last year.?

Our website states “Making architecture is an adventure better done in company“ and these words continue to resonate in our vision to foster a conducive environment which enables people to grow. We are not limited by ego, but relish the necessary interaction between all people as we strive to make positive change. Several key members of the Morris+Company family moved on to explore new ventures and horizons this last year, people who have been with us through the thickest and thinnest, and helped guide us through the re-launch of our practice in 2018. But whilst naturally saddening, their departure has also opened opportunities for others to stand up and step in, and as next year represents two decades of practice, I will continue to make space for others to shine.

Consequently, the investment in our new studio on Mare Street, and the space we occupy, is much more than just an architect’s studio. It is a rich and fertile environment for collaboration and exchange which we now share with many other like minded businesses; intentionally coined the #HOMEofIDEAS. We were also joined by EDIT, our resident hyper seasonal, low impact restaurant at the beginning of the year, which has helped to shape the experience of our team in the studio, and to help forge links to the local community.?

Serendipitous and valuable opportunities have emerged as a consequence of this new way of practicing where the borders and territories between business are removed, and we are therefore placing renewed emphasis on being in the office more during 2024, doubling-down on our mission to host a wider cross-industry programme of research and events, which will impart a thoughtful and positive influence on our many friends, collaborators, clients, and communities, whilst resonating with the multifarious challenges we all face. We will also complete our BCorp certification this coming year, which has been years in the making.

2023 has, without fear of contradiction, been the hardest year I have experienced. I have been asked some very difficult questions this year, and had to look hard in the mirror, often.

Is Morris+Company the most important thing in my life? Of course not. But it is a very significant part of who I am, and I am deadly my serious about it.

Bring on 2024.