Space: Working with Benchmark

As the city celebrates London Craft Week this week, we wanted to share a recent interview in Space - our annual magazine released earlier this year - with long-term collaborator Peter Lowe of Benchmark, our Group Architect, Tim Hyman and Art & Interiors Manager, Rebecca Lesser, discussing a relationship forged over three decades of projects.?

Can you remember what the first project was you worked on with Derwent London?

Peter Lowe: My first one was for Gresse Street, the Charlotte Building. When I joined Benchmark twenty years ago, I was a project designer, my first one was a desk with Douglas fir fronts and a stainless steel top. But Benchmark was working with Derwent long before that.

Tim Hyman: My first project with Benchmark was the Angel Building.

PL: I worked on Angel too, it was similar to Gresse Street, it had the Douglas fir, with white Dinesen boards.

TH: There were built-in feature walls, an integrated reception desk. So they were quite architecturally designed pieces. The project completed in 2010.

Rebecca Lesser: Mine was more recent than that. It was bespoke work for our Furnished + Flexible spaces, as well as 25 Savile Row.

Do you know how the working relationship between the companies first began?

TH: I think the conversation began because Benchmark were doing some reproduction mid-century Jens Risom chairs, which Simon Silver saw in Rocket Gallery, which used to be in the Tea Building. I think that possibly sparked it off.

PL: We still have the rights to them and still make them. AHMM were also pivotal at the beginning. We used to do a lot of work with them. There is always that three-pronged relationship; there is the architect, there is us and there is the client.

RL: There was also the close relationship with Sean 34—35 Sutcliffe (Founder of Benchmark). It was always about?craftsmanship and the level of quality you get from Benchmark. It’s very similar to the way that we work with Bill Amberg. It’s rare that we have a building that doesn’t have a bit of Bill Amberg and a bit of Benchmark in it.

PL: I think there is a real appreciation from Derwent’s side of the craftsmanship. I think Derwent knows where to do it, and where not to do it. I remember Simon Silver taking us around Brunel Building and stressing that. That’s what we do, I think when we make things we know where to go that extra bit, and where not to.

TH: There is a difference between people who do architectural timber work, and there are joiners, and there are cabinet makers. Benchmark has real cabinet making skills. The quality is exquisite, perceptible. While you may not notice it straight away, you really do notice it if it’s not there.

PL: We want to produce lovely things, and things we like to make as well. Some things are fun and interesting, some things make you pull your hair out, because they are quite challenging. We don’t mind that. It’s important for us to get it right, because we know it’s worth getting it right.

TH: They are happy collaborations. A team effort between the architect, us and the artisan.

Is the relationship more involved now? Does it start earlier on a project?

TH: It’s not necessarily from the first stage of a project, because buildings can take 10, 15 years. But for the stage of work Benchmark is involved with, they are involved very early, with the architectural teams, in detailed development of particular spaces.

PL: I was talking with Piercy&Company about the Network W1 project the other month, and they are about three years away, but we are just starting to talk about materials. We don’t mind imparting knowledge to help people early on a project.

Can you give us a sense of what working together on 80 Charlotte Street was like, particularly in DL/78?

RL: DL/78 was quite different to work on than most of our projects. DL/78 was finished in July 2021, and we had started to talk about it in November 2020. So, it was a lot quicker. We also knew we had quite a few constraints. A lot of the furniture, like the desks, had to be able to be flipped up and moved out so we could change the space around with maximum flexibility.

Also, we wanted very specific bespoke pieces made, in particular the shelving for the library area as well as the credenzas and café banquettes. They also helped refurbish old pieces that we purchased for the space too. We had antiques arriving, some of which were in a poor state. Benchmark carefully repaired them, and they look great. It was a good collaboration.

PL: It’s interesting, because you look at DL/78 and it’s quite a different project, but the bar at 80 Charlotte Street was a more traditional project for us.

TH: The bar is actually made with not one jot of timber, I mean in the finishes. It’s ceramic and brass, with concealed lighting. It does have a timber sub frame. It begs the question: why would you go to a cabinet maker to make your metalwork? Because they treat it exactly the same way. It doesn’t matter what material it is, we are happy to approach Benchmark.

PL: We have a metalworking shop, and a finishing shop. We are predominantly timber, but we do metalworking. There was a stage at Benchmark when I was doing mitred glass boxes with lights in them. That was the rage back in 2004–5. Every job was a glass box, but we approached it in the same way. It’s got to be perfect.

RL: Benchmark has specialist people they can pull in, for example, with the banquet seating at DL/78 in the café where they did the leather upholstery.

PL: It’s true, we are woodworkers, but we will do the upholstery. If we can’t do something because we need to talk to a laser cutter, or a water jet cutter, we have lots of people we talk to. They are equally passionate about what they do. We have lots of partner relationships. We try to do a lot in-house, but we also recognise when we need to leverage our relationships.

TH: Benchmark approaches everything with the same level of diligence.

How does sustainability fit into both Derwent London and Benchmark ecosystems now?

TH: I think we have never naturally been profligate. At Derwent we try to do things that are commensurate with the area that you are in and that is right for the space. Just let the materiality be the materiality. So, we have always been sustainable because it has been the correct use of natural materials in the right place. We are very much of London, therefore our buildings are contextual in their areas. Which leads you to use appropriate and commensurate materials. We were talking to someone this morning and saying wouldn’t it be great if 50% of the materials on projects, came from within 50 miles. This is something that Rebecca came up with as well, we are all looking at species of trees, we are looking at elm, at ash, with ash dieback, and thinking what can be used.

PL: It could be said that Derwent London buildings are quite classic, they are not going to be ripped down in 10 years. Sustainability to us is also about longevity. From Benchmark’s point of view, we have been environmentally conscious for a long time. We would always make arguments against using anything that is not sustainable. It has to be FSC Wood (Forest Stewardship Council) at the very least.

RL: We had an independent company assess a fit-out of ours, and the Benchmark furniture scored really highly in sustainability terms. It is tricky with the furniture industry as there is a lot of greenwashing.

PL: Sean started Benchmark 38 odd years ago and he was laughed at when he said he wouldn’t make that table in rosewood. He stuck to his guns, and he would say that back then everyone called him a hippy and laughed at him. We are now in the process of changing our upholstery too, we are looking at natural upholstery that has no fire chemicals in it. Our whole range has not changed over, but we are trying.

RL: There aren’t universal standards either, and that’s also a problem.

PL: You have to create your own standard in a way. It does take time, EPDs (Environmental Product Declaration) are very useful, but they do cost more time and money to do. I think that is why Benchmark is not a company that makes things that just get sent out. It’s sometimes hard, but we know it is right, and it will be worth it. We’ve already started to see the value. It’s what we do, we have that passion.

TH: Designers now need to take into consideration the materials that they are using. It was like a subliminal message way back when, not a conscious thing. It’s just that we knew we were working with likeminded people. It’s far more overt now. In the way that we are designing the next generation of buildings. There needs to be a fundamental truth to how you source and use your materials, and an honesty in what they look like. Simon Allford was giving a talk a couple of years ago, and he said that sustainable buildings should look like what they are. That is good appropriate architecture. It really is, and we shouldn’t be afraid of that. We will always make them look beautiful in their own way, but they should be truthful and honest.

What is the next project we will likely see a collaboration on?

TH: I think the next thing we are really excited about working on together is Network. The journey of that building speaks of a more humanistic approach to architecture. It has a more organic feel to it, and we are going to have some fun working with Benchmark on this project.

RL: And the next DL/ space has been given the go ahead at The Featherstone Building, so there will be some lovely opportunities to work together there too.

Space is available to download from derwent.link/space23.