Our people

Sarah joined Axis in 2018 and is an integral member of the interiors team. With a background in the workplace, retail and hospitality industry and a strong focus on emerging trends, she is enthusiastic in designing interiors that are practical, experiential and people oriented.
She has an extensive product knowledge and an obsession with materials and finishes, pushing forward trend-focused schemes. Sarah is passionate about the strategy, intelligence and thinking behind great design.
Amongst other substantial successes, Sarah played a role in the delivery of the new HSBC UK office in Sheffield.

Chris trained at the University of Sheffield, School of Architecture before joining AXIS in 1995. He became a Director of the Practice in 2001 and is also a board member of Four Architecture & Design.

Alongside working on a number of residential and regeneration projects, including work for several housing associations, Chris has been involved in high-profile projects across England. He was influential in the development of HSBC’s new UK headquarters in Birmingham and has worked with the global bank across the UK.

Chris has also taken the lead on ‘The Bothy’ spa at Heckfield Place, a hotel dubbed ‘Most Impressive Country Hotel in England’ by Forbes Magazine. He has experience taking on challenging projects and delivering exceptional results.

Chris has undertaken a range of work across the financial, residential and hospitality sectors, demonstrating his versatility and diligence as an architect.

Within AXIS, Chris has overall responsibility for IT facilities and Chartered Practice Management. Chris is a qualified Eco Homes/Code for Sustainable Homes assessor and is a certified member of the Association of Project Safety.

Ben has worked extensively on the design and implementation of a number of new build residential, mixed use and commercial schemes. And he has extensive experience working on Listed Buildings and challenging urban sites.

As a Senior Architect and Director, he generally works on larger scale and more complex projects within the office.

Previous experience also includes smaller scale conversion works but extends to larger scale Urban Regeneration projects.

Ben worked over a number of years to bring about the successful completion of the £20m mixed use project at Leopold Square in central Sheffield, the regeneration of Kelham Island, and has also gained planning permission for the North Street Quarter in Lewes, one of the largest planning applications in a national park. He has recently successfully completed a £40m student accommodation scheme in Sheffield for LIV Student.

Ben has also lectured part time in architecture.

“I have worked for AXIS for nearly twenty years and run major projects from concept to completion in many sectors, from award winning crafted conversions of listed historic buildings to complex large scale urban design schemes. AXIS offers the scope for me to deliver the best quality designs that are commercially viable and able to be built keeping both the clients and contractors happy. I want to make sure that the craft of building is valued and expressed through the overall design and the details I design, but most importantly ensure that the finished product is something everyone involved can be proud of for years to come.”

Leanora is an RIBA Chartered Architect who has been with the practice since 2004. She has delivered projects in a broad range of sectors including residential, commercial and retail, with experience in Conservation, Listed Buildings, Planning and Construction. Leanora has over 10 years’ experience working with HSBC as well as a range of commercial projects throughout Sheffield and the U.K. She was also involved in the renovation of a 60’s office tower in sheffield city centre, managing the process of gaining planning approval for it’s change of use to residential accommodation and upgrading the external façades. Telephone House is now a thriving student community, which sits in a pivotal position in relation to the Sheffield Retail Quarter. She has also delivered a series of complex change-of-use schemes in the conservation area of Harrogate, some being Listed Buildings and all requiring a sensitive and thoughtful approach. The latest of these sites also includes a substantial new-build portion with challenging site constraints.

She is President of the Sheffield Society of Architects, who are regularly consulted by Sheffield City Council over the proposed Sheffield Retail Quarter; they continue to be involved in the updating of the Urban Design Compendium as a design guide document for Sheffield City Centre’s future. The SSA also provide training and networking opportunities for local Architects, which have enabled her to build relationships across our local design community. Family events and schools programmes have also enabled Leanora to share experience and knowledge as well as gain insight into our community’s needs.

She is also a regular tutor at Sheffield University, and enjoys seeing the 3rd year student’s projects develop between the technical support sessions she provides.

Leanora is organised and efficient, with a keen eye on the smallest details as well as achieving overall quality of design and service for our clients. She enjoys motivating her team and is passionate about our Employee Owned status; encouraging everyone to give their best in order to achieve design quality as well as quality of life for those occupying our architecture, for our clients, and for ourselves.

She is a keen parkrunner, enjoys lengthy walks (between pubs) in idyllic European cities, and, as a Lancashire–Yorkshire migrant, discussing the modern war of the roses – Blackpool versus Bridlington. Away from her desk she can most often be found sampling the latest beer in the family’s microbrewery, planning more foreign adventures or larking about in tents in the Peak District.

Damien is currently part of our retail banking team and has experience in working with hundreds of sites across the UK and beyond. Our retail banking clients have strong brands and in-depth global design guides; our team tailor a proposal for each site through studying the customer journey and liaising closely with the Local Authority. This is particularly important when working with the estates including conservation and listed buildings. The projects are often time and budget critical so it is important that Damien and the team are strong communicators both internally and externally to the office, in maintaining the quality our clients have come to expect from AXIS.

As an architectural technologist, Luke always aims to provide a high quality and considered service for all of the projects he helps to deliver.

Luke joined AXIS as an undergraduate and is currently studying to complete his qualifications. Whilst training, Luke won the Engineering Education Scheme Gold Crest Award and was the Winner of the LRSA One Day Design Competition. He always approaches challenges with an attention to detail and a smile.

Richard has worked in the AXIS team for over 15 years and is a key member of the practice with an aptitude for precision and accuracy. Richard is also involved in many of the banking projects in the practice and has developed a intricate technical knowledge over the years.

“I take a leading role in managing and implementing large projects for our finance sector clients. My work can be anything from high level space planning to detailed implementation of global standards – no two projects are ever alike!”

Since joining AXIS in 2014, Ryan has been heavily involved in many of our retail banking projects.
This has led him to gain valuable knowledge regarding retail / commercial design and technical detailing, as well as implementing global design standards.

Ryan is currently heading up our Nationwide Building Society Account with Four Architecture & Design; a joint venture between four UK architectural practices. He has successfully delivered many projects, from small refurbishments to large acquisitions, with an attitude to always go above and beyond the client’s expectations.

Michael has over 13 years’ experience within AXIS. He has been involved in several office projects for HSBC including, Grosvenor House in Sheffield (global IT hub), Edmund Street in Birmingham (Office), Tankersley in Barnsley (Data Centre), 3 Munroe Court in Leeds (Call centre), 6 Lochside Avenue in Edinburgh (Office) and for First Direct in Leeds (Call Centre). Currently he is working on feasibility test-to-fits for several offices throughout HSBC’s global portfolio, as well as producing construction information for a luxury spa in Hampshire.

Michael is an Architectural Technologist, with a wide range of experience, ranging from small office refurbishments, to large scale fit outs. He has been the lead draughtsman for several projects, including the recently completed Grosvenor House, Edmund Street and Munroe Court; He was responsible for the production of drawings from feasibility stage through to construction, including drawings for presentation, CAT A containment/ co-ordination, costing, graphics packages, manufacture & construction details.

Although taking a technical role on larger projects, Michael has also taken the lead on small works projects in several offices throughout the UK, providing him with experience of working with the whole project team, from client to consultants. These small works range from space analysis, the relocation of a meeting room, re-stack of the business team, to the redecoration and rebranding of the whole office.
Due to the level of experience with HSBC office refurbishments, his knowledge of their design standards, and his passion for accuracy, Michael has been regularly called upon to produce detailed test to fit layouts for the majority of the offices AXIS have worked on. This has provided him with good experience of implementing client design requirements, with a varying range of building designs/ layouts, in addition to giving him an appreciation for good office design.

In his spare time, Michael enjoys 3D modelling; creating environments and buildings of a more outlandish nature. He enjoys learning new programs to develop his work, including Bryce, Blender and Unity. When not working on his 3D modelling, Michael likes to unwind with a good walk around the beautifully green city of Sheffield.

Tim has over 20 years’ experience as an interior designer after qualifying with a First Class degree at Ravensbourne, University of London. Tim has worked on many commercial and retail projects both nationally and internationally. Over the past few years Tim’s focus has been on delivering high end office projects for HSBC bank. These projects include the fit out of a call centre in Leeds which was awarded LEED Gold, as well as the restack and refurbishment of the First Direct Headquarters. More recently Tim has delivered the award-winning HSBC Grosvenor House, Sheffield; the bank’s global IT hub. He was also involved with the new HSBC UK HQ in Birmingham, for which he was awarded the client’s Shine award for his ‘hard work and dedication at a challenging time of the project’.

Tim has also worked on offices for the Environment Agency, AMA nuclear fuels, and Berneslai Homes. He has also had plenty of involvement in the retail and hospitality sector of the business, delivering new concepts for retail banking branches along with delivering retail units for H&M and Godiva Chocolates.

Tim has a proven track record of working with project teams and with end users, designing environments which are not only practical and contemporary but are designed to meet client and customer requirements whilst being mindful of budget and programme. Tim is passionate about design and thinks himself lucky that his hobby became his career. He is very proud of each project and the team’s approach. He is keen that every project is unique and that the locality of the site and the people who work their plays an important part in the design process.

Working at AXIS for over 10 years as a Senior Technologist, Dan is involved in delivering complex and tricky projects, working with contractors to overcome the challenges of construction. He has been involved in schemes such as Telephone House in Sheffield, which was successfully delivered under an extremely tight programme and budget. Working with a number of clients in a variety of sectors, Dan is an integral part of the AXIS technical team.

After completing his Masters of Architecture at the University of Sheffield, Cameron joined the AXIS team in 2018 and has since worked on a variety of projects including refurbishment of existing listed buildings, new residential buildings and one-off private residences.

With a keen interest in sustainability and environmental design, a number of Cameron’s University projects explored innovative ways of integrating technology and design in environmentally-responsive design proposals. Notably, his Master’s studies included design proposals for an ‘Off-Grid Gainsborough’ powered by large-scale wind turbines, a digital fabrication research/community facility in Halifax, and a dissertation which interrogated a plan for sustainable development in Cape Town, South Africa.

This interest in sustainability resulted in being awarded the J.K. Page Prize in Environmental Science upon completion of his Masters degree. Also whilst at the University of Sheffield, he was part of a team awarded the BDP Live Project Prize for the best overall performance in a ‘Live Project’.

Josh has undertaken concept and technical design across a wide range of our schemes including large residential projects, refurbishments and retail projects.

Ben has worked extensively on the design and implementation of a number of new build residential, mixed use and commercial schemes. As a Senior Designer these are generally larger scale projects within the office and are located throughout the region.  Previous experience includes small scale Social Housing works and larger scale Civic Regeneration under PFI procurement.

Ben has had active involvement in the regeneration of Norfolk Park and Housing Market Renewal work at Manor 8 in Sheffield, which was won in competition through the Developer Panel. He has also obtained a number of high profile planning approvals, often finding creative and innovative design solutions for the most difficult sites.

Rose has over 20 years of design experience encompassing interior architecture, furniture, and product design. She has a broad range of experience, but at the heart of each project she works on, is a determination to understand the clients needs and translate this into spaces which are functional, enriching and underpin a company’s spirit or Brand whilst taking into account budgets and site conditions.
Rose came to interior design through a slightly unusual route. After studying Architecture she undertook an MA in Furniture Design, and subsequently set up a small contemporary furniture design business, which she ran for 8 years. She exhibited at 100% Design and had work chosen for exhibitions at the V&A and the Design Museum in London. Her pieces were published in the likes of Blueprint, Crafts magazine, Dwell, Elle Decoration, The Guardian magazine, and the New York Times.

This background, designing furniture and working with manufacturers, gave Rose invaluable detailing experience, which is integral to her approach to design. She delights in combining materials, colour, texture and lighting to create spaces which fulfil a brief. Rose is passionate about interior design and its capacity to affect end users in positive ways, which in turn can help to ensure that businesses are healthy and successful. She is experienced in taking projects from initial brief right through to completion on site.

Prior to joining Axis, Rose gained experience in small one-off interior design projects, from Harriet Kelsall, an independent boutique jewellery shop in Cambridge, to large brand roll outs such as Lakeland Ltd & the new and vibrant brand concept for Pizza Hut. As well as retail and restaurant projects Rose’s experience also includes the design of spas such as the SoSPA at Sofitel London St James, and hotels such as the W Hotel in Doha, Qatar.

During her role at Axis, she has worked on the concept for a new, and very funky, challenger bank, student accommodation projects, a high-end hotel in Hampshire and Grosvenor House for HSBC bank. Rose was largely responsible for the graphics and way finding concept at Grosvenor House and took great pride in designing and detailing the feature staircase which permeates the atrium in the centre of the building.
In her spare time Rose loves gardening. She also makes jewellery in precious metals combined with porcelain, selling her creations at Craft fairs.

Jonny joined the AXIS team in 2016, after completing a Masters of Architecture at the University of Sheffield. Since then, he has played a role in a number of significant residential projects, both new build and listed conversion, alongside competition designs.

Jonny was nominated for the prestigious RIBA Presidents Medal Bronze Award in 2012, as well as being exhibited in New Design Magazine’s Graduate Showcase. His approach to each project is to bring a fresh and rigorous understanding of the brief and design concept, and to challenge the way one might think about space.

His passion for design lies in understanding and interpreting the places in which we live, and the future of residential design in allowing users and architecture to interact with one another. His final year Masters thesis interrogated a challenging concept for urban living; bringing levels of adaptability to a co-housing model to almost become ‘plug-in’, to address how architecture can support the changing needs of residents.

Inspired by the likes of Carlo Scarpa and Peter Zumthor, Jonny’s love of materiality and tactility brings attention to the smallest level of a building’s user experience.

He is also a visiting reviewer at Nottingham Trent University.

Since Andy joined AXIS in 2005, he has overseen a wide range of projects from inception to completion, in the private residential and commercial sectors, alongside other projects in leisure and healthcare. Andy’s first major project ‘on site’ was Kelham Riverside, which was a catalyst in the re-birth of Kelham Island as one of Sheffield’s most vibrant and popular areas.

Over the last decade, Andy has acted as project architect on a number of bespoke private houses, both comprehensive refurbishments and ‘one-off’ new builds, including Contour House, which was Highly Commended by the judges at the RICS Awards 2018 in the Design through Innovation category.

Recently, he has overseen the Dyson Place development in Sharrow Vale through from concept design to completion, and the rejuvenation of the former NUM Building in Sheffield city centre, alongside several office-to-residential Listed Building conversions, in Sheffield and Manchester.

Katy joined AXIS in August of 2010 and became a fully qualified Architect and RIBA member in April 2013. Since joining AXIS, Katy has been involved with projects in retail spatial design, listed building restoration, both high- and low-rise residential schemes and more recently large master-planning projects; These include the North Street Quarter on the South Coast, comprising health care, extra care, commercial, retail and YMCA facilities along with over 200 dwellings to Lifetime Home standards.  She has experience working with a wide variety of software packages and has expertise in both designing and visualising.

Katie has been a part of AXIS for many years and has worked on a very broad spectrum of projects across most sectors. Producing visualisations and technical information in equal measure, Katie is committed to delivering projects well and enjoying every step of it.

She is often organising events for the practice, generally getting stuck in, and motivating her team.

Tom is currently part of our retail banking team and has experience in working with hundreds of sites across the UK and beyond. Our retail banking clients have strong brands and in-depth global design guides; our team tailor a proposal for each site through studying the customer journey and liaising closely with the Local Authority. This is particularly important when working with the estates including conservation and listed buildings. The projects are often time and budget critical so it is important that Tom and the team are strong communicators both internally and externally to the office, in maintaining the quality our clients have come to expect from AXIS.

As a founding Director of AXIS, Steve has over 40 years’ experience within the construction industry, working across all sectors but with recent focus on residential led major mixed use regeneration schemes, including the re-purposing of Listed Buildings.

Recent successes include The Press;, New Mount Street, in Manchester’s Northern Quarter – an example of how a range of Grade II Listed Buildings can be re-purposed / sensitively adapted, to create stunning residential accommodation with an atrium link aligned to a former historical street, creating the main access to the site.

Other successes include the creation of Steel City;, a student village in St Vincent’s Quarter Sheffield, for London based developers Southern Grove / Future Generation, incorporating the conversion of former Grade II Listed Little Mesters workshops to create an additional aparthotel facility.

Also recently completed was the re-purposing / refurbishment of the Grade II Listed former Head Post Office; in Sheffield, to provide teaching space for the Sheffield Institute of Art – a faculty of Sheffield Hallam University. This included the restoration of the former Post Hall to create a new hub space for display and degree shows for the various creative disciplines within the faculty. In addition, the final phase of the mixed-use masterplan for the site has just started, with the construction of a new 16 storey student residential building.

Current Projects on site include the prestigious 15 storey Hallam Towers; development for Sheffield developers Blenheim Land and Properties, creating 103 exclusive high-end apartments in the Fulwood area of Sheffield.

Also under construction is The Vantage;, Nottingham, a 486-bed student accommodation project, where Steve took over a challenging planning brief to secure consent for a key gateway development site in the city.

Steve has been instrumental in the transition of the business to Employee Ownership which has paved the way for the AXIS team to secure its future and long-term aspirations.

Sylke (pronounced Sil-ka) joined the AXIS team in 2014 and has been involved in a number of regeneration projects since. Having trained in Leipzig, Sylke now lives with her family in Sheffield.

Lee joined AXIS in 2018 with over 15 year’s experience working on a variety of projects from conservation, conversions, repair of listed buildings and scheduled monuments, residential, commercial and industrial schemes, food and pharmaceutical research and production facilities and large scale mixed use developments.

Working as part of a small team he helped deliver the first 2 phases of the Royal Wharf project in London (approx. £1bn project value); a mixed use development with 3000 apartments and town houses, office and retail space, school and leisure facilities. The broad experience Lee gained has strengthened the AXIS team with a valuable technical knowledge and a real drive for perfection. He continues to be involved in complex schemes where he is valued for his critical eye and attention to detail.

Mike has worked extensively on the implementation of commercial and residential schemes, both in new-build construction and the refurbishment of existing buildings including work involving Listed Buildings. With many years of experience as an Architectural Technologist, Mike continues to be instrumental in the successful delivery of many AXIS projects.

Since graduating with a First Class Honors degree from Leeds Beckett University, Rebecca has actively participated in a number of commercial, retail, residential and community projects. She prides herself on being an innovative and empathetic designer. Throughout her project involvement, she has been praised for her conceptual 2D and 3D presentational work, and she firmly believes that 3D visuals are important to helping the client understand the proposed design journey, enabling them to buy in to and refine a shared vision of the concept.

Rebecca has been extensively involved with office design. She has created the design concepts for; and played a key role in; the delivery of HSBC projects including Edmund Street, Tankersley and Leicester. Working within tight budget constraints, Rebecca has been praised by clients for her contribution to the successful team delivery of customer requirements.

Wellbeing is particularly important to Rebecca, as she strives to deliver designs which will support and boost employee morale and productivity throughout the office. She has achieved this in previous projects by creating ‘fun and inviting’ collaboration spaces which cater for all types of working. She is always keen to get involved as shown by impromptu design of bespoke graphics to make the spaces one of a kind. Rebecca continues to be environmentally mindful throughout her work, by re-using furniture where possible and ensuring that products and material are locally sourced. In one of her most recent office projects; HSBC Bristol; she incorporated natural materials including reclaimed timber, and fabric manufactured from plastic oceanic waste into the scheme.

An early indication of the passion and talent that Rebecca has for Interior Architecture and Design was made by the Association of Women in Property by awarding her as the Yorkshire and North East winner of the National Student Awards in 2015.

In her spare time, she is a keen traveller whether is it to soak up the culture and history of a European city or to take her Puppy to the nearby Peak District. She also dedicates a lot of her time to her family and friends, as nothing makes her happier than creating new memories and experiences with them.

Bill has over 40 years’ experience in finance and has worked in many sectors including manufacturing, retail, health and architecture. He has worked for AXIS since 2002 and in that time has helped shape the finances by bringing a strong emphasis of sound financial control and efficient line management. His strength is having the ability to understand the difficulties faced by Architects in their roles, by providing financial support to enable them to get on with what they are good at.

A keen sportsman, Bill is very much a team player and likes to think this is evident when working with team AXIS.