As 2025 draws to a close, we would like to wish our team, clients, consultants and contractors all the very best for 2026. This past year has marked a significant milestone for Bracewell. Not simply as the culmination of our centenary year, but as a period of deliberate change that has strengthened our foundations and positioned the practice confidently for the future.
The year began with investment in our people and places of work. In January, our Oban team relocated to new, larger and centrally located offices. This move reflected both the growth of the team and our commitment to providing high-quality, collaborative environments that support design excellence. The Oban studio was further strengthened by the arrival of Sarah MacKenzie, Urban Designer and Masterplanner, and Cammy Sutherland, Architectural Technologist, adding depth to our capability in place-led design.
This focus on environment and collaboration continued with the relocation of our head office from Tillicoultry, where the practice had been based for almost seventy years, to a new studio on the University of Stirling campus. The move represented an important evolution for the practice. The new space provides a bright, flexible and collegiate setting, with inspiring views across the campus and towards the Wallace Monument. More importantly, it has created the platform for continued growth and closer working across the team.
Alongside these moves, 2025 saw the strengthening of our leadership and professional capacity. Colleagues who joined towards the end of the previous year, including Mark Hamilton, Stephen Lynas and Kevin Spence, have played a key role in shaping the direction and development of the practice. They were joined during the year by John Foster, Michael Lehner, Joanna Dyrda and Sharon Greenwell, each bringing valuable expertise and experience that has supported both delivery and future ambition.
A defining moment of the year was the celebration of our centenary, marked by the rebrand of the practice. Now simply known as Bracewell, the new name and identity retain the most recognisable element of our heritage while clearly signalling our ambition. The rebrand was not cosmetic. It reflected a conscious repositioning of the practice as a multi-sector, UK-wide consultancy with established strengths across Architecture, Masterplanning and Energy. The launch of our new website and the opportunity to celebrate with colleagues and clients at Perth Racecourse provided an important moment to acknowledge our history while looking decisively forward.
In October, we took a further strategic step with our investment in Midlands-based, RIBA Chartered Practice Gould Singleton Architects. This partnership brings together two likeminded practices that place people, quality and long-term relationships at the centre of their success. Operating independently within their respective areas of expertise, the combined architecture group, now comprising around fifty architects, technologists and support staff, is well positioned to collaborate on larger and more complex projects across the commercial, public sector and residential sectors throughout the UK.
November offered an opportunity to reflect on the value of long-term relationships, as we joined one of our closest clients, Tulloch Homes, at their centenary dinner. Having collaborated for over thirty years and delivered several thousand homes across Scotland, this occasion was a reminder that sustained partnerships are as important to our success as growth and expansion. We look forward to continuing this relationship into the next century of their business.
We close the year with another significant milestone. The start on site of the new Global office headquarters at Inverness Campus. One of the most prestigious projects undertaken by the practice, the building is now taking shape, with its steel structure clearly visible. Designed by Partner David Lawrie, who joined the practice last year and was promoted in January, the project represents both design ambition and confidence in the future of the Inverness team. When completed, it will provide a new base for the studio in autumn 2026 and stands as a physical expression of the practice’s ongoing evolution.
Reflecting on the year, Senior Partners David Keith and Amanda MacRitchie commented:
“Our ambition for 2025 was to make it a genuine new chapter for the business. We wanted to mark our centenary by recognising the people who have contributed to our success, while also putting in place the changes needed to support the next phase of growth. The scale of progress achieved over the year has exceeded our expectations. We are extremely grateful to our team, clients, consultants and contractors for their continued trust and collaboration, and we look forward to building on this momentum in 2026.”