Bell Phillips becomes first architects to join Humanise

Bell Phillips has become the first architecture practice to sign up as an official partner of Humanise – adding its weight to our campaign to create buildings and places that are loved, generous and uplifting. By partnering with us, Bell Phillips hopes to amplify the conversation about how to improve the quality of housing and regeneration in towns and cities, in a way which is socially responsible and genuinely sustainable.

Humanise is a ten-year campaign that aims to ignite mainstream public debate about the need for much more interest and visual complexity in the built environment, its importance for people’s emotions and mental health, and the aim to transform cities across the globe. For Bell Phillips, the campaign’s aims and objectives align closely with the practice’s own ethos, and its commitment to people and communities.

Since its foundation in 2004, much of Bell Phillips’ work has focused on housing and urban regeneration. Here the practice has earned a reputation for designing distinctive, uplifting and sustainable buildings, often in the face of real challenges such as difficult funding conditions and increasingly complex regulatory frameworks. Housing projects such as Albion Street Housing for Southwark Council, the Church Street Regeneration Masterplan for Westminster City Council (which won the Pineapple award for Future Place in 2024), or the long established Greenwich Bungalows project for older residents all demonstrate the practice’s ability to raise aspirations in a sector that is rarely celebrated for ambition or delight. Other projects, such as the new Burgess Park Sports Centre in south London, Gasholder Park in King’s Cross, or the Mitchell Building at The Skinner’s School in Tunbridge Wells, are examples of successful projects in in other sectors that also aim to make a positive civic contribution.

Tim Bell, founding director at Bell Phillips, said:

“As a practice we have always aimed to design homes and neighbourhoods that people love, and which bring a positive contribution to the city. In that sense, our values sit naturally within the Humanise ethos and that’s why we are delighted to be the first architecture practice to join the campaign as an official partner.

“The work of the Humanise campaign and architects’ response to the climate crisis can and should go hand in hand. At Bell Phillips we have focused our attention on how we can contribute to a low carbon future, and through our research we have explored ways to minimise embodied carbon through careful form, structure and material choice. We are interested in how this focus can generate a richer, more enduring architecture, and are looking forward to working alongside other Humanise campaign partners including academics, developers and other built environment professionals to progress this work.”

Jay Morton, director at Bell Phillips, added:

“Humanise is a brilliant platform to demonstrate that the future of housing can be joyful and sustainable and bring pride of place, and we are excited to join the Humanise movement at such a critical time.

“With a government that wants to deliver 1.5 million homes, now is a moment to rediscover the value of architecture as cultural capital, and acknowledge that as a society we have lost our way a little. It is a once in a generation ambition. The new house building renaissance, which we hope is coming, is an opportunity to rethink how we build and what we value. We need one thousand year thinking, with buildings and cities that grow in value to people, community and culture over generations.”

And Abigail Scott Paul, Global Head of the Humanise Campaign, said: “We’re thrilled to welcome Bell Phillips as the first architecture practice to join the Humanise campaign. Their long-standing commitment to designing places that enrich people’s lives reflects exactly what our movement is about. Having a practice with such a strong record of thoughtful, community-focused work join us marks an exciting milestone for the campaign and we look forward to working together to champion more human, more inspiring, and more joyful buildings that surround us.”

Images
Top: Cosway Street by Bell Phillips; photographer Kilian O'Sullivan
Middle: Tim Bell, Jay Morton and Thomas Heatherwick; photographer Raquel Diniz