Office is dRMM’s first base outside London
A Stirling Prize-winning architect has opened a new studio in Berlin to make it easier to bid for jobs on the continent and hire EU-based staff.
The new studio, dRMM’s first outside of London, is intended to act as a base for the practice’s projects across the EU and currently employs two staff - one British-born architect who has relocated to the city and one architect recruited in Germany.
It was officially registered in spring last year but the practice, which won UK architecture’s top prize in 2017 for its renovation of Hastings Pier, only made it public earlier this month.
Speaking about why the studio had been set up, director Jonas Lencer said: “We’ve always debated about how to do more international work and until Brexit really filtered through we always felt Europe is easy to do from London but after Brexit we realised that we don’t really have access to the market anymore. Also, we didn’t really have access to European talent anymore which is a bit sad.”
He said that staff at the practice, which often continues working on projects through construction, did not want to have to send designs over to Europe for local architects to implement.
“A lot of the design work is in those later stages and we wanted to do that in Europe as well, so we know that we need a base to work with local contractors, local consultants and regulations.”
When London staff were asked who would like to relocate to Berlin, Lancer said about 10% had volunteered.
The firm is already working on one project in the city, a rebuilding of a baroque 18th-century building in Berlin destroyed during the Second World War. Lencer said the Berlin studio will also be bidding for several school regeneration projects in Germany.
Other architects to open studios in the EU because of Brexit include RSHP which opened an office in Paris a year ago and Hawkins Brown which opened one in Dublin last November.
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