Simon Gathercole

Simon is one of our most experienced masterplanners and leads major projects in the UK and internationally. He has led several of our key masterplans in the Middle East and has developed extensive expertise in heritage planning and regeneration.

He has been a key design author and leader of Msheireb Downtown Doha as architectural director of the masterplan delivery team. He authored the development guidelines and reviewed the design of over 100 buildings within the 31-hectare site, while also designing the project’s innovative townhouses, Eid Prayer Ground, Friday Mosque and urban infrastructure. For several years, he was based in Doha leading this work on the ground.

He is currently working on Miza, a new creative district in Abu Dhabi that is recycling warehouses in the city’s port; and developing plans for two major tourism-led projects containing UNESCO World Heritage sites in Saudi Arabia. He has worked in southeast Asia, directing a 72-hectare masterplan adjacent to the Georgetown UNESCO World Heritage site. For Singapore’s Urban Redevelopment Authority, he drew up proposals for the Jurong Lake District, runner up in an international open competition.

Building on his experience on the London 2012 Olympic Park and Legacy Masterplan and a range of town centre regeneration projects in the UK, Simon has been leading our work for an urban extension on the north edge of Bristol that will redevelop the former Filton Airfield into a new sustainable neighbourhood. He is also contributing to the practice’s college estate planning work in Cambridge and education masterplans, including the University’s Biomedical Campus.

Simon studied at the University of Cambridge, where he participated in the exchange programme with the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University. He worked in London and New York before joining us in 2005. Inspired by nature, Simon enjoys hiking in the great outdoors with his family.