The whole office visits Cambridge to visit the Stirling Prize-winning Accordia housing scheme.

After an invited competition, Design Engine wins a prestigious commission from the London School of Economics. The c£600,000 project, which comprises the internal remodelling of the Old Building entrance and reception areas and Old Theatre green room, is due to be complete for the 2010-2011 academic year.

Design Engine are appointed by Rougemont Chambers to design new chambers in the Victory Wing of old Dean Clark House (a redundant hospital) in the Southernhay district of Exeter.

Oxford City Council give planning consent at their Strategic Planning Committee for the new Oxford Brookes University Headington Campus masterplan. However, the scheme is ‘called in’ by the full OCC and the decision is overturned at full council.

The new Student Union Café is completed for University of Southampton, ready for the new academic year. This fast-track, low budget project is one of a number of interiors projects we are designing for the University, which includes the Sport Centre reception, completed for September 2008.

Design Engine are successfully interviewed for the ASK (Aster Somer Knightstone) South West Housing Framework, covering a large region from Cornwall to Hampshire. In all, 15 practices make up the framework formed by the three Housing Associations.

Oxford University’s Examinations School and Ruskin School of Art now benefits from a sensitively designed new joint entrance foyer, which reconciles previously awkward floor levels between the two buildings. The ‘site’ was originally an open courtyard, where heavily detailed period stonework and windows reflected the prestigious origins of both listed buildings. The success of the design is in the respect and light touch shown to the existing buildings and the counterpoint of precise new lightweight structure set against the solidity of the stonework.