NÍALL MCLAUGHLIN ARCHITECTS NAMES NEW DIRECTORS
NOVEMBER 2025
Níall McLaughlin Architects is excited to announce significant changes to its leadership, with four long-standing Associates being promoted to Directors. With a combined seven decades of experience at the practice between them, Anne Schroell, Tim Allen-Booth, Tilo Guenther and Tom McGlynn will shape the future of Níall McLaughlin Architects. This promotion rewards their commitment and contribution to the practice, recognising their leadership, work on key projects, business development and office wide initiatives. The new Directors will work closely with founding Principal Níall McLaughlin to build on the practice’s reputation for design excellence and promote a model of practice that is equitable, diverse and inclusive, and sustainable.
Tom McGlynn joined the practice in 2014 and was the Project Associate on The International Rugby Experience in Limerick voted as Ireland’s favourite building in 2023, and West Court Jesus College in Cambridge winning an RIBA Project Architect of the Year Award in 2018.
Tim Allen-Booth joined the practice in 2006 and was the Project Associate on The Bishop Edward King Chapel in Oxfordshire which was RIBA Stirling Prize Shortlisted in 2013, and The New Library Magdalene College in Cambridge winning the RIBA Stirling Prize in 2022.
Anne Schroell joined the practice in 2006 and was the Project Associate on the Faith Museum in Bishop Auckland which won the RIBA North East Building of the Year in 2024 and Grand Prize Winner of the Building Beauty Awards in 2024, and is currently the Project Associate on the Maggie’s Centre in Cambridge.
Tilo Guenther joined the practice in 2006 and was Project Associate on Darbishire Place in Whitechapel, which was RIBA Stirling Prize Shortlisted in 2015, and Saltmarsh House, which was Shortlisted for House of the Year in 2023.
RESOLUTION TO GRANT PLANNING PERMISSION TO UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OXFORD PASSED
OCTOBER 2020
Oxford City Council has passed a resolution to grant planning permission to University College Oxford (‘Univ’) for a new collegiate development in the North Oxford Victorian Suburb Conservation Area (NOVSCA). The scheme is for 150 new student bedrooms and represents the largest addition to the College in over three centuries. Niall McLaughlin Architects and Kim Wilkie won the commission in 2018 following an architectural competition.
The development – Univ North – will complement Univ’s High Street site in the city centre, and will enrich the College’s existing satellite annexe in north Oxford. Designed as an extensive, landscape-led proposal, the development will provide accommodation and facilities to encourage and nurture a multi-generational community. The whole development site embraces an existing care home and proposes new accommodation for undergraduates, postgraduates and early career academics along with a children’s nursery. In addition, the site will house a student café, a gym, ancillary study rooms, and a multipurpose common space for College events to which it is hoped the local community will join.
The scheme has been designed to improve the setting of the existing buildings and specimen trees by removing unsympathetic extensions and planting. Existing and new buildings frame a series of richly planted open, south-facing gardens and courts that are connected by a principal east-west path. The architecture and massing of the new buildings varies across the site as they respond to the immediate context in differing Character Areas that include Victorian and Edwardian villas, and notable modern buildings by Sir Philip Dowson and Geoffrey Beard. Existing and new buildings frame a series of richly planted open, south-facing gardens and courts that are connected by a principal east-west path. The architecture and massing of the new buildings varies across the site as they respond to the immediate context in differing Character Areas that include Victorian and Edwardian villas, and notable modern buildings by Sir Philip Dowson and Geoffrey Beard.
Sir Ivor Crewe, Master of University College at the time, said: “We are delighted that the City Council has supported our proposals for Univ North. It is a very exciting project, which will enable the College to deepen our own accommodation provision and support for future generations of students and academics studying at Univ.”