New Practice is a women and LGBTQ+ led architecture practice based between Glasgow and London.

We exist to develop the community, creative and cultural capacity of cities and to connect people with the decision making processes that underpin the urban experience.

We are leading the way in embedding social value in place-based practice across the UK through community engagement, meanwhile use, retrofit and spaces for community; ensuring that community-led briefs and shared decision-making shape the future of our built environment.

You can download our work stream booklets by clicking on the images below:

New Practice is led by Becca Thomas (ARB) and Marc Cairns.

We have an energetic, socially and politically active team who use New Practice as a platform to work meaningfully in their chosen industry. We’re creating real social value through our work, we’re not just talking about it. We’re actively combating the upward trend of social atrophy across the built environment through our projects which place people first and fundamentally build community. 

Becca and Marc’s working partnership began as an academic collaboration in 2010 and subsequently delivered projects in the UK and internationally which were awarded the 2012 RSA Gold Medal, 2014 Herald Society Award and 2018 Scottish Quality in Planning Award.

Their shared practice is anchored in a commitment to the design and delivery of beautiful, practical places which offer social and environmental sustainability for healthier and happier neighbourhoods. Becca and Marc have recently represented New Practice at events organised by Architects Journal, British Council for Offices, Cycling UK, Festival of Place, RIBA, RIAS, V&A and schools of architecture and private practice across Europe. They are regularly featured critics and writers across architecture and planning discourse in the UK including authoring articles and op-eds for wide read industry publications such as Architects Journal and RIBA Journal, as well recent contributions to BBC Scotland, BBC Radio 4 and The Guardian.

Following a number of collaborative international projects: including presentations at the 13th Venice Architecture Biennale, 2012 World Design Capital, 2014 Commonwealth Games, 2016 Lahore Biennale and 2017 Kosovo Festival of Architecture; New Practice was founded to provide a platform for projects with the specific focus of creating community-led outcomes. 

New Practice works at the forefront of placeshaping practice, ensuring that community-led briefs and shared decision making shape the future of our built environment.

New Practice works with public and private sector clients and enables shared participation through public consultation, creative engagement and strategic long-term design across the built environment. 

We are delivering work from London to Orkney at a range of scales - from community-led development programmes promoting active community participation, to the transformative adaptive reuse of civic buildings. 

New Practice develops thoughtful designs and crafts clever responses to briefs using a multidisciplinary and collaborative approach. In addition to our portfolio of architectural work, over the past decade Becca Thomas and Marc Cairns have contributed critical research, delivered best practice community engagement and provided leadership for built environment policy across the UK.

New Practice champions creativity and openness through a number of senior appointments, including: Mayor of London’s Architecture, Design and Urbanism Panel; Glasgow Urban Design Panel; Associate Advisor for Design Council; Open Plan Scotland; ArchitectureLGBT+; and, the British Council UK Hubs Advisory Board.

New Practice was listed by RIBA Journal as one of their five ‘Future Winners’ in 2022 and nominated for Best Community Project by the AJ Awards in the same year. In 2023, we were a finalist in the Health & Community category for AJ Retrofit Awards and Creative Retrofit category for The Pineapples.

In 2021, we were nominated by The Pineapples (Festival of Place) for Best in Community Engagement, Best Small Works Under £250K by Glasgow Institute of Architects (GIA) and Best Partnership Award from the Landscape Institute.

In 2020, New Practice was awarded Best Newcomer and Best Digital Workspace at the Archiboo Awards - receiving high praise from a panel of leading industry experts and social innovators.

Outside of their work at New Practice, Marc and Becca are co-directors of Many Studios CIC, a renowned creative workspace provider and social value led arts organisation founded in 2012.  Individually, they hold a number of senior appointments across the UK where they are contributing to critical research, delivering best practice community engagement and providing leadership for built environment policy. In 2020, Marc was appointed as an Associate of the Design Council and to the British Council Creative Hubs Advisory Board. Building on existing and past work towards LGBTQIA+ advocacy in architecture in Scotland, Marc is a founding organising committee member of Open Plan Scotland, a volunteer led advocacy and support network for members of LGBTQIA+ community studying or working in Architecture in Scotland. Between 2021 and 2023, Marc was part of the organising committee for the Scottish Chapter of ArchitectureLGBT+. In 2019, Becca was appointed to the Glasgow Urban Design Panel where she provides constructive advice to development, design teams and planners, as part of the pre-application consultation process. In 2021, Becca was made a Trustee of the Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland (RIAS), and a Glasgow Institute of Architects (GIA) Council Member.

• British Council for Offices Scotland Awards 2023 - Corporate Workplace, Innovation and Environmental, Social & Governance (ESG), winner

• AJ Retrofit Awards 2023 - Health & Community Project, finalist

• Scottish Design Awards 2023 - Public Realm / Landscaping, finalist

• Scottish Design Awards 2023 - Retrofit, finalist

• The Pineapples 2023 - Creative Retrofit, finalist

• AJ Awards 2022 - Community and Faith Project, finalist

• GIA Awards 2022 - Best Small Works Under £250K, finalist

• GIA Awards 2022 - Best Leisure & Arts, finalist

• The Pineapples 2021 - Best in Community Engagement, finalist

• GIA Awards 2021 - Best Small Works Under £250K, finalist

• Landscape Institute Awards 2021 - Best Partnership, finalist

• Archiboo Awards 2020 - Best Newcomer, winner

• Archiboo Award 2020 - Best Digital Workspace, winner