Doug Eckford, Founding Director at Eckford Chong
“I am writing this letter of recommendation in support of Mr Ewan Cooper.
Ewan joined Eckford Chong in September 2019, having previously worked alongside our director Barney Meller at Mae for 4 years, he naturally fitted into our small team and company structure which has seen a number of new enquiries turning into live projects.
He was brought in to take on the running of a number of small private residential jobs, which as a practice we undertake all architectural design work and then continue to deliver as main contractor.
Since the Covid lockdown, our construction work on private residential sites came close to a stand-still and although this is now slowly picking back up, the unexpected delay has unfortunately affected project programming. We were forced to restructure the company to adapt to the world we are living in, and refocus our resources, as a result we had to make a difficult decision to let Ewan go.
During Ewan’s short yet incredibly productive time with us, he was the first point of contact for clients and consultants on a number of projects, leading the designs as part of a small team from conception to tender.
He has been critical in enabling a smoother transition between client facing design development and in-house technical production and has helped us to develop a more consistent approach to our overall design output. He was also responsible for much of our written work, writing articles for press and digital content.
He was a perfect fit with the rest of the team and is confident at engaging with clients and the wider members of our design and contractor team. He is a highly skilled designer and his experience and character would be an asset to any office. His departure is regrettable, and we remain close friends. I would happily recommend him to any future employer. ”
Alex Ely, Principal / Founding Partner Mae Architects
“'Ewan joined Mæ having been highly recommended by his tutor from London Metropolitan University. He was an employee at Mæ from February 2014 to July 2017 during which time he worked on a number of significant housing projects including Aylesbury estate a £20m extra care housing scheme for NottingHill Housing and the £200m Grahame Park estate for Genesis.
Ewan led phase 1 of the latter scheme with diligence and professionalism delivering a scheme to planning that I think was of exceptional design quality and was thoroughly managed. During his time at Mæ Ewan demonstrated an ability to manage the complex demands of the brief and challenges of social housing and estate regeneration. Designing successful housing that meets all the regulatory and budgetary constraints is certainly challenging but Ewan developed a sound understanding of the sector's demands whilst ensuring that good design remained at the forefront of the work.
He also proved able to manage a large team and mentor junior colleagues. He is highly personable and contributed positively to the culture of the office. I would not hesitate to recommend Ewan and believe he would be an asset to any practice.'”
Tom Mitchell, Assoc. Director at Metropolitan Workshop
“Ewan Cooper worked for Metropolitan Workshop from the 19th March 2018 to 12th September 2019.
In his capacity as Architect, he worked on one of our most prestigious projects, Oakfield - a 239 home project in Swindon, for Nationwide Building Society.
He joined the team at RIBA stage 2 and worked continuously on the project to RIBA stage 4. The quality of Ewan’s work was always very good. He has exceptional sketching abilities, which helped us to explore the architectural and landscape character of the public and communal realms. He helped manage and mentor younger team members and made significant contributions to the development of the architecture. He also contributes enthusiastically to design reviews and is a very capable and confident presenter.
Ewan’s thorough approach to his work combined with his open and friendly nature made him a great asset to the team and wider studio. We were very sorry to see him go.”