COLANDER - Key Persons
Caroline is Founder and Director of Colander. She has inspired many of the UK's most successful architectural practices to develop their businesses, and has worked alongside some of the most influential developers and building owners, helping to formulate their approach to architecture.
Background
Caroline read architecture at New Hall, Cambridge and during her professional life has worked both as a design consultant and as a client commissioning design professionals.
She works with architects, landscape architects, designers and consulting engineers, helping them develop and run effective creative businesses. She also works with clients to identify the best design teams for their projects.
Through Colander, she pioneered the concept of benchmarking for the architectural profession and, building on her commitment to integrated design, founded Equilibrium Network, a group of senior and influential inter-disciplinary women working across the built environment.
She helped set up Architects Declare and its umbrella organisation Construction Declares, a global network now operating in over 20 countries across the world, uniting all strands of construction and the built environment in the fight against the climate and biodiversity crisis.
Within Colander, she runs training courses in business development as well as undertaking business consultancy, working with Partners, Directors and senior management teams in design practices.
In addition she leads Colander's architectural competitions service, working with a wide range of both private and public sector clients.
She has worked in-house with Arup Associates, Conran Associates and Crighton Ltd, where she became Managing Director; also, with Olympia and York where, as one of the UK's first Design Managers, she commissioned and then managed architects and designers in the first phase of Canary Wharf. She has experience of working in Australia, Papua New Guinea, France and Scandinavia as well as across the UK.
Before setting up Colander, Caroline was Head of the Clients' Advisory Service and Competitions Office at the Royal Institute of British Architects, where she established Client Forums across a number of different sectors, to create a unique opportunity for clients to explore and develop an understanding of the real value of great architecture.
Caroline has published numerous articles and papers about the business of design and has spoken at many conferences and seminars to promote good design to clients, and good business to the professions. She has been a judge of the Design Week Awards, the RIBA Regional Awards, the Manser Medal, the AJ Top 100 Awards and the Inspire Awards that recognise women in the built environment. She was a member of the Steering Group responsible for the Government publication ‘Architectural Competitions, a Handbook for Promoters', and was on the Development Board for the CIC's Design Quality Indicators.
She is Chair of the Industry Advisory Panel to the IDBE (Interdisciplinary Design for the Built Environment) Masters Course at the University of Cambridge; a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts; a Trustee of the Ove Arup Foundation; a Trustee of the Horniman Museum, where she chairs the Capital Projects Board; Chair of the Board of Trustees of SPACE Studios; an Honorary Fellow of the RIBA; a member of The Edge and a Professor at IE University in Madrid. She is on the Design Review Panel for HS2, and, as a Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Chartered Architects, has recently received the Freedom of the City of London.
In her spare time, she is a ceramicist.
Expertise
Consultancy
Daphne joined the Colander team in 2008 and currently runs our courses on Networking, Partnership Building and Business Development for Partners and Directors. She uses her experience to help people navigate the challenges of meeting new people and talking about their unique business offerings whilst making it a fun experience both personally and professionally.
Background
Before focusing full-time on collaborative associations, Daphne worked for the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the UK, facilitating and sponsoring UK and Dutch collaborations in design, architecture, and the arts.
Daphne's love of architecture and buildings came through her training as an architectural historian at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands. Two board memberships, one at the De La Warr Pavilion in Bexhill and one at the Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland, mean she continues to engage with architecture in the broadest sense.
Daphne has always been involved in voluntary work. She currently mentor's young female property professionals through the Mentoring Circle and is a volunteer at the cost-of-living clinic that is run at the Westway Trust in Notting Hill.
Expertise
Networking
If you would be interested in joining the Colander team, please contact us on info@colander.co.uk
John is an experienced and proven trainer and consultant and has worked extensively with architects and their organisations since joining Colander in 2005. His expertise is in leadership and the behaviours of teams.
Background
With his strong operational management background, chartered membership of the CIPD and an MSc in Human Resource Management, John specialises in the ‘soft skills' of leadership, team and personal development and delivers a wide variety of our most popular training courses.
He is a coach and practitioner of Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) and is licensed to use several psychometric tools, in particular Myers Briggs (MBTI) which we use extensively at Colander. He has successfully coached many senior architects, directors and partners, as well as members of their support teams.
He brings valuable perspectives from his training and consultancy work with clients outside the architectural sector; for example, he has designed and directed numerous outdoor management development programmes for the Outward Bound Trust, and tutored for the Chartered Management Institute.
Previously, John was a commissioned officer and aerospace battle manager in the Royal Air Force. He served mainly in operational roles, including a secondment to the Royal Marines Commando where he earned the ‘green beret' and qualified as a paratrooper.
His passion for developing others stems from his tour as a senior instructor at RAF College Cranwell where he trained, coached and assessed student officers in practical leadership and other aspects of personal and professional development, and ultimately led a central training team.
Expertise
Leadership Training
Job Titles:
- Associate
- Associate: Competitions
Louise is a Colander Associate. She has an enviable track record of running architectural competitions for clients across the globe. She has unparalleled expertise in managing public sector procurement processes and in creating hybrid competitions to match the expectations of clients and competitors alike.
Background
For over 20 years Louise managed the Royal Institute of British Architects' Competition Office, advising clients on design procurement in both the public and private sectors, and running a wide variety of high profile competitions, through many different procurement routes, each tailored to meet individual clients' needs.
It was at the RIBA that Louise first met Caroline Cole: they worked together on a number of influential competitions, including the new Wembley Stadium and the Welsh National Assembly Building.
Louise has been responsible for setting up and managing many other significant competitions, including the Millennium Bridge in London, Guys and St Thomas's Evelina Children's hospital and the Sage and Baltic Art Gallery in Gateshead. She also worked with the Olympic Delivery Authority to set up the competition for the London 2012 Velodrome and the Central Park Bridge on the Olympic site.
Louise has travelled to Macao, Dubai, and Cyprus to give advice to overseas clients on running architectural and design competitions and supported the work of the World Bank in setting up a competition for a new University Campus in Abuja, Nigeria.
For many years, she was responsible for providing administrative support to the UK government in its participation in ‘Europan'- a biannual competition open to all young architects in Europe. This involved attending meetings across Europe to represent Europan UK along with delegates from other participating nations.
Louise joined the Colander competitions team in 2014.
Expertise
Architectural competitions
Job Titles:
- Associate
- Associate: Training & Consultancy
Michael is a Colander Associate. We are privileged to be able to draw on his expertise in developing financial systems that sit comfortably with architectural practices working at both in the UK and overseas.
Background
An expert in his field, Michael was the Financial Director at Grimshaw for 17 years, helping to steer the practice through a period of growth from 50 staff in London to a firm of over 320 staff with thriving offices in London, New York, Sydney, Melbourne and Doha.
During this time, he took a leading role in re-organising the business systems and corporate structure of Grimshaw, putting in place and maintaining effective yet flexible financial systems.
Michael joined the Colander team in 2014 to help Colander's clients with financial management. He is running both Business Seminars and training courses for us; and helping practices undertake business reviews.
Expertise
Business finance
Financial systems