A Day in the Life of… Kathryn Archer
Kathryn, a Partner at LA London, has been with the team for over thirty years, running high-end projects across all sectors: residential, retail, hotel, hospitality and workplace. She has an excellent record for retaining clients and has worked for Harrods and Selfridges for a combined period of over twenty-five years, including working on the restoration of both of their facades. She also maintained The Savoy Hotel as a client for almost ten years. Today, Kathryn splits her time between premium commercial and residential projects.
Kathryn, what does a typical day look like for you at LA London?
On the day in question, my morning started with a scenic train ride to Surrey for a site visit at our St. George’s Hill project. Living near London Waterloo station, I find that my journey to Surrey is very convenient. The LA team and I have just completed Montrose House in Oxshott, Surrey, and are keen to continue working on projects in Surrey and the surrounding home counties.
Kathryn at our recent Surrey project, Montrose House
During the journey, I often focus on preparing for the meeting, travelling ‘against the flow’ I'm usually lucky enough to have a quiet carriage to work in! On site, I’m joined by fellow LA architects Pavel and Ben. The project in St. George’s Hill is a recovery project, and LA is collaborating with five different high-end joinery contractors, which requires numerous meetings to coordinate information and ensure everything is aligned. Based in different European countries, it’s interesting to see how differently each joinery company works. We each have to make some adjustments to ensure that everything will come together to meet the top quality required at the end of the day.
After spending the morning on site, I returned to the LA office, which is situated in the heart of Borough Market, for a Teams meeting regarding our current Kensington project. On my way back, I picked up some lunch. We are lucky to have a wide variety of lunch options available since we are just a short distance from the market.
The LA office is located a stone’s throw from Borough Market
Kensington project sketch visualisation
Although the St. George’s Hill project is progressing on-site, our Kensington project has not yet reached that stage. As a result, my afternoon is filled with various in-person design meetings in the LA office focused on developing tender information. During these sessions, we utilise the 3D architectural software Archicad, which we use consistently from the start to the finish of all our projects. Archicad has not only shaped LA London in a competitive market but has also streamlined our entire operational workflow. This includes everything from the initial survey and early visualisations based on conceptual sketches to facilitating collaboration and detailed technical coordination with other consultants, clients, and stakeholders.
I rounded off my day by jumping back into my search for a new member of staff to run our LA Surveys business, our own in-house surveying arm. This offering means our clients are now able to rely on our expertise to survey their buildings quickly and accurately and with an insight that only architects can offer. If you’d be interested in joining the LA Surveys team, be sure to drop us an email at surveys@la.london.
An LA Surveys team member in action
I like to end my day by walking home through Borough Market to find something nice to cook for dinner or to draw culinary inspiration from the aromas. After that, I pass by The Hop Exchange, located just a short distance from the LA office. My partner's ancestors lived and worked in Borough during the early 1800s and were among the founding traders at the heart of the beginnings of the Hop Exchange. It feels quite special to walk the same streets so many years later.
The Hop Exchange, Borough