Nick Hayhurst

BA, AADipl, ARB, RIBA, FHEA

Nick trained at Edinburgh College of Art and the Architectural Association where he was a recipient of the Future Practice Prize and an honours nominee. He was a scholar at the British School at Rome (Boas Scholar, 2003) and completed his professional training at the Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL. Nick founded Tyler Hayhurst in 2004 and later reformed his practice as Hayhurst and Co. in 2009 where he has led a series of pioneering education, community and residential projects.

Nick has taught and lectured widely and is a Senior Lecturer at University of Brighton where he specialises in design theory and practice. He is currently the subject lead for Future Practice: exploring evolving forms of architectural and design practice. He became a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy in 2018. Nick has sat on RIBA Council, was one of the author’s of the RIBA’s publication ‘Tomorrow’s Architect’, and is a member of the RIBA Visiting Board where he has chaired the validation of schools of architecture in the UK and overseas. Nick has been an External Examiner at Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen and is currently an External Examiner at the Macintosh School of Architecture in Glasgow and Sheffield Hallam University.

Nick has lectured widely on the work of the practice at schools of architecture and professional institutions around the UK and regularly contributes to journal articles and the professional press. He was appointed to the Southwark Design Review Panel in 2012 which he went on to chair between 2018-2023, has chaired the Brighton & Hove Design Review Panel since 2016 and chaired the Croydon Design Review Panel since 2023. He has been appointed as an Expert Witness on design related matters in public enquiries and has been a judge for the AJ Retrofit and Civic Trust Awards. He chaired an RIBA London Awards jury in 2021 and the RIAS Awards in 2024.

Jonathan Nicholls

BA (Hons), AADipl, ARB, RIBA

Jonathan graduated from the Architectural Association in 2003 and completed his professional qualifications at the Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL. He is a founding member of Hayhurst and Co. and became a Director in 2013. Jonathan is registered with the ARB and is a Corporate member of the RIBA.

He was a Visiting Lecturer at the University of Nottingham from 2005-2008 and has been a visiting critic at schools of architecture in the UK and in India. Outside of the office he has had articles published in AD, Architects Journal and Blueprint magazines and he has contributed to events and public discussions on the themes of demographic profiling, local cultures, and the effects of behaviour patterns on design performance.

He is an author of the Chandigarh Catalogues; a Graham Foundation funded research project documenting the Indian city of Chandigarh, which was exhibited at the RIBA in 2009, and he is the initiator of Postcode Portraits, an Arts Council funded project that investigates the effects of social classification on the British landscape.

Jonathan leads the technical and material, research and development within the practice and is behind many of the practice’s innovative material approaches to design.

Holly Zarnecki

BA (Hons), MA

Holly studied Photography at Edinburgh College of Art and Illustration at Camberwell School of Art and worked at the Royal College of Art and the Photographer’s Gallery before helping to reform Hayhurst and Co. in 2009.

Holly also works as a freelance illustrator under the name ‘Holly-Paper-Scissors’ and is a member of the Association of Illustrators. She specialises in the use of collage, drawing and printing techniques to create work on a range of topics including the natural world, current affairs and politics. Her work has been exhibited at the Bankside Gallery, Peckham Space and was selected for the AOI’s Images 36 publication and touring exhibition.

Jamie Wakeford

BA (Hons), MArch, ARB, RIBA

Jamie studied at the University of Sheffield, where he was awarded the masters travel scholarship and a distinction for his masters thesis, before he completed his professional qualifications at the Bartlett, UCL.

Before joining Hayhurst and Co, Jamie worked on major public building projects for leading practices in both the UK and Denmark. This includes his role as project architect on the Athletes’ Village Health & Wellbeing Centre for the London 2012 Olympics, as well as a new Business & Mathematics Building at the University of Kent, and the post-earthquake re-construction of Christchurch’s City Library, New Zealand.

Jamie has been an invited guest critic at numerous schools of architecture in the UK and Denmark and he currently delivers an undergraduate technology course at UCA, Canterbury. He is also a Professional Studies examiner at Brighton University and leads Hayhurst and Co’s involvement in the RIBA mentoring scheme with UEL.

Jamie is currently project architect and design guardian for the re-building of Edith Neville School, as part of the Central Somers Town Masterplan and is responsible for the development of Hayhurst and Co’s QA and CAD standards.

Claire Taggart

BSc (Hons), MArch, DipArch, ARB, RIBA

Claire studied at the Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL for both BSc and MArch, before completing her professional qualification at Westminster University. Claire has a particular interest in exploration of social and cultural dimensions of architecture and the relationship between architecture and interaction on a human scale. She also enjoys also working with the finer details of materiality and tactility, particularly in relation to the integration of nature and architecture, innovative uses and applications of natural materials and circular design. Claire is the Environmental and Sustainability champion for Hayhurst and Co and leads the practice’s environmental policy agenda.

Before joining Hayhurst and Co, Claire worked in studios in Rome, Milan and London on a range of projects, ranging from temporary installations to sensitive historic restorations, large-scale master-planning and public realm projects.

Claire joined Hayhurst and Co in 2015 and has worked on a range of residential and education projects and delivered a number of complex projects from initial design to completion, driving design development and managing design co-ordination, through to hands-on involvement and delivery on site. Completed projects have included schools, learning centres and homes, working with listed buildings, extensions, refurbishments and new-builds. Claire was named RIBA Project Architect of the Year for delivery of Green House, winner of RIBA House of the Year in 2023.

Claire was made Associate in 2021 and now leads a team delivering a range of educational, community, cultural and residential projects.

Akshara Pulpa

BA (Hons), MArch, ARB

Akshara joined Hayhurst and Co. in 2024. She is currently working with the team on the refurbishment of a Grade II listed house in Hampstead and is helping set up the practice’s Bristol studio.

Previously, she has worked at Feilden Fowles Architects in London on a range of education, heritage and master-planning projects. Notably, she was joint Project Architect on the acclaimed New Dining Hall at Homerton College in Cambridge. Since moving to the south-west in 2022, she has completed her training as a Retrofit Coordinator. With Connolly Wellingham Architects, she has led several community focused, adaptive reuse projects in sensitive urban and rural contexts.

Akshara qualified as an Architect in 2019. She completed her undergraduate and postgraduate studies at the University of Bath, graduating with distinction. She is currently leading an undergraduate unit at the Welsh School of Architecture focussing on the repair and reuse of existing buildings.

In recognition of her achievements, she was recently shortlisted for the RIBA Journals’ Rising Star 2023 awards.

Christina Agoston-Vas

BArch, MArch, ARB

Christina joined Hayhurst & Co as a Senior Architect in 2024 and is part of the newly formed Bristol Office.

Christina is the Project Architect on Filwood Community Centre in Bristol where her experience of existing buildings and project delivery will be utilised to deliver the LUF funded community scheme in Knowle West for 2025.

Prior to joining Hayhurst & Co, Christina worked for Stirling Prize winning architects where she worked on substantial office and refurbishment projects from design through to delivery and completion.

In her spare time she can be found hiking with her dog, jogging around the harbour or cycling in Spain. Christina studied at the University of Nottingham, for both BArch and MArch, before completing her professional qualification at RIBA Northwest.

Laura Mohirta

BA (Hons), MArch, ARB

Laura studied at the CASS School of Architecture and completed her professional qualifications at Westminster University. During this time, as part of Heliomet, she led the UK representing team that designed and built a 1:1 zero-carbon housing prototype for the sustainability competition Solar Decathlon LAC. The project was exhibited as part of London Festival of Architecture and entered BRE Construction – Innovators versus Dragons, where it engaged professionals in the industry discussing innovation in low carbon materials and housing.

Before joining Hayhurst & Co, Laura worked on various high end new-build residential projects from planning application stage to construction and delivery. In the following years, Laura gained experience in both workplace and hospitality projects such as being part of the architect & contractor team that delivered the new Woods Quay reception and berthing pontoon on the Victoria Embankment. Laura has a strong interest in craft and materiality and gives close consideration to project management as an integral part of the running of a successful project.

When not in the office, Laura is passionate about product design, bio-materials and reuse in the construction industry and is one of the co-ordinators of ACAN Circular Economy group with which she has been running various campaigns.

Laura joined Hayhurst and Co in 2021 and is working on a range of residential projects.

Marina Konstantopoulou

BSc (Hons), MArch, ARB

Marina studied at the University of Strathclyde where her final year thesis, a paired collaboration entitled Synchronicity; Unravelling Urban Narratives, received the AJ Student Prize, the A+DS Urban Design Award, was nominated for the Silver Medal Award and was exhibited at the RSA as part of the New Contemporaries exhibition.

Marina’s enthusiasm is driven by place-making and the empowerment of cultural identity in architecture.  Her interest lies in the composition of spaces that trigger original experiential qualities, emerging within a wider social context.

Before joining Hayhurst and Co. she worked in architectural studios in Glasgow, on a range of domestic, community and education projects.

Marina joined Hayhurst and Co. in 2019 as an architectural assistant and is currently studying towards her Part 3 qualification. Since joining the practice, she has worked on a range of private residential, affordable housing and education projects at various stages, spanning from concept design to construction.

Ruby Sleigh

BA (Hons), MSc, ARB

Ruby started her architectural education at the University of Liverpool, where she established a deep passion for socially and environmentally sustainable design, driven by a craft-based approach. She later expanded her education at the TU Delft in The Netherlands where she graduated Cum Laude with her thesis project entitled ‘Cultural Cultivation: Cultivating Culture’, before completing her professional qualification in 2022 at the University of Westminster.

She has previously worked both for Architype and Prewett Bizley Architects on a range of housing, education and cultural projects. She has gained experience in a range of sustainable construction approaches including Passivhaus, bio-based construction and self-build, contributing further to her developing passion for low-impact design. She is also a technology tutor at Oxford Brookes University, teaching on both the undergraduate and postgraduate architectural design courses.

Since joining Hayhurst and Co. in 2019, she has worked on a number of residential, education and community projects at various scales and across all RIBA stages. When not in the office, Ruby is passionate about ecologically-driven design, responsible supply chains and multi-species environmenta and is co-ordinator of the ACAN Ecology working group. Her projects both inside and outside of architectural education and professional practice explore the agency of design to instigate change and its relationship with people, behaviour and the wider ecosystems we comprise.

Alex Boyce

BA (Hons), MA (RCA)

Alex completed his undergraduate degree at the University of Liverpool where he was awarded the John Rankin Prize for Drawing and the SOTA Academic Achievement Award. Alex first joined Hayhurst and Co. in 2016 during which time he helped deliver the new RIBA Clore Learning Centre at 66 Portland Place and a new STEM teaching space at Torriano Primary School in Camden.

He studied for his master’s degree at the Royal College of Art, London, where his research speculated on the role of large, national scale architecture and the influence of energy industries on landscape, culture and infrastructure. In his first year designing a new production facility for Montrose a small, industrialised town on Scotland’s East-coast, and his graduating project ‘Oljevegen: The Oil Road’ took this research interest further and interrogated the role of melancholia and atmosphere along Norway’s west-coast through a series of proposals alongside Norway’s largest infrastructure project, the E39 highway. Oljevegen was named by both Jony Ive and Deyan Sudjic as one of their graduating projects of the year and the accompanying animated short film was shown at ReAnima (Bergen international animation festival) in 2020.

After a period working on a large-scale wellbeing project in Millom, Cumbria, Alex returned to Hayhurst and Co. in 2021. He is working on a series of private residential projects and studying towards his Part 3 qualification at London Metropolitan University. Alex is responsible for Hayhurst and Co’s internal IT provision.

Dovile Ciapaite

BA (Hons), MArch

Dovile graduated from Oxford Brookes University with a first class degree and received her MArch with Distinction from the Bartlett, where her final year project ‘Crafting a Lithuanian Forest’ delved into an exploration of cultural identity through making practises in architecture.

Dovile’s keen interest in boldly illustrated narratives that combine both, traditional mark making and industrial printing techniques, recently led her to publishing her first children’s picture book.

Before joining Hayhurst and Co. she worked with MATT + FIONA, on a range of community and education projects that empower children and young people to take an active role in the built environment around them. Dovile is a visiting lecturer and critic at a variety of universities, and has run several architecture summer schools.

Dovile joined Hayhurst and Co. in 2021 and is working across education and residential projects.

Warren D'Souza

BSc (Hons), MArch

Warren graduated from the University of Bath with first-class honours in both his undergraduate and master’s degree. His master’s thesis, which celebrated traditional textile craft, was awarded the 3D Reid Student Prize and was nominated for the 2023 RIBA Silver Medal.

Warren is particularly interested in how architecture can resonate with its local populace through cultural narratives. His graduating project ‘Threads of Time’ furthered this interest, aiming to revitalise the lost textile bazaar in Udaipur by reconnecting the city with its textile roots and paving a circular future for the growth of local craftsmanship. Outside of architecture, his passion for storytelling extends to painting, photography, and filmmaking.

Prior to joining the practice, Warren worked for Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios on a range of cultural projects, gaining experience in Passivhaus design and engaging with local communities to humanise our public realm.

Warren joined Hayhurst and Co. in 2024 and is currently involved in the practice’s residential projects.

Sahba Akbar

BSc (Hons)

Sahba completed her undergraduate degree at the Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL, where she developed a keen interest in sustainable and biophilic approaches to design. During her studies, Sahba explored the uses of biodegradable bioplastic materials to create spaces that enhance the ecosystems capacity as a carbon sink whilst sustaining the growth of flora and fauna. The theme of nature inclusive design and coinhabited spaces between people and nature is incorporated throughout her architectural studies.

Before joining Hayhurst and Co. Sahba worked as a tutor for primary and secondary school students in London and as an art teacher at the Iranian Youth Development Association in southeast London. She is passionate about sharing her knowledge and helping children who have previously had fewer opportunities to explore their creativity through painting, drawing, ceramics and many more crafting methods. Sahba’s collaborative art work entitled ‘Islamic Mosaics’, has been exhibited at The British Museum.

Sahba joined Hayhurst and Co. in 2021, as an architectural assistant and is currently working on a variety of residential projects.