We are Lizzie Ruinard and Rachel Bell, and together, we are Neighbourhood Studio, a RIBA Chartered Practice based in East London. We joined forces to formalise a creative collaboration and friendship that has continued throughout our careers.

Since founding the studio in 2016, our focus has been on considered design and successful delivery. We care about context, craft and function. We enjoy finding inventive, pragmatic solutions to the puzzle of a building, whether that’s satisfying the need for more space, light or helping people enjoy their homes in new ways. Many of our projects are residential: a new house, the conversion of an historic building, the expansion of an existing home, even a new writing room. But as a neighbourhood studio by nature as much as name, we are interested in all the places that make up city life. This has led us to design other types of space, from a community pavilion to a workplace, hairdressing salon and picnic bench. We have a deep appreciation for the natural world and the role of landscape in architecture, often conceiving garden and interior together.

We have designed projects across the UK, from the Inner Hebrides to Kent, and for a range of clients, from a young family to a first-time developer with an infill site. We thrive on collaboration and embrace our clients’ tastes and inspirations; we like to draw out the things that matter to the people that will use a building, who will live with its design choices every day.

Craft in architecture can mean different things to different practices. For us, it means an eye for a pleasing detail, a love of fine joinery, or specifying a fitting that is as practical and affordable as it is beautiful. We appreciate subtlety: a shift in the direction of floor tiles, bookshelves built into the risers of a staircase, a cheeky porthole in a shower, or the wood grain on a cabinet.

We take our environmental responsibility as architects seriously, always seeking to reduce waste, work with suppliers to source innovative, efficient materials and get the best out of existing buildings to give them new life.

Prior to Neighbourhood Studio, we worked with a number of innovative practices, including DSDHA, Arup, Proctor & Matthews, Facit Homes and Neil Wilson Architects. As a result, we’re confident and skilled in guiding clients through all stages of a project, achieving planning consent and ultimately, a successful build. We understand the stresses of a building project, so seek to minimise risk and worry. As well as drawing on our own experience, we have a wide, trusted network of consultants to help us anticipate and head off any problems. We unite the skills of architects, builders and craftspeople to meet clients’ aspirations – and make projects that we can be proud of.