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Stephen Hodder was educated at the School of Architecture, University of Manchester, where he gained a Distinction in the Bachelor of Architecture degree. Following University, he joined Building Design Partnership in 1981 and became a member of the Royal Institute of British Architects in 1982.

He has been in practice since 1983 and in 1992 formed Hodder Associates which won the Royal Fine Art Commission/ Sunday Times Building of the Year Award for Colne Swimming Pool in Lancashire later that year.

In 1996 Hodder Associates, now Hodder+Partners, received the most important award in British Architecture for a single building, the inaugural RIBA Stirling Prize for Architecture for the Centenary Building, University of Salford. The Practice has now won over sixty major awards, including seventeen awards for the Welcome Building at RHS Garden Bridgewater.

He regularly acts as an assessor for architectural competitions and awards, most recently for the RAIC International Prize and sits on the Design Review Panel for Places Matter!

Stephen was awarded an MBE for services to architecture in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List, 1998.

He received an honorary doctorate in 2006 from the Manchester Metropolitan University for his regional, national and international contribution to architecture and a honorary fellowship from the University of Central Lancashire in 2013 and won the Roses Design Award of ‘Architect of the Year’ in the same year.

Stephen has written and lectured widely, has been a visiting examiner at a number of schools of architecture and visiting Professor at the Birmingham School of Architecture, the Belfast School of Architecture and the University of Salford, School of the Built Environment. He is Professor of Architecture at the Manchester School of Architecture.

He was RIBA President 2013-15, having previously been Vice President Membership, Nations and Regions and Chair of the Construction Industry Council 2019-2021.

In 2023, Stephen received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Manchester Society of Architects.

Stephen’s responsibility within the practice is primarily design leadership, client interface and development but brings forty years of experience to project delivery.

After graduating from Manchester University in 1992 Claire worked at Michael Hyde and Associates, on residential and commercial projects. Claire joined Austin-
Smith:Lord in 1997, where projects included Humberside Magistrates Courts PFI, and Boulevard Estate, Halewood, Halewood a masterplan for the site’s expansion to provide ‘just in time’ manufacturing sheds for Jaguar Landrover supply chain at Ford Halewood site.

Claire was Project Architect for Medeva’s £25 million office, production and warehouse facility. Moving to Aedas in 2000 as an Associate Claire worked on various transport and education projects. During this time Claire was Project Architect for GMPTE’s £3 million Hyde Bus Station and was also involved in the Manchester Metrolink Phase 3 project and the master plan for the expansion of Manchester Airport to cater for a predicted doubling of annual passenger numbers to 2015.

Claire joined Hodder Associates in 2004 and in 2008 Claire became Managing Director of the newly incorporated Hodder+Partners.

Claire’s role requires an overview of all projects within the practice and has included involvement in schemes at Chapel Wharf Salford, Arena Central Birmingham, Sweet Street Leeds, Cambridge Street Manchester, Water Street Manchester, Plaza 1821 Liverpool Waters, Old Hall Street Liverpool and St Paul’s Place, a 76,000 Sqft Grade A office building in Sheffield.

Claire was involved at planning stages in Duncan House Stratford and project director for the delivery of the 37 storey Student Castle scheme in Manchester.

Claire worked closely with Relentless and the Design Team on St Michael’s, a mixed use scheme comprising Grade A office, hotel, and residential use, on the site of the Old Police Station adjacent to Manchester’s historic core which is currently onsite.

Matt returned to Hodder + Partners in 2014 having previously worked for the practice between 2002 and 2008. Matt also spent 6 years at 3DReid as a project architect heading up a wide range of projects across a range of sectors both in the UK and internationally. Matt was part of 3DReid’s Design Concept Group Board.

The culmination of Matt’s experience at 3DReid was the prestigious Co-operative Head Office building in Manchester, which is a £115m new build BREEAM ‘Outstanding’ rated 400,000sqft head office which has achieved the highest ever BREEAM rating to date.

Matt was also project leader for Chapel Street Hotel in Salford which is a £13m, 21 storey. 208 bed hotel as part of the Greengate masterplan. Matt was also lead designer for a £200m mixed use development in Shenzhen, China which included a 66 storey office and a 250 bedroom hotel.

Whilst at Hodder + Partners Matt has worked on several high profile projects. Matt was lead envelope architect for the Chapel Wharf development for Dandara, a £120m mixed use scheme comprising 1000 apartments and a 5 star leisure facility linked to an existing hotel. Matt was also involved in the 78,400sqft Grade A office development at 55 Princess Street, Manchester. This scheme involved the retention of listed facades to Kennedy Street and a new highly glazed elevation of new construction acting as a foil to the exuberant detail of the old. Matt was lead architect for the 11,000 sq ft 4 Piccadilly Place office development, completed for Argent Management.

Matt has also been involved in a wide range of residential projects including Eckersley Urban Village in Wigan, Great Ancoats Street apartments in Manchester and Gujrat apartment development in Pakistan.

Of late, Matt has been responsible for delivering a 744 PRS scheme in Leeds and a 305 unit student residential scheme in Sheffield.

Nick joined Hodder + Partners in August 2014 after graduating with Distinction from the MArch course at Leeds School of Architecture. Whilst at university Nick’s thesis project was nominated for the RIBA Silver Medal. Since his arrival at Hodder + Partners, Nick has worked on large residential projects in Manchester, Birmingham and Leeds as well as student accommodation schemes in London, Oxford and Newcastle and a competition winning scheme for the Liverpool waterfront.

Nick has been part of a small team leading the construction of the Duncan House project in Stratford, London, a mixed use scheme of 511 student bedrooms, 44 residential apartments and a higher education facility.

Prior to joining Hodder+ Partners, Nick worked at Wilson Mason and Partners in Samlesbury where he worked on the award winning Manchester Cancer Research Centre, as well as a range of academic and accommodation projects across the Lancaster University Campus.

Nick was most recently the delivery architect for the award winning RHS Bridgewater Project in Worsley, having been involved in the early design and competition stages. Currently Nick is leading on a number of high profile build to rent schemes across the country.

Richard joined Hodder + Partners in 2017 having achieved a distinction in his Masters of Architecture at Manchester School of Architecture.

Richard moved to Manchester having been an undergraduate in Nottingham and working in London. He joined Hodder+Partners, having chosen to put down roots after falling in love with Greater Manchester, grateful to have the opportunity to work within the area.

Since being with the practice Richard has been working with the team producing a framework and masterplan for the regeneration of the Bedminster area of Bristol City Centre. This has then led to the successful planning approval of a build to rent residential scheme and a new multi-storey car park adjacent to Little Paradise and Malago Road. The residential scheme provides over 300 apartments complete with modern resident facilities including a lounge, street facing terraces and a resident’s gym.

Richard has been leading on the submitted application for a further 3 buildings within the master plan delivering 339 apartments around a regenerated public green.
With Hodder + Partners Richard has assisted in successfully achieving planning for St Michael’s – a mixed use development on the site of the former police station and synagogue, adjacent to Albert Square and the historic core. Working within the wider team, this involved the use of BIM to provide the drawings for the application as well as the production of a model to co-ordinate with other disciplines involved in the project. He now forms part of the design team bringing Phase 2 of the project forward.

Howard joined Hodder + Partners in 2022 having completed his architecture education at Leeds Beckett University. During his MArch degree, Howard’s design studio projects were nominated for various awards, including the Yorkshire RIBA Student Awards, AJ Sustainable Student Prize and the RIBA Silver Medal.

Having moved to Leeds for University and after working in architectural practice for 7 years Howard decided to move back to Manchester to be closer to family and work with Hodder + Partners. His has previously worked on a large variety of residential typologies across Yorkshire ranging from bespoke wheelchair bungalows to large scale master plans and extra care development.

Since being with the practice Howard has worked as part of the delivery team for Phase 1 of the St Michael’s development. And has more recently been leading the residential development at Belmont House, which incorporated the rebuild and conversion of a Grade II listed building with Cheadle Village.

Ben joined Hodder and Partners in July this year, since then he has been leading the 29 storey, 574 unit residential towers, set to become Bristol’s tallest building, adjacent the prominent Bear Pit site, forming a new landmark entrance to the city. The scheme consists of purpose-built student accommodation and co-living spaces. The scheme was granted planning approval in 2024 and is now in Stage 4 design.

Ben’s previous professional experience ranges from residential, office spaces, commercial, medical facilities to transport and across all project stages from concept/competition to completion.
Ben joined Hodder + Partners in 2024 following thirteen years of working in London, including eight years at Rogers Stirk Harbour & Partners and five years at Wimshurst Pelleriti.

Ben joined RSHP in 2010 and shortly after started work on the award-winning £120 million 14 storey Guy’s Cancer Centre in Southwark, where Ben developed the facade packages and the balconies intrinsic to the design. Following this, Ben was promoted to Associate and went on to develop projects that included residential towers in Shanghai, mixed-use retrofit schemes for the Brewer Street car park and the Gillette factory in London and off-site modular housing schemes.

At WP, Ben’s experience expanded to include a commercial fitouts up to £5 million, new and retrofit office buildings, 200+ unit residential blocks and a unique UK first forest school, with experience covering the full RIBA plan of work and leading teams.