Lucy Smith
BA (Hons) MSc (Dist)
Partner, Communication Design
Lucy joined HTA in April 2004, setting up HTA’s Communications team to develop in house expertise in branding, bid, graphic and digital design. As Partner for Communication Design, she is responsible for all visual brand output of the practice, as well as managing the project portfolio and client relationships for the team. The purpose of the team is to communicate ideas relating to the built environment through high quality, creative and engaging channels.
She also manages visualisation, illustration and web development at HTA which all sit within the Communications team, alongside the Community Engagement and Interior Design portfolios.
Lucy graduated from Goldsmiths’ College, University of London in 2000 with a degree in Design Studies. She went on to work as a designer for a leading licensing company working with some of the UK’s largest fashion brands, including French Connection, Nicole Farhi and Speedo before setting up her own design studio, where clients included Prada, Kangol and local charities.
Lucy became a Partner at HTA in 2014, when the management buyout replaced the existing Directors with a new set of Partners.
Some notable projects that Lucy has led:
Assemble & Join – Responding to a S106 and Engagement brief, Lucy and the team delivered a programme of engagement working with communities in site specific environments to design, make and build items for community use. The project was initiated at Lower Marsh in Waterloo where a disused retail unit was converted into a workshop and maker studio. HTA invested in a CNC wood router and it was used to create the designs that the community came up with, which included bird boxes, planters, play equipment, street furniture, signage, market stalls, bee hotels and an advent calendar for the whole street.
The project has been used across the country from a new NHS hospital in Bristol, to custom build homes in Devon, and the latest installation was as part of the Aylesbury Estate 2016 summer programme of activity based on the estate in a shipping container. The project is currently on site at Winstanley & York Road estates in Battersea.
Aylesbury Estate Regeneration - Lucy is currently leading the communications programme for the Aylesbury Estate regeneration, developing the way that an evolving brand can be delivered across a 20 year programme of development. Through branding, graphic design, digital communications, public engagement, physical design and using different media channels, the team are working through different phases of consultation, planning and design proposals simultaneously. There is an extensive regeneration website for the project which is built using a CMS in the back end to enable clients to upload content themselves.
Hanham Hall – Lucy designed the way in which we create websites for community information post-occupation, with a series of managed websites that integrate different assets that are useful for the community in which it sits. These include live transport APIs, weather apps, the ability to post to a residents forum, book meeting spaces or car clubs, and notifications about construction, build programme and resident notices.
Greenford Quay - Lucy led the interior design, wayfinding and branding teams to deliver the first building as part of the overall masterplan at Greenford, providing design services for 379 new Build to Rent apartments.
Lucy is a member of the London Society Executive Committee and is also the Art Director and Designer for the annual Journal for members.
She is a member of HTA’s Diversity & Inclusion team, specifically Women @ HTA and the LGBTQ+ group incl.usive which aims to promote diversity across the practice and the built environment.
She also sits on the board of Freehold LGBTQ+ and contributes to the Architecture Race Forum.
