Cooke
Fawcett

Francis Fawcett

Director

Francis Fawcett

Director

RIBA, ARB, Dipl. Arch. ETH Zürich, MA Cantab

Francis co-founded Cooke Fawcett in 2015 and leads the practice's cultural and commercial work, with a particular focus on adaptive reuse, retrofit, and complex historic buildings. Recent projects include Cockpit Deptford, Peckham Watchmakers' Factory, and Aldersgate House office retrofit. With over 20 years' experience in practice, Francis specialises in adaptive reuse and retrofit, particularly the integration of energy-saving measures within historic structures. He combines technical problem-solving with strategic project delivery, managing complex stakeholder relationships and securing planning permissions for challenging sites.

He currently sits on the Haringey Quality Review Panel. Before CF, Francis spent seven years at Herzog & de Meuron and five years as Design Fellow at the University of Cambridge.

At Herzog & de Meuron (2008–15), Francis was Senior Architect on the Tate Modern Extension, with particular responsibility for the in-situ concrete spiral staircases, and Project Architect for the Blavatnik School of Government, Oxford (RIBA Stirling Prize nominated, BREEAM Excellent). He also contributed to the Lord's Cricket Ground masterplan, Roche Tower Basel, and Basel Exhibition Centre. Prior to that he worked at Make Architects (2004–06).

Francis was Design Fellow at the University of Cambridge (2016–21), teaching undergraduate architecture students, and has been an invited critic and lecturer at several UK universities and the Bauhaus, Germany.

He studied at the University of Cambridge and ETH Zürich, graduating with his Diplom in 2007.