Benedict O'Looney Architects

09/04/2025

We are happy that two of our *South London* railway projects are among the 40 restoration schemes exhibited at the mighty Waterloo Station in The Railway Heritage Trust’s 40th Anniversary exhibition.

We love working with the Railway Heritage Trust. They share our passion for celebrating historic railway architecture and finding opportunities where relatively small investments have a big impact for station users and the local community. The British love their historic railway architecture, and communities are uplifted when their local stations are restored. As this exhibition, and our work at Peckham Rye Station shows, these improvements sometimes happen in stages over an extended period of time, when a series of smaller interventions adds up to a significant improvement.

The RHT brings experience in architectural conservation, access to historic railway drawings & photographs, carefully focused funding and, importantly, spirited encouragement to railway staff and active local people trying to save and re-use historic buildings where they live.

The RHT have achieved a great deal these last 40 years, and one of the founders, Sir Simon Jenkins, was at the exhibition opening yesterday along with the current leadership team - Tim Hedley-Jones, Anna Jipps, Andy Savage and Ptolemy Dean.

Come to Waterloo Station for this inspiring and attractive exhibition about their projects across Britain. The show can be found on the north side of the station, at the lower concourse near platforms 20 to 24. The exhibition is at Waterloo until the 18th of April when it tours over the next few months to Bristol, Aberystwyth, York & Edinburgh stations.

http://railwayheritagetrust.co.uk/

https://www.ianvisits.co.uk/articles/from-clocks-to-canopies-free-exhibition-marks-40-years-of-saving-britains-railway-heritage-80359/

14/03/2025

After finding some success, or at least notoriety, in recent years restoring and opening up Victorian and Edwardian railway architecture, we are excited to have unveiled the restored Art Deco Richmond Station this morning, on one of South London’s finest high streets!

Working for the Southwestern Railway, The Railway Heritage Trust, and Richmond Council, we have restored the early-modernist station façade, re-making the lost bronze-clad canopy, re-casting the ferro concrete Glas-crete skylights, cleaning the stonework, renewing the flagpoles and much else.

Richmond Station is a modernist masterpiece, built in 1937 by the Southern Railway Architects Department, led by James Robb Scott (1882-1965). Fundamental to this project was access to the original drawings and sketching visits the superlative Grade ll Listed Surbiton Station, on the same line, where many of the original details could be found. We enjoyed working with Walker Construction, and our old friends, the bronze sheet metal workers at Zinc and Copper Canopies.

As day turned to night the fabulous architectural lighting, we developed with iGuzzini began to reveal itself.

This mighty team effort was opened by the Rail Minister Lord Peter Hendy of Richmond Hill, a local resident and key champion of this project. It has been a joy, these last two years, for James, Nick, and I, to work toward this memorable day. Now on the booking hall where we have found the original glass frieze under 1980s over-cladding.

17/09/2024

Lovers of historic architecture, painting, and sketching - Benny is leading an evening sketching workshop at the National Portrait Gallery this Friday. A part of Open-House weekend, we will be celebrating Jamie Forbert Architect's fabulous project opening-up and enlarging the gallery, a project shortlisted for the Stirling Prize 2024. We will be also sketching some of the fine Renaissance Revival interiors designed by the gallery’s original architect, the mighty Ewan Christian (1814-1895).

It should be fun event - definitely great architecture to draw!

www.npg.org.uk/whatson/event-root/september/drop-in-architectural-drawing

(The images show some of Benny's sketches from past study tours)

13/06/2024

With a potential Labour landslide election victory coming up in Britain, I am reminded of this picture of me, lurking online, with Tony Blair in the early days of his premiership, circa 1998.

I was on site working at Paddington Station and the first train of the brand new Heathrow Express was departing platform 4. I jumped on for the ride! Astonightingly, Tony Blair came up to me and asked why I was there, offering me the opportunity to extoll the serious restoration project that me and my colleagues from Grimshaw's were delivering at this Grade l listed station. He told me a cheerful story of daily communtes into Paddington when he was a junior MP in a flat in Queens Park. Nice Guy.

Of course, I got it in the neck from my bosses at the head office when I was all over the TV news bulletins that afternoon and evening - Benny skiving off again!

😅

01/02/2024

Working on timber detailing for the new Westenhanger Station in Kent has brought me back to my drawings of timber bridges.

Pont de Berne, Fribourg, 1653.

24/12/2023

A festive picture of Peckham Rye Station illuminated, our little gift to the Peckham Community in 2023. Happy Christmas Peckham, and to all lovers of Victorian railway architecture !

29/05/2023

A jolly little film about our restoration of our local Peckham Rye Station was on BBC 1 last week
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-england-london-65684123

Come and see what we have been doing there these last 18 months. A wonderful team of contractors and craftsmen have done super job. This must be the most thoroughly researched restoration project this building has ever had.

Check out the totally engaging Sarah Sze installation in the Old Waiting Room upstairs.

Another exciting summer in SE15.

A £2.5m restoration project is returning the Grade II-listed station's original 1865 features.

14/04/2023

The restoration is described as a “prelude” to the Peckham Rye Station upgrade - a modernisation programme that will see new lifts added, widened platforms,

09/04/2023

The south London-based practice’s design for the World War Muslim Memorial, which will be installed ...

05/04/2023

We’re delighted to see that the AJ has picked up on our recent planning consent for the new World War Muslim Memorial at the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire. The project grows out of the three brick and tile minarets that we built in South London, with another on the way at the new Purley Mosque!



Link to article: https://www.architectsjournal.co.uk/news/benedict-olooney-wins-approval-for-muslim-soldiers-memorial?eea=*EEA*&eea=S1hpNTNUTHJVdlcyWUREbks5ZlA4MWlLdnBKbERBbXdiZmRTcStsU1JVND0%3D&utm_source=acs&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=FABS_AJ_EDI_REGS_DAILY_05_04_23&deliveryName=DM130905

10/10/2020

Have you ever fancied sketching London’s iconic Bridges? Check out my new on line tutorial with for the Totally Thames Festival.

https://thamesfestivaltrust.org/whats-on/sketching-southwark-bridge-with-architect-benedict-olooney-2676/

Totally Thames 2020 programme online now! Delivering diverse arts, education, heritage events and projects along the River Thames and abroad.

12/03/2017

Our restoration work at Peckham Rye Station is featured in the Evening Standard online today. The project to repair and extend the Victorian stone and iron stair should be complete by May. We are excited!

Peckham Rye station is to be restored to its Victorian grandeur as architects prepare to open up a hidden room which was lost to the public for 50 years. The local team of architects have spent 10 years on a string of extensive restoration projects to return the busy south London station to how it l...