RMJM Sport Directors Jonathan Pendry and Richard Le Sueur
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RMJM, the leading architecture firm with 25 studios across five continents, has announced the launch of its first sector-specific Studio, RMJM Sport, to focus the Group’s sports experience around this growing opportunity, the strength of the RMJM collective and its access to the global market.
The Studio will be led by Richard Le Sueur and Jonathan Pendry who combine three decades’ experience in high-profile sports projects. The Studio’s initial focus will be on regions such as The Middle East, Eastern Europe, South America and Africa as this is where there is currently most interest from clients and where RMJM studios are already active or upcoming in sports related resort planning.
“What is really exciting about this development is how it brings new experience and focus on building on our existing sports credentials,” explains Goran Nikolic of RMJM Serbia. “Richard and Jonathan’s experience, the RMJM Group’s back catalogue, as well as our own at RMJM Serbia, give us the confidence to say that RMJM Sport will deliver an unparalleled standard of expertise in sports complex and sporting landscape design. We are very much looking forward to working with the new Sport Studio to build on the successful sports projects we have already achieved on our own.”
The Studio principals’ golf experience will complement RMJM’s other sports experience. While Jonathan’s background combines project development, management, building, and agronomy, Richard will lead as the principal designer of the Studio. With a team of designers dedicated to developing innovative, culturally responsive projects around the world, RMJM Sport aims to provide an unparalleled standard of expertise in sports complex and sporting landscape design.
Michael Lord, CEO of RMJM Nairobi who has identified sport as a huge growth area in Africa and opportunity for the Studio says, “following Africa’s success, and particularly that of the Kenyan athletes, at the IAAF Championships in Beijing in 2015, sport has become a major focal point in the media and new sports-related projects are likely to be a significant source of opportunities for the practice in the coming months. The combination of Richard and Jonathan’s expertise means we can handle projects at all stages of development, design, to build. This will be vital for the growth of our Studio in Africa and we will be working very closely with the RMJM Sport team to make the very most of this opportunity.”
The Royal Burgess Golfing Society of Edinburgh: Just one of the RMJM Sport Director’s best-known sports complex design projects
Growth potential examples include the Russian government’s recent focus on sport, the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia and the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar and the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan.
Most recently the Directors collaborated with a leading Scottish Golf Academy to provide design/construction management of a golf facility based on the Chinese ‘five elements’, at Takaro Lodge, New Zealand.