Nicholas Shantos - Partner

<strong>Nicholas Shantos</strong> Partner
" We design to excite, lift the spirits and create a sense of place. "

Nick completed his architectural studies in 1988 at the Canterbury School of Architecture with a BA(Hons) and Dipl. Arch. qualifications. He has been a member of ETEK and the Architects Association of Cyprus (ΣAK) since 1991.

After qualifying he worked for TM Miller & Partners in Glasgow for a year where he was involved with the redevelopment of Ibrox stadium for Rangers FC and a number of hotel projects for Reo Stakis Hotels in Scotland.

He then moved to London in 1991 where he joined GMW Architects, a Kensington based large commercial practice, whose workload included office, retail, education, transportation and residential projects. He was made an Associate in 1998.

 

During his time at GMW Architects Nick has been responsible for a number of major office projects in London including the redevelopment of 41 Lothbury for RBS Properties and Grosvenor, 16 Old Bailey for Hammerson UK, Kings Reach for Capital & Counties, the CIPD headquarters in Wimbeldon for the Chartered Institute of Research and Development, the IC & T offices in Hanslope Park for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and a mixed use development on New Street, Birmingham for Development Securities and Persimmon Homes. He was part of the Design Team that worked on the new extension to Ataturk airport in Istanbul following an architectural competition as well as the Victoria Station redevelopment for Railtrack, in collaboration with Wilkinson Eyre that unfortunately was never realized. Nick was part of the Design Resource Unit for the Practice that was responsible for the design of all its high profile projects. He has considerable experience in the management of large multi-discipline design teams. He is adept at both designing and delivering major developments, with particular expertise in the design of office and mixed-use developments within conservation areas.

In 2005 he was asked to join the akis charalambous partnership as a Partner. During his time there he worked on a multitude of projects in varying typologies and scales from concept, through design development, securing planning application consents and developing the detailed design. Projects include Askanis Opera for the Askanis Group, Halcyon Seafront Villas for Stavros Demosthenous Contractors, Eleftheria Residences for Vashiotis Ltd, Ioannou Tower for Chr. & Y. Ioannou Constructions, River Park Residences for Kinnis Property Developers, and the offices for Limassol Contractors Association. He was responsible for delivering projects like Anastasi Business Centre, and the subsequent fit-out for Trident Trust, and Zavos Aqua Park Resort for D. Zavos Group.

The workload since the inception of the new practice in March 2014 has been varied. It includes new office/ retail developments, residential blocks, and private residences and listed buildings. Nick has been involved in the design and responsible for securing planning application consents for Residence 21, a 5 storey development by Korona Developments, an artist residency within a listed building ‘Meraki’ in Ellados Street, a private residence in Kalogiri, and a 5 storey mixed use development adjacent to Dasoudi.

Throughout his career, Nick has based each design on a rigorous investigation of the specificity of the brief and context, which has led to each project being individual and different. Having seen technology as the backbone of modernism, Nick has continued to explore new technologies but looks to incorporate a more inspired poetic approach into the narrative that gives depth and meaning to the design solutions.