Our practice is embracing a changing of the guard as Ros Magee moves into a consultancy role within Spowers. Robert Pahor, Annie Robinson and Scott Allardyce will now, jointly, head up the practice.
Spowers’ clients can be confident this trifecta of talent guarantees a smooth leadership transition. Robert, Annie and Scott have all worked with us for more than 20 years and Scott describes the trio’s skill sets as entirely complementary. “Annie has strengths across the board — of course she is a highly talented interior designer, but also brings strong technical and financial skills to the table,” Scott says. “Meanwhile, Robert’s commercial experience is highly regarded in the industry, he’s an exceptional technician and he intricately understands the real estate market.”
Robert believes Scott rounds out the trio with deft stakeholder management. “I regard Scott as a brilliant designer, who can identify pertinent issues right from the outset of a project and then work cohesively with all stakeholders to find the best solutions.”
Multi-disciplinary knowhow informs holistic approach
Whilst Robert and Scott are architects and Annie is an interior designer, our clients will benefit from their collective expertise as they steer Spowers towards future success. “We all have a great working relationship and, from a design perspective, rather than approaching interiors and architecture in isolation, we make it an integrated and holistic exercise,” Annie says. “For a project to be successful, it has to be functional for its users and that involves a myriad of considerations that go beyond just one mindset or methodology.”
Similarly, Robert describes as invaluable the cross-pollination of intel acquired from multiple sectors. “A good case in point is bringing a degree of commerciality to education projects,” Robert says. “After all, universities effectively have to serve their customers and those customers are, of course, their students. And vice versa, commercial-sector design can benefit from education-sector experience as workplaces welcome graduates into their commercial spaces.”
A snapshot of Robert, Annie and Scott’s broad experience reveals an already impressive track record with Spowers. Scott has led the practice’s emergence in the education sector including its foray into Vietnam thanks to the design of a five-storey academic building for RMIT University in Ho Chi Minh. Annie has elevated aged-care design through a transformative interiors’ approach —creating a new sector benchmark. Meanwhile, Robert helped the practice survive the Global Financial Crisis by opening up ongoing commercial-design work for one of the country’s ‘big four’ banks.
Ros Magee praises incoming leadership team
Ros Magee says he has enormous respect for Robert, Annie and Scott. “They’re obviously all very capable designers but, importantly, they’re also very good communicators, technically skilled and capable of leading across all levels of the business,” Ros says.
“I never liked the idea of the ‘rockstar’ architect. It’s just not my personality nor is it a trait of anyone at Spowers,” Ros says. Instead, Ros has let his work take centre stage. His impressive 40-year tenure includes the design of well-known Melbourne projects including the 60L Green Building and the Como Hotel. Ros’ other notable projects include Williamstown High School, the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, the Thomas Embling Hospital and the Malmsbury Juvenile Justice Centre. Internationally, Ros led Spowers’ work in the Middle East — including the design of racecourses and hotels. He was also a Founding Member of the Victorian Division of the Sustainability Committee of the Property Council of Australia.
If you have any questions about this evolution or require architecture, interior design or master planning expertise, we’d love to talk with you. Feel free to reach out to Robert, Annie or Scott anytime via email melbourne@spowers.com.au or by calling +61 3 9614 6144.