Allies and Morrison announces new partners as Graham Morrison takes step back

One of the UK’s largest architectural practices has appointed two new partners, Angie Jim Osman and Daniel Elsea. The announcement follows founder Graham Morrison’s recent decision to step away from day-to-day management and become a ‘partner emeritus’.

Morrison recently announced to staff that he was moving into a new stage of his career. He continues to be involved in competitions and projects at the architectural practice he co-founded with Bob Allies in 1984, but is increasingly focused on other work, such as the bespoke design and joinery business that he established with former Allies and Morrison director, Rupert Fisher, in 2019.

Allies and Morrison now has 14 full-time partners and 6 further partners who continue to be involved with the practice in a consultative role. The changes form part of a long-term strategy for secession planning, which began when Morrison and co-founder Bob Allies appointed the first additional partners in 2001.

Managing partner Jo Bacon said, “succession has been underway for years… we like to think of ourselves as a continuously evolving organism.” Partner Alfredo Caraballo said the appointments reflected the practice’s underlying ethos of “continuity and change.”

Jim Osman joined Allies and Morrison in 2004 and specialises in large scale urban housing and regeneration projects. Originally from Canada, she has 20 years’ experience in London and abroad. She is currently leading on the design of a new hybrid building within the King’s Cross masterplan and is closely involved in the practice’s recent projects in Canada, focused mainly on Toronto. Jim Osman also teaches a masters course at the London School of Architecture.

Elsea is head of the practice’s communications team and is responsible for business development. His role also includes responsibility for shaping external strategy and media relations. He wrote the practice’s diversity strategy and was a member of the team that won a recent competition to update the Barbican in collaboration with Asif Khan.