FEATURE
OLIVER WESTGARTH A familiar face to those in the industry, Oliver Westgarth’s achievements were recognised when he was the winner of the Industry Professional of the Year award at the last Property and Construction awards in 2019. With the recent news of the demerger of CCD Architects, its former design director told us about his plans and ambitions for his new practice, StudiO Architecture + Design, and his journey to this point.
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Guernsey Property and Construction
As design director at CCD, Oliver led his team on a range of highprofile community and arts projects, including the new ‘Children’s Library’, which is currently shortlisted for a RIBA design award; the complicated renovation of the Fermain Tower into boutique accommodation; and the recently completed Guille Allès ‘Story Tower’ project, which is proving popular not just for children’s storytelling but also as a wellbeing and meditation space in the heart of town. Alongside those projects, he and his team have worked closely with a number of local third sector organisations seeking to bring about positive change in the island, including Art for Guernsey (particularly on their bid for the Tourism information Centre as an iconic art venue for Guernsey), community centre groups, the Soil Farm, the Literary Festival, the Sarah Groves Foundation and others.
Those community projects are something the team certainly wants to continue to support, but exciting and visible as they are, the majority of their focus is on bespoke designled domestic buildings and houses. “After more than a decade at CCD it’s a really thrilling time for me and the team – we’re enjoying the excitement of a start-up, whilst having the comfort of a skilled, tried and tested experienced team and lots of commissions. All of our clients have come with us and the market is currently busy so we have hit the ground running. It’s a good position to be in. “There is a lot of potential in Guernsey and I have a number of exciting plans for the new studio, from its location to the services we’re offering.” The new studio is called ‘StudiO Architecture + Design’. For Oliver
