It is with deep sadness that, on behalf of his family, the partners and practice of Farrells acknowledge the death of our founder, Sir Terry Farrell

Terry was frequently called a maverick, radical and a non-conformist which he relished.  He was an architect who was never quite part of the ‘architecture club’, often going against the architectural establishment. Terry constantly argued for a more responsive, responsible approach to large scale projects with adaption and conversion as a creative and viable option to wholesale demolition and rebuild. He will be remembered as the UKS leading architect planner whose enduring commitment to urbanism has helped shape government policy on key built environment issues.

Terry founded the practice, Terry Farrell & Partners, in 1980, and had early success as a forerunner in the Post-Modern movement with populist buildings like TVAM and resulting in a 40-year commitment to contextual design, his work talked about history, context and communities.

His commitment to urbanism led him to develop three strands of design thinking – major new build projects like Charing Cross and Vauxhall Cross, the latter the new HQ for M16 which later became famous in the Bond films, conservation led regeneration projects notably Comyn Ching Triangle –that included 37, 18th-Century buildings, TVAM, and the conversion of the Grade 1 listed Royal Institution, masterplanning and urban visioning based on urban renewal and post-industrial regeneration of inner cities.  He always started with the ‘big picture’ and his consistent design methodology and narrative structure he developed continues to be the bedrock of the practice today.

Terry was awarded a CBE in 1996 and a Knight Bachelor in 2001. He was cited in the 2013 London Planning Awards as making the greatest contribution to Planning and Development over the previous 10 years. In 2017 he was awarded the rare honour, only awarded 14 times in the RTPI’s history, of the Royal Town Planning Institute’s Gold Medal in recognition of his outstanding achievements as one of the world’s most influential architects, planners and urban designers. In 2016 he was awarded an Honorary Freeman of Newcastle.

With his customary elegance he concluded his illustrious career where he began, in Newcastle. Terry donated funds to the University to restore a Victorian building to house his extensive archive. He opened The Farrell Centre in April 2023, then formally retired from the profession. The Centre was inspired by Terry’s recommendation in the Farrell Review: that every city should have an ‘urban room’, where local people can learn about the past, present and future of where they live.

Throughout his life he was a champion for social mobility. He believed the class system to be a huge force in British society which limited opportunities for the ‘many’ resulting in a democratic impoverishment in our society. The last words should be his:

“My work these last 50 or so years has been heavily involved in creating a kinder, less doctrinaire world than that of the previous era of high modernism. It has been about layering, learning from the past and regenerating with communities’ involvement from the bottom up.” ‘One thing I have learned is that we should make it easier for the aspiring child, because all too often society is not fair and not remotely equal.’

Terry lived with his wife of 18 years, Mei Xin and was a proud father of Bee, Jo, Milly, Max, Luke, his stepson Zhe and a proud grandfather and great grandfather.

They were all very much part of his professional life and have touched the practice in their own way over the years and our thoughts are with them.