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Naomi FisherDirector | Architect
On Friday 4th October, hosted by the Old Library, Digbeth, APEC Architects, celebrated its 50th anniversary. Accompanied by live music, canapés and fizz, the buzz grew as clients, collaborators, and colleagues, past and present arrived to join in the celebrations; a cause of much pride and a little emotion too!
Excitement had been building over the preceding 50 days with the practice’s #apecis50 social media countdown campaign, skillfully executed by associate Holly Doron- a feat that demanded huge dedication to the cause. The archives had been ransacked and trivia discovered; some of which no surviving APECians had prior knowledge of! As a practice that does much work in the heritage sector, the APEC team found themselves immersed in the practice’s own fascinating heritage, enjoying some great reactions to daily posts, ranging from reflecting on the time in 1983 when HRH The Queen opened 3 APEC projects on a single day to more recent stories of the social impact APEC projects have had, and for which it has been recognised.
From the archive: APEC’s first new church. In 1973, APEC completed a brand new Ecumenical Centre for the new town of Skelmersdale. This was considered pioneering at its time for combining ‘church’ space with social facilities, building on research with the University of Birmingham and Birmingham School of Architecture.
In preparation for the party itself, the huge effort from the APEC team plus some very much appreciated help from a few extra pairs of hands in the final hours began to pay off, as a distinctly APEC is 50 atmosphere took shape. The night itself was an informal affair, but the meticulous preparations proved to be very worthwhile, as guests congregated around the assembled displays; celebrating the firm’s history on a timeline, a map pinpointing regional projects, varied schemes from over the decades representing APEC’s main sectors, and a patchwork display of the inspirational work of current third sector clients.
