Birch Freeman Design

16/03/2026

We've spent a fascinating year working at 80 Strand (or Shell Mex House as it used to be known). A fabulous Grade II listed art deco office building on the river. It overlooks the London Eye so I imagine there might be a few office workers doing a very late one there on New Year's Eve.

We've been designing new office interiors for a finance firm, adapting an original fit out to make it work for our client. We had an existing portfolio of client furniture along with new pieces which the FM manager and I personally arranged in the spaces (well, with the help of some furniture installers who could seemingly dismantle a sofa in seconds).

The project is ongoing and we look forward to finalising the spaces in the coming weeks.

06/01/2026

Hello 2026! Of course it's gym time so I thought I'll show you this exciting new gym we worked on last year with the design and PM team at LXA and contractors Overbury.

Fitness First took this ground and basement area at Hallam Street in Marlyebone and created something really bold and energising which maximised the potential of the existing architecture.

Some key features are -

Photo 2- spin room in bold red and black

Photo 3/4 - coffered red reception ceiling

Photo 5 - historically a swimming pool, the lowered area makes a great double height work out space

Photo 6/7 - the project created a mirrored ceiling around the basement lightweight in the main gym area

Photo 9 - the columns were kept exposed as a striking industrial feature

Photo 10 - stylish saunas (and plunge pools)

17/09/2025

This month I was persuaded to make a 500 mile drive to the quiet town of Ronchamp on the French-Swiss border. A long way to go but Richard was super keen to see one of Le Corbusier's greatest works Chapelle Notre-Dame du Haut.

We arrived in the pouring rain which added to the drama of this spectacular modernist church. It was completed around 1955 and every angle inside out was beautifully sculptural. I only have my Samsung phone camera to try and capture it, and the heavy rain made the lens wet and the crisp angles blurry. But these are the least-bad pictures.

It was one of the most incredible modernist buildings I've ever seen and to be fair, well worth a 1000 mile round trip from London.

11/09/2025

A pleasure to work with the CBRE and Overbury teams on design and construction of this media company office in London Blackfriars. Some photos here of the staff breakout area. The project handed over a few weeks ago and the client is now in full occupation.

It was a busy first half of 2025 for us with a lot of project completions in Q1 and Q2. We re a bit behind on getting photos of finished work but maybe I can catch up on that before Christmas!

05/02/2025

We enjoyed working with pendant light planters recently, there are some lovely ideas on the market and it's good way to bring nature into your interiors.

24/01/2025

21/01/2025

This beautiful 1930s Art Deco building is St John's Court in Finchley Road, London. A block of mansion flats with a large Waitrose on the ground floor level. It was completed in 1935 and the architects were TP Bennett who are still going strong now!

We were appointed to design new receptions for the block a few years ago. We re-visited them recently and were pleased with the longevity of the finishes. We designed the new porcelain floor using inspiration from the original Art Deco detailing of the building and the joinery design was created to reflect the detailing of the original 1930s clock which you can see in the images here.

B&W building photograph is from the Historic England Archive.

17/01/2025

There is a great page on Instagram for , the place to go if you need a beautiful new piano.

We designed their showroom in Marylebone which is arranged over 2 floors. The ground floor is the main retail space and the lower ground floor has a fascinating restoration workshop where Steinway pianos as much as 100 years old are refurbished.

Check it out if you love pianos! 😍😊😀

05/01/2025

Hello 2025! We are back in the office working away this week. No mood boards to do this week sadly. Instead we carrying on with the delivery stages of the new London CNBC offices and television studio with CBRE and Overbury. Along with the new Fitness First gym about to open in London's Great Portland Street.

I am looking forward to spring but also planning to enjoy the last of these dark rainy nights where I can shamelessly hibernate with a furry blanket....

01/01/2025

2024 achievements at our design practice

- Selected as LEGO's London design partner (a lot of people have asked if we get any free LEGO - no, I don't think we do 😆)

- Working on 2 Fitness First gyms with their lead designers LXA and fit out company Overbury. An exciting different type of interior for us to experience working on as design managers

- Working in collaboration with the brilliant again on some new workplace interiors that will complete in 2025

- Planning approvals, listed building consent, and building regulations approvals to support prime London residential projects with the 800 Group team

We have loved working with all the talented professionals, old and new, that we have come across in 2024.

Thanks so much to everyone who supports us on Instagram. The likes and coverage are thinner on the ground here these days, perhaps because we don't pay anything, but that makes the people who do like and follow us on here even more special and important. Thank you for your support ❤️

19/12/2024

In October we went on a little architectural themed adventure in and around Malaga in Andalusia. I lost all my photos of the trip except this folder I created of architectural models and installations. Sadly I also lost all the photos of the labels telling me what the model was of and who it is by! I know some of them are in the MOMA gallery in Malaga, and the model of The Pompidou Centre Paris is an obvious one. Oh well, perhaps having no idea what they are adds to their mystique. I would love to create some models in 2025 for work or just for the joy of it.