MRC was established in 1996 to advocate design excellence and offer effective approaches for clients seeking to achieve world-class architecture.
Project strategy and advisory
Clients embarking on capital projects need clarity before they commit: what the real opportunities are, where the risks lie, and whether ambition aligns with resources and timeline.
MRC works with clients at the earliest stage: interrogating the proposition, assessing the options, and helping clients frame their path to a successful outcome. We draw on deep understanding of the design world and capital projects to help clients articulate their vision, build the case for their project and approach the design development stage with confidence.
The result is a clear project strategy and a sound foundation for design development.
Choosing the right design team
Choosing an architect or design team is one of the most consequential decisions a client will make.
Design team selection processes take many forms and can be flexible and bespoke: they range from a private search or invited process to a two-stage or one-stage design competition. MRC advises on the process best suited to each client and project and is expert at guiding and actively managing this from start to finish.
As advocates of competitive selection, we believe this route to be highly effective. It gives clients something no single appointment can: a varied set of highly creative approaches that can be analysed and compared. It reveals the designers who intuitively connect with a project, stimulates designers (especially emerging studios) to perform at their very best, while building momentum and stakeholder confidence.
A key strength of MRC’s team is its architectural expertise – this enables us to understand the design community. However, we don’t just think like architects, we think like the architect and the client. We have worked closely with many of the world’s leading cultural institutions to help them shape their projects.
Based in London, MRC’s work is international. We are privileged to have worked on cultural projects in countries as diverse as the United States, Taiwan, KSA, Lithuania, Finland, Qatar, India and Australia.
Our services:
We work across the full early life of a capital project – from first ideas to appointed design team, making sure the client’s requirements are identified, analysed and resolved before detailed design work begins.
Project strategy and advisory
Working with clients at the earliest stage to interrogate the proposition, frame the project and build a strategy for future success.
Design brief and project narrative
Creating content-rich briefs and compelling narratives that define a project’s ambition and give the design team the creative challenge they need.
Architect and design team selection
MRC’s network spans emerging studios to the world’s most celebrated architecture firms, ensuring every process draws on the widest and most relevant talent pool.
Administrative support
We provide end-to-end administration and management of the selection process, relieving pressure from your team and enabling energies to be focused at key decisions and milestones.
Procurement and process design
We advise on and manage a full range of selection processes: from private searches and invited competitions to open two-stage processes – devising bespoke, auditable approaches that meet international procurement standards to ensure fairness and transparency.
Jury and advisory panel assembly
Identifying, inviting and managing distinguished juries and advisory panels drawn from the worlds of design, culture and beyond.
Stakeholder and public engagement
Building the political and public support that ambitious projects require. MRC supports with engagement strategies and stakeholder relationships and helps clients shape the narrative that carries a project forward.
Communications and project identity
Developing the brand, materials, microsites and media strategy that launch a project to its design community, stakeholders and the public.
Architectural client advisory
Serving as the client’s trusted architectural advisor – providing independent design guidance, expert assurance and strategic counsel as a project moves from brief through to delivery.