Spowers has announced a change in leadership, with Robert Pahor, Annie Robinson and Scott Allardyce now handling the day-to-day operations of the practice.

Former Managing Director, Ros Magee, has moved into a consultancy role, with the new leadership trio’s expertise ensuring a smooth transition. Pahor, Robinson and Allardyce have all worked at Spowers for over two decades and possess skillsets that complement one another.

“Annie has strengths across the board — of course she is a highly talented interior designer, but also brings strong technical and financial skills to the table,” Allardyce says.

“Meanwhile, Robert’s commercial experience is highly regarded in the industry, he’s an exceptional technician and he intricately understands the real estate market.”

Pahor believes Allardyce rounds out the trio with deft stakeholder management.

“I regard Scott as a brilliant designer, who can identify pertinent issues right from the outset of a project and then work cohesively with all stakeholders to find the best solutions.”

Pahor and Allardyce are both architects by trade while Robinson is an interior designer. The practice hopes the collective talents of each will guide them towards future success.

“We all have a great working relationship and, from a design perspective, rather than approaching interiors and architecture in isolation, we make it an integrated and holistic exercise,” says Robinson.

“For a project to be successful, it has to be functional for its users and that involves a myriad of considerations that go beyond just one mindset or methodology.”

Pahor says that information and intelligence acquired across a number of sectors helps each particular department in their evolution.

“A good case in point is bringing a degree of commerciality to education projects. After all, universities effectively have to serve their customers and those customers are, of course, their students,” he says.

“And vice versa, commercial-sector design can benefit from education-sector experience as workplaces welcome graduates into their commercial spaces.”

Allardyce was involved in the creation of one of Spowers’ first forays into the education sector, which saw the practice design a five-storey academic building for RMIT University in Ho Chi Minh. Robinson has elevated aged-care design through a transformative interiors’ approach —creating a new sector benchmark. Meanwhile, Pahor helped the practice survive the Global Financial Crisis by opening up ongoing commercial-design work for one of the country’s ‘big four’ banks.

Ros Magee says he has enormous respect for the new Managing Directors.

“They’re obviously all very capable designers but, importantly, they’re also very good communicators, technically skilled and capable of leading across all levels of the business,” Ros says.

“I never liked the idea of the ‘rockstar’ architect. It’s just not my personality nor is it a trait of anyone at Spowers.”

Magee’s 40-year tenure has seen him oversee the design for a number of notable Melbourne projects, including the 60L Green Building and the Como Hotel. Ros’ other notable projects include Williamstown High School, the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, the Thomas Embling Hospital and the Malmsbury Juvenile Justice Centre.

Internationally, Ros led Spowers’ work in the Middle East — including the design of racecourses and hotels. He was also a Founding Member of the Victorian Division of the Sustainability Committee of the Property Council of Australia.

For more information, visit www.spowers.com.au.

Jarrod Reedie

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