Local design practice renewed

A prominent local architecture firm is teaming up with someone from Delfin Lend Lease, the group that masterminded the Varsity Lakes community.

Martyn Shedd, former Varsity Lakes project manager, has left his extended career with Delfin to rejoin the established design consultancy, and the exciting transformation his contributions will bring to the company is reflected in its changing image:

‘After nearly 25 years in the industry as Design Forum Architects, it feels right to consider rebranding our company with Martyn’s decision to join us.

It is a great way to share with all our new and existing clients how combining our expertise will strengthen our team, while also reinforcing our close-knit, collaborative business style,’ said co-director Amy Degenhart, who provides the first half of the firm’s new name: degenhartSHEDD.

‘Since our beginnings in 1987 in the then-new Forum building in Surfers Paradise, we have added to our professional staff and are now expanding the influence of the practice to other parts of Australia, based on the significance of our project portfolio,’ she went on to say.

This portfolio includes significant projects such as the 17M redevelopment of Labrador Park, the Varsity Lakes Community Sports House, currently under construction, and the newly opened Australian Industry Trade College, as well as our work for clients like the Gold Coast City Council, the Urban Land Development Authority, Leda and of course Delfin Lend Lease.

With many of these projects being of a local nature, they serve to bring the benefits of good architecture and urban design to the Varsity Lakes and Robina communities.

In addition, some of our projects have received local, regional and even international attention, from prestigious Australian Institute of Architects awards to a shortlisting at the World Architecture Festival of 2009 held in Barcelona.

Amy’s professional and community contributions have also been recognised with a 'Women in Development Excellence Award' from the Urban Design Institute of Australia in 2010.

‘The opportunities we’ve received thanks to such recognition have helped us to build our reputation and portfolio to its current high standing, and we would like to allow others the same opportunity to be recognised for how they benefit the built environment of our local communities,’ she said.

This is why they have decided to kick off degenhartSHEDD by sponsoring this year’s Gold Coast Urban Design Awards, which will be announced later this year.

The awards are a biennial event that will culminate in a presentation at the International Urban Design Conference being held on the Gold Coast in September.

The two also contribute to their local and professional communities on a more personal level, with Amy now tutoring at the new Bond University Soheil Abedian School of Architecture, imparting her architectural and drawing skills to its first cohort of students. These skills have been finely honed over the course of her distinguished career, with Amy and Martyn’s combined experience totalling over fifty years in all aspects of architecture and urban design:

‘With our joint wealth of knowledge, practicality and creative abilities, combined with a high level of customer service and management skills, we will move degenhartSHEDD to the next level together,’ Amy said.

‘For us, it’s about providing a very personal level of service with individual solutions for our clients, all of which we like to be on a first-name basis with,’ Martyn adds.

They are hopeful that these factors will set their newly transformed company apart from the rest, allowing it to reach new heights and continue benefiting the community.

For more information: www.degenhartshedd.com.au