Mark Skelly
BEng (Hons) PhD RAEng VTF
Founding Director
Mark Skelly received a BEng (Hons) from the University of Bath in Building Environmental Engineering in 1996 and a PhD in Architecture and Engineering in 2002. He joined Max Fordham Consulting Engineers in 1996 and became a Partner in 2003, and was eventually responsible for all of the practice’s education projects. Mark and fellow Partner, Tristan Couch, left Max Fordham in 2007 to set up Skelly & Couch and over the past 15 years they have grown the firm to become a thriving business employing 30 people working on a wide range of high-profile, award-winning projects.
Mark’s past projects include the construction of a series of pavilion buildings at the Horniman Museum in south London; a new Special Exhibitions Gallery at The Manchester Science and Industry Museum, designed to meet government indemnity standards; and a world-class new horticultural science visitor, exhibition and archive centre at RHS Garden Wisley. Other projects include: Vitsœ, in Royal Leamington Spa; the Stirling Prize-shortlisted Cambridge Central Mosque; projects at the City of London Freemen’s School; the redevelopment of the Grade II-listed Farmiloe Building in central London; a low carbon workplace in Wimbledon; new Art Design and Theatre Spaces for the Richmond Adult Community College; and a new Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts.
Mark’s current projects include the pioneering Nature + Love project at the Horniman Museum, a key part of the museum's plans to mitigate against the climate and ecological emergency; the redevelopment of the Grade II*-listed Rhodes House, Oxford; the refurbishment and remodelling of the Grade I-listed British Academy; a sustainable Dairy Farming research building in the Scottish Borders; and conservation work at Highgate Cemetery.
Dr Mark Skelly is a Royal Academy of Engineering Teaching Fellow and a Design Council Built and Natural Environment Expert-Associate. In 2015 he was awarded the IMechE Construction and Building Services Division Prize for contributions to the industry. Mark also acts as a design adviser to the Marylebone Cricket Club and Palace of Westminster, and is working on a number of Net Zero Carbon projects. He is a Trustee, Governor and Chair of the Estates Committee for the Mill Hill School Foundation, a charity foundation of seven schools.