We warmly welcome to the team Justyna who we have taken on as the project manager of our Russell Square retrofit which has been on-site from October 2020. Initially designed by BÜF architecture, Bow Tie Construction have design & build responsibility for all changes to improve the scheme from building regulations to a target heat energy demand of 40 kWh/m2/year.
Justyna graduated her architecture degree (part 1) & masters (part 2) at Gdansk University of Technology in Poland. She is currently doing her part 3 at Bath University so she can qualify as an architect. Justyna gained professional design experience whilst working on multiple architecture projects including residential, commercial and historic buildings. We first worked with her on our Potters Bar luxury refurb project where she was part of the client’s architecture team at Monahan Blythen Hopkins Architects. This project began as a traditional refurbishment, Bow Tie Construction’s influence was to introduce Passivhaus measures such as thermal bridge reduction, taping of joints, MVHR and ASHP. Implementing such measures late in the design process required excellent collaboration between designers and builders and Justyna worked closed with Bow Tie to enable this. This was Justyna’s first hands-on experience of these techniques and it left her wanting more, researching Passivhaus in her own time and wanting to work with a company that applies these solutions to the old buildings that need them most. We were impressed with her can-do attitude and when we heard she was available for work we offered her the role of project manager.
Justyna is seen here in photos with Slawek the foreman of this site. Justyna joined Bow Tie Construction to manage this retrofit as she wants to learn more about the design and construction of sustainable buildings by seeing how elements drawn by architects are actually built. She appreciates the collaborative approach to design and construction at Bow Tie.
“I want to become the kind of architect who really knows what they are drawing, who thinks in advance about how their design can be realised. I want my design to evenly balance beauty, practicality and buildability.”
“When you have a design team on a job, architects bring something to the table as do builders – we are all experts in our own field but to get a great building both parties must listen to each other, builders must trust architects, architects must trust builders. There can be animosity between the parties but we should remember we are all working towards the same goals.”
Bow Tie Construction is an equal opportunities employer that has always fostered collaborative working. We place high value on the diversity of approaches brought by the variety of professional qualifications and life experiences of our team members. Justyna is very keen on historic buildings. She thinks each architectural period has its own charm and is particularly keen on the Georgian and Victorian periods. New builds pose their own interesting challenges but as we have so many historic buildings in the UK she sees huge potential in the field of net zero retrofit. Justyna is passionate about restoring them and bringing them to the 21st century. She thinks the biggest sin is building new that looks old.
Justyna is a keen rock climber. She like to paint and draw and visit art galleries. She cycles to work every day to try to reduce her carbon footprint.
