About
Stephen Levrant Heritage Architecture is the continuation of a specialist practice originally founded in 1948. At our three offices in London, Bristol and Manchester, we work in planning, urban design, and on practical projects in construction, within the historic environment. Our work is exclusively with historic buildings and within conservation areas. Our surveys, appraisals and inspections are renowned for an intricate and holistic approach using detailed knowledge and experience of historic methods of construction, decoration and furnishing.
Meet the Team
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Stephen Levrant
FOUNDER
RIBA, AADIP, DIPCONS (AA), FRSA, ACARCH, IHBC
Stephen has spent his entire professional career in conservation and historic buildings, in both the public and private sectors of the profession. He worked for the precursor of English Heritage prior to joining the Frizzell Partnership, which he took over in the 90s. Known as a pragmatic and tenacious problem solver, he has dealt with many complex and sensitive issues in conservation from delicate and highly specialised repairs, through new build additions on sensitive sites, conservation area appraisals, legislation and planning matters, to major regeneration and development.
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Susanna Levrant Freud
DIRECTOR, FINANCE, HR & COMPANY SECRETARY (LONDON)
Susanna joined the company in December 2013. She was trained as a graphic artist and designer, studying at The Wimbledon School of Art and Plymouth Art School. She specialised in film animation, but in later years became a successful wholesaler and retailer in Covent Garden, travelling to India and China to manufacture and source new products. Her experience in running her own wholesale business, and her ability to continually learn new skills, has given her the knowledge and understanding to work alongside Stephen Levrant as financial director of the company.
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Francesca Cipolla
PRACTICE DIRECTOR – SPECIALIST CONSERVATION ARCHITECT (LONDON)
RIBA SCA, MSc (Heritage Planning), Dottore dell`Architettura
Francesca is an a RIBA accredited Specialist Conservation Architect. Based in the London office Francesca, also played a substantial role in the setting up and organisation of the office in Manchester, as well as a small office in Rome (Italy). She has led the London Office since 2013, and was promoted in 2020 to Practice Director, with additional responsibilities for the growth of both offices, as well as organising all staff members, bids and projects, from initialisation to completion.
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Kirsten McKnight
ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR (MANCHESTER)
MA, MSc, IHBC
Kirsten has over 15 years experience of working in the heritage sector and is based in our Manchester office where she is managing a number of projects providing advice on the historic environment and preparing supporting material for planning applications. Currently, Kirsten is working on a range of projects in the northwest for private and public clients. These include heritage surveys of the grade-I listed Manchester Town Hall, Masterplanning for the Co-op’s Manchester NOMA estate and advising Manchester University and Metropolitan University of asset disposal strategies.
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Maida Kaiser
SENIOR ASSOCIATE CONSERVATION ARCHITECT (LONDON)
Dipl.Ing.Arh, Mr. Arh.
Maida joined Heritage Architecture in 2008, after almost six years working on a large scale master-planning and urban design projects for the conservation and development of historic cities, as well as numerous restoration and conservation projects of individual historic buildings.
Maida is based in the London office and her main role is providing specialist advice on pre-applications and planning applications for developments and other proposals that affect the historic environment.
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Vicky Webster
ASSOCIATE, BUILT HERITAGE CONSULTANT
BA (Hons) MSc (Architectural Conservation), IHBC
Vicky is a qualified and experienced Built Heritage Consultant with over 14 years’ experience gained at planning consultancies and architects in central London, Manchester and Edinburgh, including Turnberry Consulting and Donald Insall Associates. She also has public sector experience gained at Historic Environment Scotland. Vicky joined the SLHA office in London in 2023. She has a BA (Hons) in Interior Design and an MSc in Architectural Conservation – both at the University of Edinburgh. Vicky specialises in 20th century architecture. She gained her full IHBC accreditation in 2017.
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Sarah Stirling
SENIOR HISTORIC BUILDING CONSULTANT
BA (Hons)
Sarah Stirling is an experienced heritage consultant based in our Manchester Office. On graduating with a masters in World Heritage Management from the University of Birmingham in 2015, Sarah went on to work for Civic Voice, during which time she principally worked on the War Memorial Listing Project.
Sarah joined the team in 2019 and has worked on a broad range of projects across the city. Sarah’s principal role is to provide specialist advice on development proposals which have the potential to impact the built historic environment.
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Lee Hutchings
ASSOCIATE HERITAGE CONSULTANT
BSC (Hons)
Since graduating from the University of Glamorgan in 2006, Lee has over nine years experience of working in the heritage sector. Based in our Manchester office, Lee researches and advises on a number of historic sites and buildings in the north-west, and prepares supporting material for planning applications.
Lee has comprehensive experience in preparing heritage reports and conducting historic research, and has a proven track record of architectural appraisals in the urban and rural environment.
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Claire Jackson
HISTORIC BUILDING CONSULTANT
BA, MSc (Historic Conservation)
Claire joined Heritage Architecture in May 2022 after being awarded the Stephen Levrant Prize in 2020 during her MSc in Historic Conservation at Oxford Brookes University. She holds an undergraduate degree in History with much of her studies leaning towards Landscape History.
Since joining the team, Claire has worked on an array of heritage and townscape-related projects across England and Scotland involving both designated and non-designated assets. She is particularly interested in building evolution, design, and townscape character.
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Cath Layton
SENIOR BUILT HERITAGE CONSULTANT
MA (Hons), MA, PGDip
Cath joined Heritage Architecture in June 2019 after being awarded the Heritage Architecture Prize during her PG-Dip in Historic Conservation at Oxford Brookes University.
She has worked in architecture and design for over a decade in practices in London and the South West. Cath holds an MA in Culture, Design Criticism and Curation from Central Saint Martin’s and an MA (Hons) in History from the University of Edinburgh. Cath is particularly interested in the integration of old and new design, and the influence that this can have on user behaviours.
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Paola Brancaccio
CONSERVATION ARCHITECT
RIBA Conservation Architect, MSc, Specialist in Heritage and Historic Landscape SSBAP, Dott. Architettura
Paola obtained her Architecture degree at the Universita’ degli studi di Napoli“Federico II”, Diarc, Italy, and completed a specialised post-Graduate School in Architectural and Landscape Heritage (SBAP, Naples) in 2014.
She has spent her professional career in the conservation of the historic environment, and has been a specialist consultant for over eight years for numerous architecture and engineer practices in Italy.
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Anna Manley
SENIOR HERITAGE AND TOWNSCAPE CONSULTANT
BA (Hons), MA
Anna is an experienced heritage and townscape consultant based in our Manchester office. After graduating from the University of York with an MA in Buildings Archaeology, Anna worked for four years as a consultant in the historic environment field where she gained varied experience working on multi-faceted design and conservation-focused projects in London and across the south of England.
Her project experience ranges from providing advice on the restoration and repair of listed houses and redundant historic industrial sites, to liaising with project teams on the heritage, townscape and visual sensitivities of tall building proposals.
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John Mullankuzhy
ARCHITECTURAL CONSERVATION CONSULTANT (LONDON)
BA(Hons), MArch & MSc
John commenced an internship with Heritage Architecture in January 2020 and has been working full-time from April 2020. John was appointed to assist with the fire reinstatement works at KOKO, Camden, where he contributed towards the Stage 3 production of reports and drawings for the timber frame dome reconstruction package.
John completed his undergraduate degree in Architecture at the University of Brighton.
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Marie McLaughlin
Marie is Stephen Levrant’s Personal Assistant and assists the the London team with project workload - helping to coordinate new bids and tenders and providing general administrative support. Marie joined Heritage Architecture in September 2019. This is her first experience of working in the field of architecture – previous positions held have been as PA to the Board of Directors of a leading concrete frames sub-contractor and later, PA and Office Manager at a Civil Engineering company.
In her spare time, Marie enjoys spending time with family & friends, travelling and finding new and interesting places to explore.
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Matilda Harden
HISTORIC BUILDING CONSULTANT
BA(Hons) MSt (Canatb)
Matilda has over ten years’ experience in built heritage, having previously worked as a conservation officer for Enfield Council and as a heritage advisor to the Georgian Group. She has dealt with a variety of heritage planning issues across England and Wales relating to historic buildings, landscapes and townscapes. She has a keen interest in 18th century buildings and designed landscapes.
Matilda obtained a Masters in Building History at the University of Cambridge and currently sits on the East Anglian Historic Churches Committee. She joined Heritage Architecture in January 2024.
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Michael Swords
CONSERVATION ARCHITECT
Barch (Hons), MSc, PGc, PGdip, ARB, RIBA, AABC, MRIAI
Michael is an AABC-accredited Conservation Architect with a passion for conserving and restoring historic buildings and preserving our heritage for future generations. His work is centred on his interests in traditional crafts, construction techniques, vernacular traditions, and architectural history.
In addition to having worked on many enjoyable and rewarding conservation and restoration projects in both Spain and the UK, Michael has an interest in ecclesiastical architecture and has worked on many conservation projects in churches. He is on the London Diocese, Chelmsford Diocese and Guildford Diocese Advisory Committee's (DAC) lists of approved architects for quinquennial inspections of churches and is personally appointed as Inspecting Architect to some Churches.
External Consultants
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HISTORIC ENVIRONMENT CONSULTANT
MA (Oxon) MSc PhD IHBC
Daniel came to the heritage sector as a historian with a BA and Master’s degree in History from Oxford University and a doctorate from the University of Reading, where he specialised in ecclesiastical buildings and estates and had his work published in leading academic history journals.
Daniel also has a Masters degree in the Conservation of the Historic Environment from the University of Reading and is a member of the Institute of Historic Building Conservation. He provides independent professional heritage and design advice to leading architectural practices and planning consultancies, as well as for private clients.
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CONSERVATION SURVEYOR (MANCHESTER)
BSc (Hons)
After studying building surveying at the University of Salford, Declan has developed his knowledge and understanding of conservation working across the UK. Declan firstly worked across the historic building portfolio of the City of London Corporation, sensitively repairing and conserving structures within the public realm.
In 2016 he undertook the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings Scholarship programme where he developed his knowledge of historic building conservation and the need to conserve in an appropriate and sympathetic manner.
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HISTORIC BUILDING ASSISTANT
B.A., M.A., M.A. (York;dist)
Having worked as an independent researcher and professional photographer for the heritage sector in Taiwan, Doane specialises in institutional, historic, and archival research as well as producing photographic content for a variety of uses, he is an award-winning photographer. After obtaining an MA degree in Cultural Heritage Management from the University of York in 2021, Doane joined us as a Historic Building Assistant at the end of the same year.
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SENIOR ARCHITECTURAL CONSERVATION CONSULTANT
BArch (Hons), MSc, IHBC
Emily combines expertise and previous experience in architecture, planning and historic building conservation. She has previous experience as a Part I architectural assistant at MAKE Architects, a planning officer for South Downs National Park. Her experience with SLHA has enabled her to combine the three disciplines of architecture, planning and building conservation in both rural and urban settings. She provides both architectural and heritage consultancy services.
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EXTERNAL CONSULTANT
BSc (Hons) Dip.Arch RIBA ARB MPhil MA
Joanna Morgan is an architect and conservation professional, who has maintained roles in both public and private heritage sectors, since graduating from her Masters in Conservation in 2003.
She has over twenty years of experience which includes preparation of Conservation Management Plans, Conservation Area Appraisals and Heritage Impact Assessments, as well as architectural design work within the historic environment. She has worked on projects as diverse as Halton Castle, Yorkshire Museum and Houldsworth Mill Engine House.
In the public sector, she has worked in Chester on development strategies for a number of its historic buildings including the iconic Rows, and in Greenwich tackling buildings at risk.
Joanna’s roles both as a local authority conservation officer and as heritage consultant in private practice has provided her with diverse expertise.
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BA (Hons) MA FRSA FRGS FRHistS
Lucy Denton is an architectural historian and writer who provides scholarly content and in-depth research for formal reports, including Heritage Statements for planning purposes, Conservation Management Plans, and historic assessment. Experience over more than twenty years includes numerous heritage projects from Wentworth Woodhouse to Annabel's Club on Berkeley Square, and many more country house estates, London townhouses, industrial sites, landscape parks, and farmyards in between. With a background via Sotheby’s, rural regeneration companies, and a national public art charity, she has also written editorial and articles for press and publications such as Hudson's Historic Houses, The London Magazine, Country Life, The Times and more. She has advised heritage and property programmes on Ch5 and the BBC.
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SENIOR CONSERVATION ARCHITECT (LONDON)
BA (Hons), March, ARB
Sophie is a Senior Conservation Architect, having worked exclusively in the heritage sector since she graduated from her Masters in Architecture in 2010. She has worked in London on the repair and conservation of some of the city’s most significant buildings and landmarks and has extensive experience assisting clients with funding applications, as well as in her technical role running projects on site.
She was a winner of the Norwest Holst Prize and Charles Reilly Medal in 2010, the highest commendation for Masters students in architecture. Her work has been exhibited at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (2011) and the RIBA Supermodels Exhibit, (2012).