Meet the Team
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Hope Architects was founded in 2019 by Phil Cooper, an RIBA Chartered Architect with nearly 20 years experience working with residential developers, both in private practice, and for a national house builder. When in practice, Phil designed small housing developments using bespoke house types, large developments for volume builders using standard types, and multi-storey apartment blocks in and around London. Phil then spent over 7 years working for Bloor Homes, a respected national housebuilder, completing around 4000 houses per year. At Bloor, he worked in the Group Design team for several years producing housing schemes up and down the country, and then as manager of the Design Team in Bloor’s North West region, designing and implementing large schemes of upwards of 70 units throughout the North West.
Phil lives in the Peak District National Park, where he can climb, walk, and generally enjoy the countryside. He is occasionally found helping tend to a small flock of Charolais cross sheep in the beautiful Hope Valley.
Phil Cooper
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Christianna grew up in Patras in Greece, and qualified as an architect at the University of Patras. She ran her own practice in Greece for several years before relocating to the UK in 2016. She's a skilled and experienced architect with a specialism in residential design, and worked in the later living sector before joining us in 2021. She is a key member of the team, and runs project teams on a variety of our schemes, as well as designing layouts and house types.
Christianna lives in Stockport with her twins, who take up most of her free time. However, if she had any, she would love to spend some of it with her friends on a tropical beach drinking lunchtime frozen margaritas, quite possibly without her twins!
Christianna loves dogs, but choses not to have one because she believes she is too lazy to walk it. If she did have one, it would be a golden retriever called Bubble.
Christianna Anagnostopoulou
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Originally from Fife in Scotland, John comes with over a decade of experience in a variety of different sectors. Having studied Archaeology prior to becoming an Architect, John has specialist knowledge and experience with historic buildings and conservation architecture. His archaeological experience is, however, sometimes a mixed blessing as he has often been called to crawl around old buildings (and one time up a chimney) to record the historic fabric!
A graduate of the Centre for Alternative Technology, John is passionate about sustainability and designing buildings which promote health and wellbeing. John’s architectural tastes are a mixture of Japandi-style minimalism and Mid-Century Modern. This interest extends into fashion and interior design although it can be a challenging to implement at home when contending with two small children and a puppy…
Outside of work, John is a keen runner and rock climber although he has recently taken up fencing as another way to injure himself. Aside from his physical exertions, John is a keen reader and is a huge sci-fi fan.
John McSeveney
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Kate joined the team in early 2024 as a studio manager. With a background as a product designer turned illustrator/graphic designer, she’s a true Swiss army knife in the Hope office. As well as helping Hope run like a well-oiled machine, she flexes her creative muscles with beautiful designs that make their way into our presentations, marketing assets and social media posts.
When not working or parenting, Kate makes the most of the natural splendour on her doorstep, getting out into the hills for a walk or occasionally a run. She’s also partial to a nice coffee, ideally with brunch.
Kate Hadfield
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Herbert, whose full name is Mr Herbert J W Mystery, is responsible for the mental health of the practice’s directors. He insists he is in charge of all matters relating to the team, but in reality he is usually found sleeping on the job, and never bothers to come into the studio.
Herbert’s back story is unknown, but he used to live in a lady’s garden in Sheffield, where he was known as “Mister Mystery” She would feed him, but after a year or so his health was starting to decline, so she contacted Sheffield Cats Shelter. They rescued him and subjected him to a punishing regime of dental work, as he had to have 9 teeth removed. Since he moved into Phil’s house, he’s been slowly beginning to thrive, and has even managed to learn to enjoy crunching his biscuits.
Hope Architects are proud to be supporters of Sheffield Cat’s Shelter, and make a donation to them every Christmas. If you like Herb’s story, we encourage you to click the link below and make a donation on his behalf.
Herbert