Nicola is the Development Director at Duke Street Property responsible for end-to-end delivery of innovative property transformation through the development or redevelopment of their assets. Her specialism is strategic long-term value creation through planning, design, procurement and construction of projects, such as the Parcels Building, working with Grafton Architects, Fora and Piercy & Co on this award-winning scheme from inception to completion.
Nicola is a qualified architect with over 30 years’ experience, having delivered complex mixed-use landmark development projects in central London for over 10 years. Previously at Selfridges, she was responsible for the major redevelopment of the Oxford Street site, including the David Chipperfield entrance, accessories department, triple height restaurant, new team entrance, campus offices and public realm works. She is passionate about placemaking, customer experience and high quality design with a sustainable approach.
Nicola’s global outlook started from a young age growing up in the Solomon Islands and then living and working in Beijing, Japan, Indonesia, Uganda, and Lesotho. After 12 years of travelling extensively for practices such as Future Systems, Sybarite, Ushida Findlay and Ron Arad on projects across EMEA she decided that with a young family (then aged 5 & 8) being away for extended periods was taking too great a toll on family life. So, in 2014 she made the move from architectural practice to a client-side role at Selfridges.
Strategic planning, stakeholder communication and collaboration are key attributes and skills Nicola has honed over the years. A love of building sites, factories and quarries keeps the job real, along with a passion to collectively reduce the environmental impact of our built environment. Nicola is a keen outdoors hiker, skier and British Military Fitness member. She hopes to support young women and working mothers through their career development in the industry and encourage them to find the right balance to stay and grow in the profession.
