Transition by Design

19/12/2025

⏮️ This year has been an incredible journey of growth and community impact for us Transition by Design!

🙌🏿 We were honoured to be finalists for the Pineapple Awards 2025 for our Blackbird Leys Community Centre engagement with over 1,100 residents, became the first Living Hours architecture practice in England, and welcomed Sammy-Jo’s achievement of becoming both a registered architect and Passivhaus Designer.

📣 From speaking at numerous events including Marmalade Festival, Oxford Architecture Society and RIBA Guerilla Tactics, to completing community engagement on several projects and deep retrofits, to designing affordable housing on garage sites with Oxfordshire Community Land Trust and a regenerative village with Bowden Pillars Future.

💫 We’re thankful for everyone who has been involved in our projects or followed our journey over the past year, and we look forward to more community-led projects and working towards sustainable design in 2026!

04/12/2025

🎉 Huge congratulations to Sammy-Jo on passing her Part 3 exam and becoming a registered architect!

🎓 It has been a busy past couple of years for her at T/D where she has become a director of the co-op, qualified as a retrofit coordinator, become a passivhaus designer and an architect, on top of managing and delivering several projects across retrofit, community engagement and design.

📚 We’re proud of her achievements and we love to be able to support our members in training and development, one of our core principles of being a workers’ co-operative.

19/11/2025

How are you adjusting to the colder weather? Have you ever wondered how you could make your home warmer, more energy efficient and sustainable? 🏡

At Transition by Design Cooperative we offer comprehensive ‘Whole House Plans’ that assess the current performance of your home and set out a series of retrofit measures that can be installed over time. Get in touch if you’d like to be part of paving the way in transforming your home for a sustainable future.

We also work on larger projects, and have begun work on an community retrofit project for renters in Oxford (more to come soon 🤫)

📩 Email us: [email protected]

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13/06/2025

🤝🏿 We need a culture shift from exploitation towards co-operation to fight low pay in architecture

We’re excited to share a piece that Wongani has written in the print copy of the May 2025 issue of the . It is written amongst other letters calling for the to ban unpaid overtime in the industry.

In the piece Wongani shares about the need for:
🫡 Co-operation not competition
💷 Paid overtime & Living Wage salaries for all staff
📣 The need for architectural workers’ to unionise ()

You can have a read of the piece here in the link in our bio or order a printed copy of the AJ online.

We would be interested to hear your thoughts 🗳️
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14/03/2025

We’ve got an exciting range of events next week for you to join in with. Find out more and sign up via the link in our bio.

🏡 Tuesday 18th March - Community-led housing workshop in Barton Oxford, 5:30-7pm ()

💡 Wednesday 19th March - The Association of Collaborative Design Conversation Lab: Engagement Fatigue, 1-1:45pm

❗ Wednesday 19th March - Transition by Design Presenting to RIBA Oxfordshire on ‘Whole Life Carbon or Passivhaus’, 5:30-7:30pm ()

🌲 Thursday 20th March - Ozone Leisure Park Community Engagement, 2-8pm

27/11/2024

Looking to retrofit your home? 🏡

At Transition by Design, we specialise in retrofits, extensions, and low-carbon design and have been offering high quality design services across Oxfordshire for over 13 years. With a commitment to sustainability and community-focused design, we bring your vision to life while reducing your home's environmental impact.

Whether you're looking to modernise a historic property, create more space for your family, or lower your energy bills, our experienced team blends creativity and technical expertise to deliver beautiful, functional, and energy-efficient homes.

As seen in Oxford's first EnerPHit project (Passivhaus standard for retrofit), we combine thoughtful design with sustainable solutions, ensuring every project meets the highest environmental and aesthetic standards.

Contact us today to start your journey toward a greener, more comfortable home.

📩 Email us: [email protected]

29/02/2024

Join Transition by Design as an Architect 🏡

Transition by Design is motivated by the belief that collaboration combined with good design can solve complex problems and improve the world we live in. We are an interdisciplinary co-operative giving us access to a range of skill sets that can unlock solutions to complex problems.

We’re looking for an architect passionate about community-led housing and retrofit, to expand our skill set further and unlock even more potential.

📩 If you think this could be you, we’d love for you to take a look at the job description, and apply using the link below. Any questions can be directed to [email protected].

We look forward to hearing from you!

https://buff.ly/49a8jAF

28/02/2024

Find out about our latest community engagement events that we have been to or hosted as part of gathering local residents' ideas for the new Blackbird Leys Community Centre. We held a fun day on the 10th February in the Leys, been to youth events, FriendLeys, the Blackbird Leys Community larder, a tour of the Bullingdon Community Centre and more. You can read about it here: https://transitionbydesign.org/articles/february-update/

We have got another in-person engagement event on Saturday 16th March which we would love to see you at the Barn again between 12-3pm. Before then, we have an online engagement event from 12-1:30pm on Wednesday 6th March to hear about the latest designs. The meeting will be held on Zoom and you can register for this here: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZYrf--gqDwrEtxPfJevHRmwAPRNfG_whuVJ

Blackbird Leys Community Group Oxford City Council Jessop and Cook Architects Peabody

Taking a look back at our community engagement to date we have: Reached thousands of people across the Leys through…

22/02/2024

🏡 Architect Opportunity 🏡

Are you an architect with a passion for community-led housing and retrofit? Do you dream of making a positive impact through ecological design and beautiful architecture? Here is your opportunity to join our unique Architecture Co-operative based in Oxford.

Transition by Design (T/D) is an Oxford-based architecture practice, workers’ co-operative, and community interest company (CIC) founded in 2011.Our expertise spans community-led housing, Passivhaus design, urban design and participatory design.

Join us in creating a better-built environment. 🏡🌿 See the full job description, download the job pack and apply here: https://buff.ly/49a8jAF

15/02/2024

👁️ We’re searching for an architect to join our team, could this be you?

If you are an ARB registered architect or a highly experienced Part 2 or 3 candidate and have:

✔️Experience working as a project architect from Work Stages 0-7.
✔️2 years minimum experience running your own projects and 5 years professional practice (ideally in community-led housing/residential, new-build and/or retrofit)
✔️Technical knowledge of low energy and ecological design and able to produce planning, tender and construction drawing packages
✔️A healthy interest in or experience of social or environmental activism

We’d love to hear from you. Click on the link to find out more, or if you have any questions feel free to email us at [email protected]

https://transitionbydesign.org/articles/were-on-the-hunt-for-an-architect-passionate-about-community-led-housing-and-retrofit-to-join-our-architecture-and-design-co-op-based-in-oxford-could-this-be-you/

09/02/2024

🌟 WE ARE HIRING 🌟

We are excited to announce that here at Transition by Design we are looking for an architect to join our team. If you have a passion for design, a keen eye for detail, and the ability to create innovative and functional spaces, we want to hear from you. You'll have the chance to work on exciting projects that will leave a lasting impact on communities.

Think this could be you? Read the full job description here, along with details on how to apply: https://buff.ly/49a8jAF