Remembering Richard Beastall

Richard Beastall, 1961–2020

It is with heavy hearts that we regret to announce that our dear friend and colleague Richard Beastall died on 5th August 2020 after a long battle with cancer.

Born in Matlock, Derbyshire, on 11th March 1961, Richard had a calling for architecture from childhood, having grown up with a father who had dreamed of being an architect and many family members and friends in the property sector.

Richard graduated from Nottingham University. During this time, he completed a year out at Nottingham County Council where he learned the greatest lesson of his young career: challenge the brief if that’s what is right.  He joined tp bennett in 1985, quickly becoming an associate and then a partner.

Richard’s enthusiasm for collaborating with end users led him to start the company’s highly successful interiors division over twenty years ago, bringing specialist expertise together as one unit. He strongly believed in blending the skills of the team and developing the career paths of those he worked with. “Setting up the Interiors Division was one of the most exciting times of my life – we had everything to gain,” he said of the process. He was a great advocate of being approachable to his younger colleagues, strong collaboration between the project team and the client, and the importance of making – and learning from – mistakes. Starting with a team of 15, the division has grown into the largest interiors team in the UK.

His skill in blending architecture and interiors to ‘pull spaces together’ and create inspiring places, particularly for large-scale office headquarters, led him to design many high profile, award-winning projects.

Richard had a genuine love of life and a passion for people who crossed his professional and personal lives. He loved travelling the world and enjoyed hosting dinner parties at his self-designed house on the seafront in Bexhill.

Richard was an active Freeman of the City of London with the Worshipful Company of Chartered Architects and a supporter of the Outward Bound Trust. He served for many years on the Board of the British Council for Offices, having started the BCO Banking Peer Review Group, and was an enthusiastic supporter of the BCO Next Gen. His indomitable optimism and boundless positivity made him a loved and respected pillar of our industry.

Richard leaves his dear husband Martyn, his parents and three sisters, and a huge void in the property and design community.

“I only ever wanted to be an architect. Even from the age of six, although I didn’t know what it meant then!”

Richard’s husband Martyn is fundraising in Richard’s memory and would like any donations received to go to Cancer Research and also to a smaller new charity Story – Funding Melanoma Research, that is headed up by Richard’s oncologist and is pertinent to the treatment he received.

A memorial service to celebrate Richard’s life is planned at a later date, once current restrictions have been lifted.