English architectural partnership formed in London in 1947 by Frank Gollins (b 25 May 1910), James Melvin (b 22 Aug 1912) and Edmund Fisher Ward (b 29 Sept 1912). After early work involved with the reconstruction of bomb-damaged housing in London, the partnership made its reputation by winning the competition (1953) for a master-plan for the central development of the University of Sheffield, where it subsequently designed several buildings including a library (1959) and arts building (1965). In its commercial architecture, Gollins, Melvin, Ward introduced the first American-style fully-glazed curtain wall into England in its design for Castrol House (1960), Marylebone Road, London; its two multi-storey office buildings for P & O (1968) and Commercial Union (1969), facing the same paved square off Leadenhall Street, London, were considered the most sophisticated and successful examples of glass-walled office buildings in England at that time. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s the partnership designed many large buildings in England in variations of a mainstream modernist style, including several hospitals and schools; the Royal Military College of Science (1968), Shrivenham; the British Airways freight terminal (1969), Heathrow Airport, London; buildings for the Royal Military Academy (1970), Sandhurst, Camberley; the new Covent Garden market (1975) at Nine Elms, London; and the American Express headquarters (1978), Brighton. Overseas, Gollins, Melvin, Ward designed the British Airways terminal (1970) at John F. Kennedy Airport, New York, and buildings in Saudi Arabia, Kenya, Hong Kong and Belgium (some jointly with local architects) for which the partnership established temporary local offices. After the retirement of Gollins, Melvin and Ward in the 1970s, the practice continued as the GMW Partnership, developing into a large, multi-disciplinary organization.
See the Abbreviations for further details.
