Roots Design Workshop Ltd Case Study

Roots Design Workshop is an integrated architectural and environmental design practice which travels around rural Scotland. The practice was set up following a successful student project at the University of Strathclyde during the summer of 2009.

As master's students,Chris and Micheal were motivated by common ground in architectural tastes, jointly held ambitions in the professional environment and an awareness that the difficulties in the economy lessened employment prospects for graduates.  This led to the team setting up a hypothetical business as a student project.  They did this knowing that the business would either fail spectacularly, leading to interesting academic conclusions, or it would succeed give the team something to take forward after graduation.

Chris and Micheal spent their master's project examining what a group of newly qualified Architectural and Environmental Designers could achieve by working as a formal business in the current economic climate.  This was a steep learning curve which forced the team to look at how the broad skills they had acquired studying architecture could be applied in business.  The team acknowledged where weaknesses lay and learned skills first hand as well as applied for ‘business mentoring funding’ through Strathclyde University Entrepreneurial Network.

Upon graduating, Chris and Micheal formalised the business and began trading as Roots Design Workshop Ltd in February 2010.  The practice is currently working on a number of exciting projects and won the Shell LiveWIRE Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award (Scotland) in October 2010.