London Architecture Studio Upgrades Legacy IT Systems

This award-winning London architecture practice has been designing thoughtful, human-centred spaces since 1985. With over 350 completed projects across culture, education, public realm, and residential sectors, the studio is celebrated for its commitment to design integrity, material craft, and social impact.

Notably, they were awarded the prestigious RIBA Stirling Prize for the Sainsbury Laboratory in Cambridge: a recognition of their ability to combine architectural excellence with deep contextual sensitivity. Today, the team continues to push forward with purpose-led work that balances form, function, and future-readiness.

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Industry: Architecture

Organisation Size: 50–100 employees‍

Service Areas: Professional Services, Managed Infrastructure Support , IT Financing Solutions

Like many design-led firms, this practice had been navigating an industry-wide slowdown, with key projects delayed or paused. To preserve capital, they extended the lifecycle of their IT infrastructure, particularly their core servers, far beyond standard support thresholds.

At face value, this seemed like a sensible short-term move. But the deeper risks were building:

• Three ageing servers, each over seven years old, had become a fragile backbone for day-to-day operations.
• Hardware failure risk was rising sharply, with limited vendor support and increasing reliance on out-of-date systems.
• Security vulnerabilities were growing, including exposure from unpatched firmware and unsupported operating systems.
• Incompatibility with modern tools and workflows was starting to creep in, slowing teams down and affecting reliability.

The infrastructure had quietly become a liability. And with every passing quarter, the operational risk and cost of inaction were increasing.

Rather than replacing old systems like-for-like, we worked closely with the client to deliver a future-proof infrastructure upgrade that was smarter, more efficient, and financially sustainable.

Key improvements included:

• Infrastructure consolidation: Replaced three ageing servers with two high-performance servers, reducing rack space while improving capacity and reliability.
• Right-sized for future growth: We assessed actual server workloads to avoid unnecessary upgrades and ensure the new environment could scale efficiently with the business.
• Zero-downtime migration: The transition was meticulously planned and executed without interrupting day-to-day operations.
• Flexible IT financing: Introduced a trusted finance partner, allowing the firm to spread the cost of their upgrade over several years, protecting cash flow.
• Sustainable decommissioning: All legacy hardware was securely wiped and disposed of using environmentally responsible methods.

This wasn't just a technical refresh: it was a strategic reset that aligned infrastructure with the firm's ambitions and resilience needs.

The firm now runs on a modern, reliable server environment that’s faster, more secure, and built to last. The infrastructure upgrade has removed the hidden risks of ageing systems; no more worrying about unsupported hardware, surprise downtime, or last-minute patching.

• The new servers are right-sized for current needs and scalable for what’s next.
• The transition happened without any disruption to projects, deadlines, or team operations.
• Thanks to the finance plan, they avoided a major upfront spend; making it easier to stay agile during a cautious economic period.
• And by responsibly decommissioning the old hardware, they’ve stayed aligned with data security and sustainability standards.

What they’ve gained is peace of mind, and a solid foundation to keep delivering award-winning work, uninterrupted.