Gillian Harrison

Associate Director @Levitt Bernstein

I joined Levitt Bernstein in 2012 at the founding of our Manchester studio. From an early background in education projects, I developed a fundamental understanding of masterplanning and \'infill\' development, especially in constrained and sensitive locations, and often in conjunction with historic buildings. I now lead the Manchester studio\'s housing work, where this expertise has been applied to a number of prominent residential and mixed use projects in central urban and suburban locations, in all cases requiring careful integration of new development to create successful neighbourhoods. I also have particular experience in specialist housing for older people across the spectrum from supported independent living accommodation to care homes.Levitt Bernstein has specialised in the design of new homes since our founding in 1968, and continues to work on projects of all shapes and sizes across the country, from large estate regenerations to small new build developments. As well as general needs housing, we have particular expertise in creating student accommodation, homes for older people and those with special needs. Every one of our projects starts with the people we\'re designing for and we work side-by-side with communities and clients from the very outset; engaging in consultation throughout the development process to create new, sustainable communities.Our urban designers and landscape architects enable us to look holistically at all projects, providing the expertise to deal with both macro scale masterplanning and micro scale detailing. As well as designing new homes, we set standards and shape opinion within the housing sector. We regularly contribute to books, papers, guidelines and reports and have undertaken significant commissions for the HCA (now Homes England) and DCLG (now MHCLG!), as well as produce design guides for local authorities and registered providers.