Hayball has appointed Sarah Buckeridge as co-managing director, the multi-disciplinary architecture firm’s first female managing director in its 37-year history. 

Sarah Buckeridge joins Hayball’s current managing director, Tom Jordan, who has been in the role since 2008. 

Buckeridge joined Hayball as a graduate architect and was promoted to director in 2007, the youngest and first woman to join the senior leadership team at the time. Her holistic placemaking approach to design has been an integral part of Hayball’s growth. 

With over 25 years’ architectural experience, Buckeridge currently leads Hayball’s strategic urban design and differentiated housing sector. Her passion for creating well-connected and sustainable communities has positioned Buckeridge at the forefront of innovative housing and community models that are high in architectural and urban quality and respond to social, environmental and market needs.

“Sarah has demonstrated exemplary leadership and broad influence across the culture of Hayball, as well as being a remarkable architect delivering award-winning projects for the past two decades.”  

“The appointment is part of the careful consideration we put into our long-term succession planning we recognise what she has accomplished to date but also our confidence in her significant contribution into the future,” says Jordan.

Across Hayball’s Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne studios, Buckeridge and Jordan will share the responsibilities for the firm’s resilience and responsiveness to the built environment’s current challenges.  

“Beyond the immediate challenge of overcoming the health crisis, we must also look ahead at our economic recovery and the actions that will help get us there. The past few months reaffirmed the importance of creating a culture that is strategically aligned and intensely valued,” says Buckeridge.  

She adds, “Our new working practices will be further supported by our new Melbourne studio which has been designed to enhance knowledge sharing and collaboration. The variety of different settings embrace flexible and agile ways of working and promotes equality and wellbeing”.

In her new position, Buckeridge will work with Jordan to build on Hayball’s inclusive and diverse workplace ethos and implement industry-leading initiatives including Hayball’s ongoing commitment to Male Champions of Change. As a signatory of Australian Architects Declare Climate & Biodiversity Emergency, the practice has undertaken a series of procedures to become carbon-neutral by the end of 2020. 

In February, Hayball completed its new accommodation building for Melbourne’s oldest residential college at the University of Melbourne’s Parkville campus. Explore the $28 million project here.