Jelena Tomic

Following a decade of working on capital construction projects with leading architectural firms in London, I’ve been running a sole practice, Tectomic Limited Architects for the past ten years. With hundreds of private residential projects and a few doctor’s surgeries taken from inception through to completion, it has been a valuable experience. I have learned to deliver designs that could be built on a budget and to timescale, by identifying and mitigating risks early in the project.

With a versatile working experience throughout my career, there is much I could offer on any project. Given my expertise in leisure sector, where I run a variety of projects at the County Hall Riverside, Grade II listed building, including Saatchi Gallery and many others for the Landlord and the Tenants, from the tensile structure roof over an Atrium to a glass canopy & lobby against Grade 1 protected bronze doors for Marriott Hotel County Hall; I am comfortable in simultaneously managing a number of projects at different scale and stage of development, coordinating with the project teams through tendering, administering contracts during construction and delivery. On County Hall Projects, my role was to manage separate delivery teams for each project, making sure that we have adequate resources to produce and coordinate design, scope of work, tender documentation, internal and external packages, coordinate tendering, undertake tender analysis and appoint contractors and subcontractors; selecting the appropriate procurement strategy and contracts, generating valuations of work and payments, as well as initiating Client and Project team meetings, site visits, inspections and snagging. Key priorities were to collaborate effectively within the team, review and manage their performance, reward, encourage and motivate the team to deliver their best performance.

In addition, I had a privilege to work on a number of other remarkable historic buildings in London, such as a conversion of St Pancras Chambers into serviced apartments for Manhattan Loft Corporation; a conversion of a vacant building on Charterhouse Square into Malmaison Hotel and a conversion of an entire block in Holborn into workplace, amongst others. All these projects were developed with a great attention to detail and managed within the given time and budget, while taking control of complex requirements and regulation compliance. Working in the heart of London involved a number of complex issues, such as building a major construction only 10m over the Piccadilly line tube and Cross-rail line and inserting new buildings behind the protected façade. Designing and building the entirely new built ARUP’s Fitzrovia HQ’s involved working on an innovative façade and structural strategy that delivered an exceptional building. My role on this project was design integration that required changes in all the early design packages, to accommodate service routes, compliance with fire regulations and the escape strategy for disabled; the proposed amendments caused an initial setback due to a non-compliance of the initial scheme; until the team took ownership of these variations, working with enthusiasm to enhance their own designs and produce a much superior scheme in every aspect. Through these complex tasks, I have learned how to manage competing criteria to achieve a common, strategic objective.