About — Common Practice

Profile

Common Practice is an independent architecture studio founded by Tom Partridge and Yan Wing Le.

We believe good architecture should be accessible to everyone.

We set up Common Practice because we wanted to give design the time it deserves. We listen, research and explore ideas, developing projects iteratively with our clients believing the best projects happen when architects, clients and contractors work closely together.

For us, architecture is a shared process, making good architecture part of everyday life.

Process

We enjoy collaborating with people to create thoughtful, well-crafted places that respond to their surroundings and feel good to live, work and play in. From the outset, we’ve shaped our process around giving ideas space to develop, making time to listen, ask questions and challenge the brief, while exploring possibilities and sharing work in progress along the way.

Testing ideas is a core part of what we do. Sketches, models, drawings and conversations, whatever helps us work out what works, and just as importantly, what doesn’t. We believe this leads to better decisions, greater transparency and more confidence as a project develops. We’re also interested in making the most of what’s already there, understanding existing buildings and seeing what potential they hold.

People

We’re Yan & Tom, the people behind Common Practice.

Having over 20-years experience across a wide range of different sectors and scales of project, we founded Common Practice to give us the freedom to choose how we wanted to work.

We’re directly involved in every project we take on and work closely with our clients from the first conversation to project completion.

Yan Wing Le
Director + Designer

Tom Partridge
Director + Architect

Beyond the practice

Architecture doesn’t stop at the studio door.

We teach, run workshops, take part in university reviews, exhibit work and share our design process whenever we can. We think it makes us better architects, and keeps our craft more meaningful. Yan is particularly passionate about representation and encouraging more young women of colour to see a future in the built environment.

Articles

Energy Savings at Scale.
The Architects Journal, 21.05.2026
Why We Set Up The Northwest Small Practice Forum.
The Architects Journal, 16.09.2025

Exhibitions & Events

2026 - RIBA x VitrA Talks, Manchester
- Akar Rumput Forum, Amsterdam
- AIM: Making Matters, Manchester
- AIM: In Progress, London
2025 - NSPF: Scale, Manchester

Contact

86 Princess Street
Manchester
M1 6NG

0161 531 1471
hello@commonpractice.studio

Instagram
LinkedIn

affiliations

Proudly supporting the LGBT Foundation.

Common Practice is the trading name for Common Practice Studio Ltd.

Company number: 14523200.
RIBA Chartered Practice no. 20053266