A college of workplace specialists
reshaping the future of work and place.
Workplace insights
Esme Banks Marr from BVN Architecture and James Calder from Placing chat with Earle Arney from AFK Studios about the future of the workplace. Listen to the podcast episode now:
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Our team
An experienced team crafting workplaces that enhance engagement.
Earle Arney
Founder & CEO, AFK
Earle Arney is the founder and CEO of AFK, bringing over 30 years of experience delivering major global headquarters and complex workplace transformations. He offers a strategic, business-led approach to design, informed by work across the UK, Europe, North America, the Middle East and Asia.
Earle provides senior leadership and design oversight, ensuring alignment between organisational objectives, design quality and clear decision-making across complex programmes.
Esme Banks Marr
Strategy Director, BVN Architecture
Esme is an internationally recognised workplace strategist, named in the UK Workplace Leader Top 50, with expertise in the relationship between culture, performance and place.
She has led workplace strategies for global organisations applying a research-led approach informed by behavioural insight and higher education. Esme specialises in shaping future workplace models that strengthen culture, support performance and attract and retain talent in a hybrid working context.
James Calder
Workplace Strategist, Placing
James is a workplace practitioner, strategist and author with over 30 years of experience shaping the strategy, design and use of workplace environments. He has advised leading global organisations including Macquarie Bank, GE Corporation, Brookfield, Atlassian and Skadden across North America, Europe and Asia Pacific.
A pioneer of Activity Based Working, James is recognised for anticipating organisational and technological change and translating it into new workplace models, with extensive experience in the legal sector. His work demonstrates deep insight into how digital tools, data and AI can enable performance, connection and learning in the next generation of workplaces.
Matthew Blair
Principal, BVN Architecture
Matthew is a Principal and London Studio Leader at BVN with over 20 years of experience delivering complex commercial buildings and integrated workplace environments across the UK, Europe, Australia and North America. An architect and technologist, he is recognised for combining design ambition with technical clarity and buildable solutions.
Matthew has held senior leadership roles on internationally acclaimed projects, including Quay Quarter Tower in Sydney, winner of the CTBUH Tall Building Award 2023, and brings a collaborative, workplace-led approach that integrates architecture, base build and fit-out to deliver robust, adaptable outcomes.
Sho Itoh
Project Director, AFK
Sho Itoh is a Director and Studio Lead for Workplace Interiors at AFK, with over 18 years of experience delivering high-profile workplace, hospitality and residential projects globally.
Sho is recognised for combining design quality with delivery precision, leading multidisciplinary teams from briefing through to execution. He specialises in translating strategic intent into clear spatial narratives and well-resolved interior environments.