Peter Gamble Retires from Holder Mathias
30 Jun 2023
Leading the second generation of Partners of Holder Mathias, Peter will be retiring this summer after 37 years in the Practice.
Peter joined Holder Mathias in April 1986 as a Project Architect under Peter Mathias, working on the refurbishment and re-purposing of the Bonded Warehouse in Cardiff’s Atlantic Wharf, which has since 1987 served as the practice’s Cardiff base. Having made an impression early on, he quickly progressed to Associate before becoming Director, then Partner within the Practice, becoming Senior Partner in 2013.
Amongst many career achievements, most notable perhaps is Peter’s leadership and guidance in delivering the three latest UK resorts for Center Parcs, firstly at Whinfell Forest in Cumbria, originally built for the Rank Group under the banner of Oasis in the late 1990s, then Woburn Forest in Bedfordshire, and most recently, Longford Forest in Ireland. Woburn Forest received the award for Best Hotel and Tourism Resort at MIPIM 2015, and Peter’s experience and reputation led to a host of other opportunities in this sector over the years.
In addition, over the last three decades, Peter’s work in the Retail Outlet sector also led to a stream of commissions in the UK and continental Europe. Building on the Practice’s work for McArthurGlen at the Wales Designer Outlet, Peter started a stream of work in Europe with the first outlet in Germany in Berlin. Outlet Retail is currently the only format that has bucked the declining retail trends in recent years, and our work in this sector continues to this day.
Peter’s legacy will no doubt be cementing the Practice’s reputation in the Leisure Resort & Hospitality and Retail Outlet sectors, both of which continue to generate opportunities in the UK and Europe. In all these projects Peter’s operational knowledge and commercial awareness formed the basis of his strategic approach to their design and delivery. These have formed part of the core values we continue to offer our clients on all our projects, providing our clients with buildings that offer exciting and memorable experiences and that delight their guests and visitors.
Although Peter officially retires from the partnership on 30 June he will be available to offer continuity with clients and their projects as required. This is part of the practice’s long term succession strategy, and which sees seven remaining partners continuing to drive the business forward.
The Partnership and the Practice as a whole extend our thanks to Peter for his many years’ dedication and commitment, as well as his contribution and leadership in guiding and shaping the Practice. We wish him and his family well as he steps into a different life.