Title
House of PTE: an oral history of Pollard Thomas Edwards
Year published
2026
Editor and narrator
Rory Olcayto
Design
Tim Metcalfe
This book records the memories of three generations of company owners: Roger Pollard, Bill Thomas, John Edwards; Stephen Fisher, Teresa Borsuk, Andrew Beharrell, Judith Marshall, Steve Chance; Tricia Patel, Roger Holdsworth, Carl Vann, Patrick Devlin, Kaye Stout, Dominique Oliver, Justin Laskin, Mary McDonnell.
A half-century of placemaking, told from the inside
The House of PTE is a lived-in oral history of a practice that helped reframe housing, reuse and urban repair long before they were fashionable. Wry, generous and quietly radical, it reveals how buildings grow out of people, politics and persistence - and how doing ordinary things exceptionally well can, over time, shape better places for everyone.
Pollard Thomas Edwards is a practice forged not in theory but in the thick grain of London itself. Over five decades it has quietly redefined housing, retrofit and regeneration by treating the city as something to be repaired, not replaced. PTE’s work is grounded, humane and politically alert, shaped by conversation with residents as much as by drawings. Its legacy lies not in signatures, but in streets, homes and lives made steadily better.
Book makers
Bill, Andrew, Teresa and Stephen PTE partners, directors and associates Bill Thomas, Andrew Beharrell, Teresa Borsuk and Stephen Fisher are this book’s main contributing authors. Teresa had been mooting a book about the practice’s work entitled ‘House of PTE’ since the 2010s. When we began compiling the book, PTE founder Bill had already begun collaborating with the British Library on its Architects’ Lives oral history project run by National Life Stories, and Andrew had begun to reflect on his own legacy, writing occasional memoirs.
Rory Olcayto: Editor, lead writer
Rory, PTE’s writer and critic, is the editor and lead writer of House of PTE: an oral history of Pollard Thomas Edwards. He wrote the Introduction, What is an oral history?, How to read this book, and the closing essay, Public Life in Every Plan. He also wrote the Era origin texts on the ’70s, ’90s and 2010s, all of the ‘narrative’ text, chaired the Era 3 roundtable, and conducted all interviews for the book. In addition, Rory devised the book’s oral history and ‘three eras’ structure and co-designed the book’s format (margins, pull quotes, timeline-focused text flow).
Tim Metcalfe: Designer and sub-editor
Tim, PTE’s longstanding comms partner, is the designer of House of PTE: an oral history of Pollard Thomas Edwards. As well as designing and typesetting every page, Tim designed the cover, selected the typography and sourced almost all of the imagery in the book, including photos of buildings and people, and the occasional drawing.
