When Boyle & Summers was founded on 1st October 2014 it was an opportunity to develop our own culture. In many ways this was a continuation of the culture which had become established in the team before that date. We continued to be supportive towards each other, to offer access and insights to those approaching their careers, to reach out to our local community, to socialize together and to promote staff wellbeing in various ways.

Our initial forays were days out in such exotic outposts as Bournemouth and Portsmouth, but we always had an eye on longer and (even) richer experiences. There were various motivations: to cement relationships between colleagues, to expand our architectural and urbanist knowledge first hand, to create time for that work-related thinking and talking that there isn’t time for at work, and to thank our team for their hard work, commitment and creativity.

Starting in 2018 we have now visited Berlin, Budapest and Antwerp and are off to Zurich in a week. We keep going because every one has been a success, working as a bonding experience but, more importantly, enjoyed and valued by each and every team member. They are, of course, voluntary but they are hugely popular. Perhaps predictable for a free trip abroad, but we prefer to believe that our team is so well adjusted that they actually enjoy travelling, eating and debating for 72 hours together!