Tom Jordan has been elevated to Life Fellowship by the VIC Chapter of the Australian Institute of Architects (AIA). Life Fellowship is the highest honour class of AIA membership available to members practising architecture.
Tom joined Hayball as Managing Director in 2002 when our practice was a medium scale Melbourne studio with 30 staff, inheriting a strong legacy from founding Managing Director Len Hayball, recognised for high client service and a portfolio of projects that focused on live, work and learning settings. He has since overseen the national growth of Hayball to a highly awarded practice to 130+ staff including establishing the Sydney studio in 2014, Brisbane studio in 2016 and ACT in 2022.
In 2013, he oversaw the introduction of a significant employee share scheme, the first of its kind at the time. We targeted 20-25% employee ownership over ten years and are on track to achieve this goal next year. This initiative aimed to boost the firm’s resilience and generate growth by attracting and retaining talent and encouraging staff engagement.
As part of a long standing focus on succession and career development within Hayball, Tom has also steered expansion of the ownership group with strong representation of women within our leadership group, including Sarah Buckeridge being appointed as Co-Managing Director in 2020.
Tom oversees projects of all scales across our practice. In advocating for architecture’s contribution to urbanisation and the public realm, he is concerned with active research and contributes to contemporary debate in the specific sectors in which we are active. This affords opportunities to lead and participate in shaping emerging thinking about how architecture can transform the ways in which people live, learn and work: design has a real and measurable value.