Owen Plummer  

Owen unlocks the potential of complex historic buildings and sites, helping clients turn ambitious ideas into sustainable, deliverable places with a lasting public value.

As an AABC-accredited conservation architect, Associate Partner and Purcell’s York studio lead, Owen brings clear strategic thinking to projects where heritage significance, technical constraints and new or adapted uses must work together. Clients approach him for help making sense of challenging buildings and sites, establishing potential, identifying realistic opportunities and shaping a practical route from early vision and feasibility through design and delivery.

Owen has particular expertise in museums, public and cultural projects, and industrial heritage, and understands how to balance conservation with access, interpretation, environmental performance and long-term resilience. His experience includes the delivery of major museum refurbishment projects at Auckland Castle and Hull Maritime Museum, as well as works at industrial sites such as the Centre of Refurbishment Excellence, Elsecar Heritage Centre’s Newcomen Beam Engine, and Killhope Lead Mining Museum. Across these projects, he works collaboratively with clients, stakeholders and design teams to find purposeful new uses for historic fabric and create places that remain relevant, engaging and economically sustainable.

Having joined Purcell as a Part I architectural assistant in 2007, Owen has progressed through the practice as an architect, senior architect and associate, becoming Associate Partner in 2026. He studied at Sheffield, Manchester and Leeds, and combines broad architectural grounding with detailed knowledge of conservation and design. His long-standing interest in photography and model making supports a careful eye for composition, material and detail.