What we do
McP works with public and private sector clients and collaborators, to design urban environments that integrate climate responsiveness, social equity and economic resilience. Our ideas are informed by decades of experience in research and practice.
We design for cities through participatory processes that integrate expertise, experience, and ongoing learning, to create outcomes that are refined, comprehensive and rigorous. McP engages in three distinct, intersecting work streams:
City Strategy
Urban Policy Development
Advice to City Governments
Research & Publication
Urban Design
Master Plans & Urban Design Frameworks
Advice to Project Design Teams
Strategic Urban Development Plans
Design Review
Independent Reviews & Referrals
Design Review Panels & Expert Witness
Urban Context / Design Response Reports
Our Approach
Urban Design is a public-facing discipline, focused on the shared environments of cities and towns. McP works across private and public sectors, which demands a principled, strategic and consistent approach.
The practice is defined by six tenets, which guide our thinking, design work and advisory inputs, and are informed by our values and aspirations towards good design for cities, and positive outcomes for communities.
Knowledgeable
Research and applied knowledge ensure our plans are informed, aspirational and current. Building on advanced, international qualifications and experience, we seek, develop and share knowledge as a core tenet of our work.
Communicative
Demonstrating design thinking, testing proposals and constructive critique are achieved through effective verbal, text and graphic communication. We distil complexity and tailor essential messages to specific audiences.
Collaborative
Our deliberative project processes engage diverse specialists, informed clients and engaged stakeholders. We know this makes for better, more informed, more supported outcomes.
Striving
Seeking excellence, demonstrating best practice, and pushing proponents and design teams for more responsive, higher-performing proposals is a central focus. Aspiration is coupled with experimentation.
Fair
Consistent principles and appropriate goals apply everywhere. All neighbourhoods should be safe, accessible, amenable and liveable.
Achievable
Aspiration is balanced with commercial astuteness and deep engagement with project foundations, to make sure our inputs are deliverable and effective.
Selected Clients & Collaborators
Progressive places emerge through purposeful and strategic alliances. McP works for, and with, government departments and agencies, property developers and design and technical specialists, including the following.
We form bespoke teams and effective partnerships which exceed project requirements, and to unlock shared insight, streamline delivery, and turn ambition into resilient, people‑centred outcomes that inspire, endure, and elevate urban life.
Government
Department of Transport and Planning
Office of the Victorian Government Architect
Office of Design and Architecture South Australia
Government Architect New South Wales
Green Building Council of Australia
Suburban Rail Loop Authority
Development Victoria
City of Melbourne
City of Kingston
City of Greater Dandenong
City of Frankston
RMIT University
Developer
Hamton Property
Gurner
Nightingale Housing
MAKE
Assemble
Capella Capital
Hickory
Capital Alliance
Aveo
Point Polaris
TLC Aged Care
Hub Property
Architecture & Design
Fender Katsalidis
BKK Architects
Aurecon
Jackson Clements Burrows
ASPECT Studios
Six Degrees Architects
Architecton
DKO Architects
Fieldwork
Taylor Cullity Lethlean
SJB
Lat Studios
Profile
View Simon's CV ↗
Simon McPherson
Director
Exec. MSc Cities (LSE), MSc Urban Design (UCL), BArch (Melb), BPD (Melb), ARBV: 15838
Simon McPherson is a leading cities specialist and urban practitioner, based in Melbourne, with international post-graduate qualifications in Cities, Urban Design and Architecture. He brings extensive experience and advanced skills in urban analysis, strategy, design and implementation, and the integration of diverse technical aspects.
His broad portfolio of projects spans policy, design review, precinct master planning, concept design, design advice and expert witness engagements, in Australia and the UK. He is a member of the Victorian Design Review Panel and a Chair of the South Australian State Design Review program.
Simon is a registered Architect in Victoria. He completed the inaugural Executive Masters in Cities at the London School of Economics (2016-18), and the Masters in Urban Design at the Bartlett, University College London (2005-06).
