Terry Farrell

Terence Farrell was born on 12 May 1938 in Sale, Cheshire. His maternal grandfather was born in Manchester to an Irish mother who had emigrated to England from Ireland to escape the Great Famine. He moved to Newcastle upon Tyne at a young age and attended St Cuthbert's Grammar School. He graduated with a degree in architecture from the Newcastle University School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape (then part of Durham University) in 1965, which was followed by a Masters in Urban Planning at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.

In 1965, Farrell moved to London to form a partnership with Nicholas Grimshaw. He collaborated with Charles Jencks on the Cosmic House in Holland Park. In 1980, he founded his own company, Terry Farrell & Partners. In addition, Farrell lectured at a number of different universities including Cambridge University, the University of London, the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Sheffield.

In the early part of his career, Farrell gave emphasis to housing projects. Later, after the break with Grimshaw, he designed the TV-am headquarters in Camden Lock and redeveloped Comyn Ching Triangle in London's Covent Garden. In the 1980s and 1990s his projects included Charing Cross Station, the SIS Building, The Deep Aquarium in Hull and The International Centre for Life in Newcastle. Later work included the new headquarters for the Home Office, the conversion of the Grade I-listed Royal Institution of Great Britain and the Great North Museum in Newcastle.

He was responsible for regeneration projects of Newcastle Quayside, Brindleyplace in Birmingham, Edinburgh Exchange District, Greenwich Peninsula and Paddington Basin. He also designed his own buildings within these projects, including the Edinburgh International Conference Centre with the help of Duncan Whatmore, and The Point in Paddington Basin. In May 2010, he was appointed to regenerate the 72-acre (29 ha) area around the Earl's Court exhibition centre. In 2012 his practice was appointed as masterplanners for Wood Wharf – the next phase of Canary Wharf's development.

In East Asia, his projects included Incheon International Airport in Seoul and Beijing South railway station, the largest in Asia. When completed in December 2010 Guangzhou South railway station was for a time the largest railway station in the world. Subsequent to his setting up his practice in Hong Kong in 1990, he designed the Peak Tower, Kowloon Station development and the British Consulate-General, Hong Kong. His KK100 tower in Shenzhen is the tallest building ever by a British architect.

Farrell was on the Design Advisory Committee of the Mayor of London. In 2008 he was appointed Design and Planning Leader for the Thames Gateway, Europe's largest regeneration project.

Farrell was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 1978 Birthday Honours, promoted to Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 1996 New Year Honours for services to architecture, and knighted in the 2001 Birthday Honours for services to architecture and urban design.

He was made a visiting professor at the School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape at Newcastle University, and also an honorary freeman of Newcastle, in 2016. In 2018, he donated £1 million and his archive to the university. The Farrell Centre at the university opened in 2023.

Farrell married three times. He had five children.

He died on 28 September 2025, at the age of 87. Grimshaw predeceased him earlier that month.