Francis heads Zero Zero in New Zealand. Prior to forming the practice with Mark in 2013, Francis was a Senior Designer at John McAslan + Partners where he led the team responsible for the delivery of the refurbishment of the Western Range Building, part of the  of the £500m award-winning Kings Cross Station Redevelopment. He was the Project Leader for a range of work in England and Russia, including the comprehensive transformation of the historic Royal Military Academy in London and the Stanislavsky Centre in Moscow into luxury residential accommodation.

After graduating from Auckland University with Honours, Francis worked in New Zealand, Australia, Italy and the UK, gaining broad knowledge of projects at different scales. His experience includes urban residential towers, university campuses, research facilities, public aquariums, mixed-use redevelopments and master planning.

Francis has a particular interest in the way people live, and how that manifests at the scale of both the domestic and the community. His extensive portfolio of residential and mixed-use developments has contributed to a robust understanding of how the unique cultural qualities of places influence the built environment. Equally, he appreciates the opportunities presented by managing the design and delivery of projects, from inception to completion.

He is a member of INTBAU – International Network for Traditional Building, Architecture and Urbanism and has been a visiting critic and design studio tutor at the University of Auckland.