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It is a cold, rain-spattered and windy night, but this doesn鈥檛 stop the Australian bar-girl chirpily informing us that there are no seats left indoors. 鈥淣ever mind!鈥� cries Rob. 鈥淲e鈥檒l stand outside!鈥� The rest of the Woods Bagot crew seem eager to follow suit 鈥� it鈥檚 clear I鈥檓 in the company of hardy folk with a love for the outdoors.

Just as well, given that these days they are to be found designing towers, villas and resorts on every corner of the earth. Rob is off to Mauritius for the weekend 鈥� working, of course 鈥� and Rosina is jealous. 鈥淵ou always seem to go on these trips,鈥� she says. Rob says working abroad isn鈥檛 all it鈥檚 cracked up to be. 鈥淵ou spend 10 hours on a plane to get there, a day in the office and the night in your hotel room. You鈥檙e lucky to even see the sun.鈥� Most agree that long-distance travel is quite literally a pain in the arse. Not Eva, who apparently manages to get first-class upgrades with implausible regularity. 鈥淵ou just have to ask the right questions,鈥� she says, sweetly. It鈥檚 true 鈥� if I had a seat, I would give it to her.

But for the moment, we鈥檙e still outside in the rain. Nathan recalls a time when a client paid for him to fly to Asia via Paris, adding hours to his journey. 鈥淣ever get a client to book your travel for you,鈥� he says, darkly. Then warns me: 鈥淒on鈥檛 print that.鈥�

Eva gets upgraded to first class with implausible regularity. 鈥榊ou just have to ask the right questions,鈥� she says sweetly

Christian, a German design architect, starts into a somewhat dry monologue about a trip to Beijing that ended with some kind of 鈥� I can鈥檛 remember, I fell asleep before he finished. The others seem quite used to his Teutonic verbosity 鈥� in fact, they seemed galvanised by it.

Woods Bagot鈥檚 office is just round the corner from the pub, right in the heart of Oxford Street. The BT Tower glows benevolently above like a giant candle. Rob says that WB once entered a magazine competition to redesign it. 鈥淒oesn鈥檛 it have a nuclear bomb inside it?鈥� asks Jim. The team regret that a plan to pedestrianise the area has seemingly bit the dust. 鈥淚t鈥檚 so noisy,鈥� sighs Rosina. Rob says the mix of smells in the morning is quite 鈥淒ickensian鈥�. 鈥淚t鈥檚 the smell of cheap perfume shops, burning waffles and rotten fish,鈥� he says, poetically.

Jim recalls an interesting day for a neighbouring office. 鈥淲e got in and they鈥檇 barricaded the car park. It was Customs and Excise. They were just throwing all the stock out from one of these shops.鈥� Sounds dodgy. 鈥淚 was just thinking of buying a crap mobile phone, too,鈥� says Steven, wistfully.

鈥楴ever get a client to book your travel for you,鈥� nathan warns darkly. 鈥榙on鈥檛 print that鈥�

Smelly and dodgy it may be, but there are plenty of architects around here willing to put up with it. 3D Reid, HOK, Make and Arup Associates are all local. Both Rob and Nathan are ex-HOK. 鈥淭here are quite a few of us around London,鈥� says Rob. 鈥淲e all meet up once a year.鈥�

鈥淲e have an ex-HOK Christmas party,鈥� chips in Nathan. Hopefully they managed to book a table inside for that.