Naranjan Singh Juttla, the grandfather of Narinder Juttla, the owner of Juttla Architects, left the shores of Mumbai and headed for Mombasa in search of work. Travelling aboard a dhow, an unforeseen incident led Naranjan into the company of HRH the Aga Khan and The Sultan of Zanzibar. This moment marked the formation of life changing friendships.
Over the ensuing years, with the help of HRH the Aga Khan, the skilled Naranjan founded the largest family owned construction firm in Kenya – Naranjan Singh Brothers. Naranjan’s younger brother, Alderman Mohan Juttla, became the first Asian Deputy Mayor of Nairobi and, together with Naranjan, dined with Princess Elizabeth at the Treetops Hotel in Nairobi. This was the famous dinner that marked Elizabeth’s transition from Princess to Queen of England.
Projects undertaken by Naranjan Singh Brothers include the construction of two pairs of iconic elephant tusks on Moi Avenue in Mombasa and The Aga Khan Platinum Jubilee Hospital in Nairobi, which remains the largest hospital in the capital. Due to their increasing workload, Naranjan was granted a special permit from the government to invite 600 skilled workers from India to help on their projects.
Naranjan’s son, Harbhajan, followed in his father’s footsteps and under the guidance of Royal Engineer, Roy E. Griffiths, became a land surveyor, surveying the route for the famous East African Railway. Harbhajan and Roy became lifelong friends and shared many stories from their days in the savannah, which was the inspiration behind Roy’s memoir novel ‘Enchanted Safaris’.
Harbhajan moved to London with his wife and four sons. His first job in the UK required setting out the M3 from London to Basingstoke, which paved the way for a highly successful future in the construction industry. Harbhajan left a drawing board at home with the aim of inspiring his boys, which must have worked as Narinder surveyed and drafted his first drawing for a residential extension in Ealing at the tender age of 17.
Narinder pursued architecture as a career and worked in various practices including the internationally renowned Swanke Hayden Connell Architects. The practice recognised Narinder’s technical proficiency and his construction ability thereby appointing him Technical Coordinator and Site Architect. Here, Narinder worked on projects such as the construction of GlaxoSmithKline’s European headquarters in Brentford and Lehman Brothers’ offices in Canary Wharf.
Like his father and grandfather, Narinder aspired to work for himself. With a small pool of clients and only two confirmed commissions, Narinder decided to take the leap and founded his own company, SCP Architects. Having made a move to what is now their current office in 2008, the company survived the property crash of the same year and has grown in strength ever since. It is now an award-winning practice.
To mark the 10-year anniversary of SCP Architects, Narinder worked with the distinguished brand, print and digital design agency Edge Design. In order to fuel the company with a fresh identity and harness the fascinating and enriching history of the company, the name was changed to Juttla Architects.
With our new name in tow, we look forward to continuing the journey ahead.
