Remembering a visionary

Plenary Group and the family of the late James Cox – a founding director of the company – have established a PhD scholarship in Architecture at Monash University.

Created to honour the businessman who had a huge influence on the visual landscape of Melbourne, the James Cox PhD Scholarship in Architecture (in the Faculty of Art and Design at Monash) will be offered in perpetuity.

”The Monash scholarship was a perfect fit – the new architecture school looks to the future,” said Mr John O’Rourke, founding principal of Plenary Group.

“Jim was never one to rest on his laurels. He was always onto the next project.

Our endowment will support some of our brightest design talent in researching Melbourne urban environment issues, but with a capacity to test international best practice.

"Jim had such a lasting impact on the personal and professional lives of so many of our people that we wanted to remember him with something more than a plaque on one of our buildings.”

Plenary Group has given more than $600,000 to endow the scholarship.

“The scholarship is an extraordinarily exciting and generous memorial that honours a man who made a huge contribution to improving Melbourne’s urban environment,” said Professor John Redmond, Dean, Faculty of Art and Design.

“It is a very important scholarship for Monash University and our new Architecture program. More importantly, it complements our vision of research which advances what the discipline offers people – the exciting, the cutting edge and the practical – and recognises that architecture is fundamental to our cities and fundamental to our identity as a society.”

Known to his many friends and colleagues as Jim, James Cox enjoyed a rich career spanning 30 years in property development and construction before he established Plenary Group.

His influence is evident, particularly in his home town of Melbourne, where he was the driving force behind the Victorian County Court building, Southern Cross Station and the Melbourne Convention Centre.

His last major project master plan was for the new Melbourne Convention Centre and South Wharf precinct (just completed).

“Jim was passionate about achieving world class design outcomes,” said Mr O’Rourke. “He empowered some of our best emerging local architects in projects like the stunning new Melbourne Convention Centre, but also drove them to test the good, and sometimes the bad examples of where like projects had been attempted overseas.

”Seeing real outcomes emerge from future scholarship recipients will be a real fillip to our staff and I'm sure for Jim's family."