The power of resilience

When Anjana Taank received a call late at night in July 2019 to tell her that her practice, Taank Optometrists, had been flooded by firefighters in order to contain a blaze in a neighbouring building, she would have been forgiven for fearing the worst.

Her fears were realised during a subsequent visit to the wrecked building when Taank saw water still raining from the ceiling of the award-winning practice in Cambridge. ‘Water destroyed all of our contents, including our equipment,’ she says, ‘but the damage to the building itself was also extensive. There was no choice but to strip the structure back to bare brick.’