 In his own practice he drew in his old friend from Pascal’s, Frank Worthington Simon as a partner.Together they quickly came to the attention of the profession, winning a competition for the Hope Chapel in Wigan, and in 1890 Simon exhibited as part of the Edinburgh International Exhibition working with the architect/artist William Alan Carter.The partnership with Simon was brief and dissolved in 1892, and Capper thereafter involved himself closely in the project ideas of Patrick Geddes who sought to make good use of abandoned and derelict properties in Edinburgh’s Old Town to house students for the "Town and Gown University Settlement", which although now viewed largely as a philanthropic and conservationist gesture this was primarily as a money-making exercise.