She was active during and after World War II, designing social and public housing in England, West Africa, India and Iran.

Her mother was Emma Spering Jones, a school teacher, who when Jane was only four became lame for the rest of her life as the result of a road accident.

At Croydon High she was friends with the mural artist and book illustrator Barbara Jones and the women's rights campaigner Nancy Seear.

In 1934, Drew found first employment as an architect with Joseph Hill (1888–1947),[4] where she was also introduced to members of bohemian London who would have a lasting impact on her work.

Their home and small practice (Alliston & Drew) was at 24 Woburn Square in London, and their principal work was housing in Winchester.

It was an association of architects, painters and industrialists, and its stated principle was the "use of space for human activity rather than the manipulation of stylised convention".

[7] After seeing Drew's projects in West Africa, Indian Prime minister Pandit Nehru asked her and Maxwell Fry to design the new capital of Punjab, Chandigarh.

Drew used her considerable charm to great effect, convincing Swiss Architect Le Corbusier to involve himself in the project.

Le Corbusier was responsible for the main plan of the city and the principal government buildings – the High Court, Assembly, the Secretariat, etc.

She was impressed by the breadth of his knowledge, his experience in addressing the problems of housing in under developed countries, by the power of his personality, and the lucidity of his razor sharp logic.

Max had retired in 1973, but Jane continued working until 1979, when they both lived at their country retreat "The Lake House", at Rowfant near Crawley in Sussex, where they had often socialised with friends and family.

They were staying with a friend in the village of Cotherstone, County Durham when they heard that the next door house was for sale and almost immediately bought it.

In 1984, Jane gave a great party for Max's 85th birthday, at nearby Lartington Hall: there were over 200 guests – friends and family.

[12] The list of contributors includes: Maxwell Fry (Introductory Poem), Jean Sabbagh, Síle Flower,[13] Lesley Donaldson,[14] Maurice Down,[15] Leonie Cohn,[16] Hugh Crallan,[17] Michael Thornley,[18] Ruth Plant,[19] Phyllis Dobbs,[20] Ed Lewis,[21] Dorothy Morland,[22] Maud Hatmil,[23] Diana Rowntree,[24] Rodney Thomas,[25] John Terry,[26] Trevor Dannatt,[27] Riehm Marcus,[28] Anthony Bell,[29] Norman Creamer,[30] Peter Dunican,[31] Luke Gertler,[32] Frank Knight,[33] John Lomax and Heather Hughes,[34] Joan Cheverton,[35] Stephen Macfarlane,[36] Lleky Papastavrou and Penelope "Penny" Hughes,[37] Otto Koenigsberger,[38] Theo Crosby,[39] Norman and Kay Starrett,[40] Geoffrey Knight,[41] Minnette de Silva,[42] Ian Robertson,[43] Dennis Lennon,[44] Sean Graham,[45] John Godwin and Gillian Hopwood,[46] Achyut Kanvinde, Gopal Khosla,[47] Peggy Angus, Eulie Chowdhury,[48] Shireen Mahdavi,[49] Neil Wates,[50] Lady Mary Pickard,[51] Sián Flower,[52] Marion Gair,[53] Peter and Christine Rawsthorne,[54] Michael Raymond,[55] Sir Hugh Casson, Cedric Price, Baroness Lee, Delia Tyrwhitt,[56] Lord Reilly,[57] Lord Elwyn-Jones, William MacQuitty, Arnold Whittick,[58] Elizabeth and Mervyn Dalley,[59] Romi Khosla,[60] Roz Jacobs,[61] Noma Copley,[62] Kenane Barlow,[63] Sergei Kadleigh,[64] Maria Luisa Plant Zaccheo,[65] Lord Goodman, Lady Jean Medawar,[66] Arunendu Das,[67] J.R. Bhalla,[68] The Lord Perry,[69] Victor Pasmore, Mike Lacey,[70] Nigel Wood,[71] Peter Greenham,[72] Sunita Kanvinde,[73] Tony Forrest,[74] Heather Brigstocke, Peter Murray, Berthold Lubetkin, Frances Webb Leishman,[75] Robert Bliss,[76] Viren Sahai,[77] Sir John Summerson,[78] Patrick Harrison,[79] Ebenezer Akita,[80] Charles Correa, and Olufemi Majekodunmi.

Among her personal friends and associates were; Alvar Aalto and Ove Arup, architects;[82] artists Delia Tyrwhitt,[83] Eduardo Paolozzi, Marcel Duchamp, Barbara Hepworth, Roland Penrose, Peggy Angus, Ben Nicholson and Lynn Chadwick;[84] art and design promoters Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler and Peter Gregory; playwright and theatre producer Benn Levy; poet, literary critic, and philosopher of modern art Herbert Read; writers Richard Hughes and Kathleen Raine; politician-reformers Jennie Lee, Lord Goodman and Pandit Nehru; actress Constance Cummings; and composer Elizabeth Lutyens.