It was the RIBA book Your Architect by David Senior with its emphasis on social responsibility which convinced me to study architecture. I was a student member of the East Midlands RIBA whilst studying at Leicester Polytechnic. I even had an article in their magazine embarrassingly entitled “Are great entrances on the way out?” about the wonderful doorways in the City centre.
In 1997 President David Rock asked me to stand for RIBA Council and when elected appointed me Chair of the Architecture Centre. These now seem halcyon days for 66 Portland Place which was a lively and stimulating venue for architecture. Victoria Thornton was the Head of the Architecture Centre and with her energetic team attracted significant sponsorship to establish a wonderful lecture programmed and curate fantastic exhibitions.
During this time I worked on a planned advertising campaign with Collett Dickinson Pearce which would have been wonderful but was cancelled without consultation even though most of the strategy had been agreed. It struck me then that “never complain, never explain” isn’t exclusive to only one royal institution. I’ve been trying to remember some of the ideas and have updated them here. The one with Greta Thunberg was originally to be Severn Cullis Suzuki who as a 12 year old in 1992 also spoke passionately at the UN against the lack of urgency on climate change. I still believe the profession could benefit from a similar campaign and if we were able to overhaul life long learning to demonstrate our expertise -some of these ideas might again be relevant.
Marco Goldschmied took over from David Rock and bought www.architecture.com and was proved right in predicting it would be a bargain of an investment. Marco embarked on a rebranding exercise and originally had the notion that the RIBA could be modernised to something like “The Architects”. Luckily the appointed brand consultant Wally Ollins undertook extensive research which demonstrated that tradition and legacy is a huge part of the brand. In the event the original logo from Grey Wornum was reintroduced. This was a very exciting time to be involved and I thoroughly enjoyed my six years on Council and the responsibility given.
A different direction saw 66 Portland Place being marketed as a venue for different professions and a significant change in relationship with the profession. It now seems rare to find architects in the building. Anyone who has been involved in committees, council or other roles at the RIBA can testify to frustrations at changing priorities and direction. But also to the vast amount of effort, volunteered hours and great work which many contribute.
I started a second six year term on Council in 2013 at the suggestion of President Stephen Hodder and was surprised by how little had changed. I was appointed Business Skills Ambassador by Jane Duncan. Business Skills is a subject I am passionate about partly because my business partners Andrew and Steve really just wanted to design and I felt it necessary to look after the management side. Whilst at Michael Hopkins I learned such a lot from people like Mark Sutcliffe and when Andrew and I formed Weston Williamson in 1985, I enrolled on a part time MSc Project Management course at the South Bank - which is the most beneficial learning I have undertaken. Because the RIBA website could not host videos I set up architectskills.com to upload blogs and presentations by Peter Murray, Paul Finch and Roger Zogolovitch. These presentations focused
on PR, marketing, negotiation and customer care. They were to some extent early examples of the excellent podcasts now available such as Architecture Social. I believe these should form an important part of life-long learning ahead of promotional material from building material suppliers.
I’ve often thought that Architecture could learn from the advertising industry and have a creative department and account handlers. In my experience not many designers have the brain or aptitude for business unless they spend time to develop those skills. The same is probably true for artists, musicians, actors. One of my best moves at WW+P was to recognise this and put graduates from Loughborough Business School alongside our designers to ensure that the work which was being done was what we were contracted to do and not what the client would invite the design team to do in addition.
Ben Derbyshire was elected to succeed Jane and I was appointed International Vice President. It was this post which convinced me that there is a real possibility of establishing a global architectural community. I attended and presented at conferences in Seoul, in Brisbane, in New York and in Brussels and the International Conference which Jane had set up in London. Incidentally, I have never submitted an expense claim for any of these events.
When I was VP International I made an impassioned plea in Brussels after Brexit that the RIBA retain membership of the Architects Council of Europe (ACE). I was pleased to sign the Agreement with George Lendl President of ACE alongside Emmanuelle Meunier of RIBA. There is such respect and goodwill shown to the RIBA internationally and such enthusiasm to collaborate particularly on life-long learning. We would be helping solve many of the world’s pressing issues such as urbanisation and sustainability if we can take advantage of these invitations to work together with other institutes. And form a like-minded global community.
