About
Our directory allows housing developers and lead architects to find the right architecture practices for their projects, based on criteria which matter to them.
Public authorities of various kinds buy architectural services for the design of new housing to the tune of c. £40m/year in London and 4-5 times that in the UK as a whole. Private sector developers are likely to be spending around twice that in London. All developers are currently not able to see the full gamut of practices who can design housing, and public sector formal procurement processes seek bids 'blindly' via the Find a Tender process. Whilst the authorities will get expressions of interest from a number of practices, there is no easy way to quickly see what the practices are capable of without going to each firm’s website, which is time-consuming.
There is an increasing emphasis on social value in procurement, and the relevant data about the supply chain is not currently visible to the market. Private sector developers want to easily see practices who they might bring to a public sector opportunity, by seeing who is local, and/or representative of a local demographic.
Architects do not currently report on inclusivity stats and should be encouraged to do so and thus to improve the diversity of their workforce.
PURPOSE OF DIRECTORY
Improving the quality of new homes
Enabling housing developers of all kinds to make better choices of architects and thus drive a better quality built environment
Visibility of whole supply chain
Helping local authorities and housing associations as well as housing developers ’see’ the architectural supplier market in one place, and use relevant filters to narrow down the suppliers
Visibility of profession statistics
Showing collective and individual supplier stats to the profession itself as well as clients and government
Promotion of best practice public procurement
Showing procurement tips to the public sector
Promotion of SME suppliers
Giving visibility to smaller firms who aren't on people's radar
Promotion of Equality and Diversity
Encouraging architecture practices to value diversity and inclusion in their workforce
About Claire
The Architect Directory was started by Claire Bennie from Municipal.
Claire set up Municipal in 2016 to help visionary public land owners achieve better quality homes on their land. Her clients include several London local authorities as well as private developers and the GLA. Claire co-chairs the Brighton and Hove and RB Kingston Design Review Panels on behalf of Design South East.
Claire was previously Development Director at Peabody, where she and her team commissioned outstanding design teams and contractors who shared Peabody’s quality ambitions, delivering thousands of new homes across London for those on all incomes. Claire actively promoted smaller architectural practices, in the knowledge that they were more than capable of designing and delivering homes for Peabody.
Claire trained as an architect and qualified in 1998, practising for about 10 years before switching to the commissioning side. She is passionate about the 1930s estate in south London which she shares with 500 residents, 2 caretakers and an estate manager.