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Perhaps you've heard the term knocked around or online for an "Executive Architect" but what does that actually mean?
Curated content, insights and opportunities to accelerate your career in Architecture, Design, Development and Real Estate to the next level.
What on earth is an Executive Architect_ Ft_ Design Delivery Unit at Scott Brownrigg
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[00:00:00]
Stephen Drew: Hello everyone. Oh my goodness. We're going live again. That's right. You can't keep me away. I'm coming for you. Put down that Revit model. We don't want any work. Just chill out. And I'll tell you what, if you're someone and you've just been working on a construction detail, my goodness, this episode's for you.
20 seconds. Oh, I'm getting excited. I'm excited. Bell at the ready. Let's go for it.
Hello everyone, and welcome to this live stream special. I am so excited you are here, because if you are someone that likes technical [00:01:00] drawings, you've been dealing with design architects with all the crazy stuff that they want to build, and you've been making it happen, then this episode Let's get started.
is probably for you. I have two amazing guests from an awesome architectural practice. And in that architectural practice is a unit, is a team of people who know how on earth to build these awesome buildings. It is super, super cool what they do. And I can't explain it that very well. So without further ado, I'm going to bring on my two amazing guests.
So from the design delivery unit of Scott Brownwick, we have Neil. Over here, Neil, how are you, sir? How are you? Yeah, you're well. And I'm going to introduce Benny. Last but not least, definitely not least, we have Albena, who is also at the Design Delivery Unit. How are you both today? Are you okay?
Design Delivery Unit: Very good. Thank you. Very good. We're excited to be on this, Stephen. It's going to be good fun.
Stephen Drew: I love it. All [00:02:00] right. I better not let you down, but you're also a client, so you can fire me at the end if you're not happy. So it's live at Stakes. I have to deliver a good ep Only joking, I really like them. But thank you so much for both being here. Maybe we can start with you, Neil. While I know you, some people might not be familiar with who you are.
Who are you, Neil?
Design Delivery Unit: So Neil Morgan Collins, I'm a director for Scott Bramrig, but I specifically head up design delivery unit. I've worked for Scott Bramrig for 15 years, just over 15 years now, and I joined when I was a part two, so I finished. My Diploma, moved up to London, started work here and have progressed ever since moving through the ranks, if you like, to get to the position where I am, and I've followed a bit of my bias and the things that I enjoy doing most, which has led me to this position and what I do for Design2DevUnit.
So that's me briefly and in a nutshell, but I can elaborate on that after I've introduced [00:03:00] Benny.
Stephen Drew: That's amazing. Your skills that you have, Neil, are the opposite of mine. Whether or not I could have fit in on the DDU with my Part 2 abilities back in the day, let's just say my technical drawings weren't that great. However, Maybe if you were guiding me, I would have made it. But Benny, you're really good at all the technical aspects as well.
And while we know each other, and we did the Yarn A Special a little bit ago, tell everyone who you are in terms of Scott Brown Rigg and yourself as an architect.
Design Delivery Unit: Thanks, Stephen. I'm Benny. I'm a Project Director at Design Delivery Unit. I've been with Scott Browning it's coming up to 10 years next year, so it's a big moment for me. See where we head next. But yeah, similarly I finished my education about six, seven years ago. I qualified.
It was, as as everybody knows, it's a long journey. And I don't know, I guess detailing wasn't a passion at university, and I don't think it was something that was necessarily talked about in terms [00:04:00] of routes into the construction industry, other things you could do with an architectural degree.
Thanks. And I think the more I got into working at Scott Brownrigg, I had the opportunity to oversee some of the projects on site. I really enjoyed working with contractors, working with the rest of the design team, physically seeing things put together and how it all happens. And I ended up in DDU working with Neo, and I think we've pretty much worked together for my whole career.
Yeah, 10 years. It's been a long time.
Stephen Drew: Brilliant.
Design Delivery Unit: that's me. Yeah.
Stephen Drew: That's a, that's amazing. Go on, Neil. You were going to say something. Sorry.
Design Delivery Unit: It's just, it's interesting though, the kind of the type, just talking about the type of people that go into this route of the kind of the executive work. And I would say to Benny, and we explain it to our clients, that architects tend to have a bias. They might like a thin pen over a fat pen.
And some are in between, they can do a bit of both. So by a thin pen, doing more of the detailing, a fat pen, more of the kind of [00:05:00] concept sketching. And it's rarely, you get someone that goes all the way between the two, but I think you have to. You have to work for a little bit to work out where you have a bias, where you enjoy adding most benefit.
And for too many architects, I think they, they perceive the role that you have to do design to be recognized. And I think the industry has too much of a bias on that. And that's a bit sad because, you can come up with all the great ideas in the world, but if you don't. Deliver on them, then they're worthless, so I think the passion for the guys in our team is all about, we get to see things through to completion, and there is design throughout what we do, so I work design delivery in it, because you can pick up something post planning, which might mean it's only got stage 2 plus in terms of RIBA stages to it, so yeah, it can need a lot of work and a lot of Massaging to get it to the place where it needs to be.
And you do need to understand a lot about what's been designed to get it there. Yeah, [00:06:00] so I think we have a real mix of people on our team, but they generally have that bias and that skill set. And I think it's about problem solving as well. I think that's a big part of what we do as architects. And I think architectural education is very much You do a design, you present, you have that killer image, and it's all fantastic, but the reality is in practice, you normally get a CGI company to do those killer images, and you get a model making studio to create those physical things for you.
But actually the interesting part to me about it is finding solutions to problems, and it could be like the smallest of details, but replicated on a scheme of a thousand homes, it changes the perception of what it is. And it can still meet that original killer image. Fantastic visual, but what we're passionate about is that visual coming to reality and seeing that whole process all the way through.
And you've got to have a lot of patience for that and I think some people might not, [00:07:00] sometimes I think people that come out of university want everything to happen tomorrow and the next day and the reality is with DGU, it's a five, six, seven, eight, sometimes ten year process from Start to fit and you've got to enjoy that.
You've got to enjoy working with all the people around you in house, but also with the manufacturers out there, with contractors, with the clients, and sometimes the client team changes. And we're like the people left at the end. That's one of the things to say. We are there till the end because we literally are.
It's not some diehard moments that we're trying to pitch.
Stephen Drew: Makes complete sense and I'll confess as well, the first time I heard the term executive architect was when, after I studied architecture and I went into recruitment and I had a brief to find an executive architect and I didn't have a clue what it meant at first. I was like So is that Canary Wharf Architects?
Are we talking, what kind of executive is this? Is this for people, projects in suits? It's a, I have no [00:08:00] idea. But then when I learned what it was, actually, it's very interesting. Isn't it? Like you said, it's the unsung hero, really. It's the people. And it's I think there's an art form.
to doing all the technical, solving the technical problems, to getting these things built. But I would just love before we continue a little bit further, for maybe if you can both unpack if that is accurate, what an executive architect is, and maybe in your two's definition, what it really is having done the job on a day to day basis.
Design Delivery Unit: A twitchy one. Shall I go? Yeah, go for it. So I apart from that kind of bias of what you prefer in terms of you thin pen or a fat pen? For me it's also people that that lie doing the repetitive kind of not administrative and not mundane, but the things you have to do in order to make a project work really well.
So it's those that, that understand what good reporting is. Good minutes, a good program good record keeping. If you're really good at those things, and [00:09:00] you have that kind of focus on detail and attention, then you'll be really good at delivering projects through to site and understanding that what you draw has a, has an impact.
You can't half draw something for someone else to resolve later on down the line. It's, you are the end of the line. So you're that person that understands. The bigger picture has that focus and attention for detail and does all those critical tasks that you need to do to make a project run smoothly and allow all the other consultants to really coordinate well with you to happen seamlessly.
I think when you have those characteristics, you fly in this part of this part of architecture.
Stephen Drew: Okay, makes complete sense and that's, I think it's really useful to know because sometimes, like you said, maybe some architects get caught up in the idea of chasing what they've heard of before, when I think it's amazing that if you're naturally gravitating towards these kind of things and you're passionate for it, then there's an actual career here for it.
What I was going to say while we're talking. [00:10:00] Albena, you've made my job easier again, because you have a beautiful presentation that you've done. So maybe, if you're both happy with it, we could have a quick look at that, because I think it might illustrate what we're talking about in terms of the built environment.
Would it be okay if I bring it on the screen?
Design Delivery Unit: Yeah, go for it. Yeah.
Stephen Drew: I
Design Delivery Unit: just to add to what Neil was saying as well, I think it's also about having that kind of drive for research and really, we are working with Building Regulations, British Standards, all that stuff, and I think you have to have the drive to see a detail all the way through to really understand how it's put together, make into consideration, how are the people on site going to handle it.
So you're thinking about multiple things that I think. Again, back to our education, sometimes it's more about the bigger picture, but not necessarily about the detail, so it's looking at those skills in staff as well, and in people that are [00:11:00] interested in and the other side to it is we don't only employ architects at DDU, so we have architectural technicians, architectural technologists we are looking at more and more specialists coming in, Because we recognize that's what is required to deliver big, complex projects, which is what we do and what we're going to show you in a bit.
Stephen Drew: Brilliant. Excellent. I'll bring it back up now. I just had to switch it back because the thing was cutting you off, Benny, in the corner. That's just not very nice, isn't it? I don't, you're a part, you're in a,
Design Delivery Unit: really quick from here, wasn't I?
Stephen Drew: I know don't worry. We're getting there, but the floor's all yours, both, if you want to walk us through your beautiful projects and stuff for a bit.
Design Delivery Unit: Yeah, so I think the next couple of slides are just to demonstrate to people the kind of architecture we do and get involved in. So we just tried to select a few different oh, is that going, is that changing your end?
Stephen Drew: Not
Design Delivery Unit: There we go.
Stephen Drew: Not yet. We did test this before, audience, but I have a way of breaking [00:12:00] technology telekinetically. Who knows? Who knows what happens? I've got your website here if it all goes Pete Tom, guys. Don't worry. Should I bring the website out quickly? Or,
Design Delivery Unit: Yeah, do you want to share the, oh, I think we've got it, there we
Stephen Drew: here we go! We got there!
Design Delivery Unit: yeah,
Stephen Drew: Guys, this is live. Everything's, real here. We don't prepare overly things. You get the real deal. You get the passion. Anyways, Benny, continue. Go for it.
Design Delivery Unit: yeah, so I think this is just to demonstrate some of the companies we work with, because obviously design delivery is working with another architect, it is working with. Delivering somebody else's concept and initial ideas. And I think we've been very fortunate, at least in the time I've been involved, to work with some fantastic names out there like Roger Sturckhaber and Make and Farrells, and I think that's another big part of what we do. It's about working collaboratively. And being able to [00:13:00] understand what's important in the original design, how you unpick that, deconstruct it, optimize it, put it back together, and it still looks the same thing, but it's better performing, in a sense. It's a challenge.
It's fascinating. Some of our clients want to keep the concept architect involved in the projects. So you have the benefit of having this conversation with a kind of a design guardian to understand what they were trying to achieve in other projects. It's this. Straight I've got planning, I've either sold the application to someone who's going to work with us to deliver it, or they've just decided they don't need a concept architect because they think, as a client, that they understand that concept well enough that they don't need to pay for two consultants to do the role.
You come into a scheme completely cold and have to learn it, and you have to pull it apart, and as Benny says, put it back together as it was intended. It's a kind of fight, design, intense, original kind of vision. Yeah.
Stephen Drew: [00:14:00] My face got in the way of the name, but I'm sure that is an important partnership. Anyways, please
Design Delivery Unit: got to invite them now for a podcast for the next one. We're going to do a J model on the Glenhow scheme and site delivery unit. So that's got to be the next one. Boom. Okay. Did you want to talk through? We'll just pick through some of the projects we do. Just to give you a sense of the kind of scale and quality of the projects, that's a make, design, scheme for a 48 Storytel.
So we've, we're just finishing the planning on that project, and obviously Fitel has started several floors down, so they're well, on their way in that. And yeah, again, it was a scheme where we were asked by the client to look at optimization, look at improving. Layouts, Efficiency of format of the apartments and other things.
And change all the cladding. So I think, yeah, going back to when we received this project, it was at a point where regulation statement was coming in or being explained better and things like glass balustrades, glass spandrels, all those other things that. Previously, people were using on their [00:15:00] buildings were excluded and so we had to yeah, work through this one redesign it and then go back to, to make and we share these designs so maybe weren't involved, but we presented it back and say, look, do you like what we've done?
How we've Interpreted what you had, but addressed some of the issues with technical issues we've had and so on. So yeah, in that respect, it's quite satisfying when you get good feedback knowing that you've done a good job for someone and that becomes another route for us to then win future work.
It's not just the clients we work with, but it's the architects that know they're not gonna get the project, but want someone who respects their vision and can deliver on that.
Stephen Drew: Yeah. Brilliant. Wow. Definitely not a small building either, was it? So you had your work cut out, but you can do the tall and you can do the smaller as well. But it looks great.
Design Delivery Unit: Yeah, so this one was another one so I was involved in this one. It was 11 buildings, which is at Prince Wales Drive, so Battersea Power Station is somewhere in the background and it took, it's [00:16:00] basically nearly finished on phase three now, the last three blocks and it was a gas holder site, so this was designed by Squires and Partners, and we've done a few projects with them now, and I think we've got a really good Relationship of understanding, their concepts, their ideas, and the architecture that they create and then being able to rationalize and build on that.
So we had some different typologies. We pretty much had Most facade types on this. So we've had a little bit of precast construction and I think following down on the slides, we'll show you some of the site visits that we did for that. We've had traditional handset brickwork, rainscreen cladding.
I think the last phase is having unitized. So it's been a real kind of mixture of typologies and. Detailing, which has been really interesting and I think that one's been with us for probably a good seven, eight years. And we've had obviously various internal teams change as well. So it's, yeah, it's a real pride to see it finally come [00:17:00] out the ground and being finished and being able to experience it.
It's a great example as well where an executive architect can add value. It started off as 800 and. 50 something or, yeah, around about that kind of units. And you see it's now at 9, 5 5. So we added those in under a section 73. And it's basically working within the master that the scheme currently had.
So realizing the two buildings you could add in extra floors. Realizing on the large floor footprint of some of these buildings that units were oversized and weren't meeting the kind of then sales drivers for what a one bed would sell for, what the upper threshold in terms of square meter it would be.
So just refining unit sizes and then finding you can add in another studio or something else. So yeah, just big change. But doing it without affecting the envelope, doing it without affecting the massing, and reducing the size of the basement is a really good scheme of where we can show we can add value where we're given the opportunity.
Stephen Drew: Impressive. I [00:18:00] bet the client was very happy with that then, Neil, with the extra apartments.
Design Delivery Unit: a little, yeah.
Stephen Drew: Nearly fell off their chair, I bet. Brilliant.
Design Delivery Unit: This is a, another make scheme. 40 story tower. This one was in the press. Not this building in the press, but the building next door to it. This was at a point where they're about to start works and the neighboring property were doing a basement. And I think they, they managed to cause some damage to an underground rail line.
So it's not part of the underground line, but it's another kind of. Sub level rail line that isn't too frequently used. And as a result, they found out they had a 40 story building that would have to be cantilevered over the top of. Yeah, some below ground structures, which meant changing the stability of all the core.
So that the team took this on with a kind of a mandate that you've got to put all your structure and foundations on one side of the building. [00:19:00] You've got to re engineer all the core stability that goes up through the building, and you've got to maintain the mix. Yeah, another challenge of trying to put a new structure into a building with, yeah, a new subdivision of apartments, but Achieving the original mix, which, yeah, big challenge for the team at the time.
And one of the changes they had to do was change the material for the facade to lighten the building to stop it from twisting and wanting to fall over. So there were, there was a degree of kind of material research as well as apartment mix and change going on within that. Fascinating project.
Stephen Drew: Looks amazing. Yeah, you definitely don't want no twisting. Even I know that with my limited,
Design Delivery Unit: On a windy day . Yeah.
Stephen Drew: yeah I hear it quickly though, and one of the buildings in New York is so thin and tall that it does sway and makes noises. But for me, that would be too much. I don't know about you both.
I need to feel static in my tower, in my
Design Delivery Unit: It's all relative, but they, the taller, the building they do, the more they will move. [00:20:00] Like even that building will move. And you'll then probably see it in either the pan of the toilet. We just see the water slightly move on a windy day. But yeah, it's like you say, a little unnerving.
All you
Stephen Drew: do you know what, do you know what I can imagine as well, the last thing I'll say on that before you move on, cause all this stuff, there's some things you just don't want to know, isn't it? So I'll be at a dinner party and I'll be like, don't tell me that we're swaying.
Don't look in the toilets. It would be too much, but you are right. You are right. I'll stay on my second floor for now. Anyways, please continue. I digress.
Design Delivery Unit: This was another one. So this was similar to the Prince Wales one we were showing, which is a brownfield site with existing gasholder structures. This is just started on site. This is a Rochester Carver scheme, which recently got recognized on planning awards. We're really excited to work with them and you can see that's just the aerial photo of.
So we're going to be looking at the concept of site clearing, which was probably like six months old now, and [00:21:00] that was one of our, just for perspective, you can see our team down in Hy Vis is on the bottom corner in relation to the gas holders. So it's a similar kind of concept of we're retaining the two existing structures, we're putting in buildings within them.
And then within the other two volumes that you're seeing on screen, we're going to be building another three buildings there. And the challenge here was trying to work with the concept, which is for a very kind of circular architecture with a micro facet, and then us going through, rationalizing working closely with The concept team at RSHP trying to standardize some of the modules that we were using, trying to minimize the number of elements whilst retaining the aesthetics and the joint work and the original architectural expression.
And we're currently going through samples, we've got some interesting meshes going on as part of the original concept, so there was a lot of research about [00:22:00] apertures and what is an acceptable opening that's not climbable for a small child so obviously public buildings and residential buildings slightly different so it was really interesting to have, I think we spent about Probably between six months to a year, just talking about the original concept, trying to push how we can optimize that whilst working within the planning permission and the original vision for the scheme.
But yeah, I thought I'd put this picture instead of the fancy CGI because this is what is part of our day to day going on site. Talking to people, understanding how things are put together understanding the environment that you're working with. So that's a really big part of what we do.
Stephen Drew: Amazing. Again, this is where I would be terrible. Me on site, there's a reason you give out hard hats and steel toed caps and it's because I'm very clumsy at the best of times. But it's great though, isn't it? If you love this thing, you love being on site, you love getting in the mix of it, then what a fantastic thing to be [00:23:00] doing.
You're at the forefront of it all, right?
Design Delivery Unit: Yeah, it's you can have the nice shiny picture and you can then have the finished building, but there's a bit, there's a big period in between, isn't there, of actually making it happen and sometimes that's difficult and challenging and yeah, but it's so rewarding seeing something physically come to life that you've helped coordinate and lead.
Yeah. Brilliant for that. And I think it's also recognizing that, from. The sketch and the BIM model and the original concept. All the way through. There's a lot more people involved in the process. It's all the workers that actually physically put it together and, if they don't understand what the design is, it may look fantastic, but it's not gonna end up being put together well and you are gonna see that.
So I think for me it's also working with all the characters that you meet. Somebody that's spent 40 years doing staircases and knows absolutely everything about staircases and being able to draw on [00:24:00] that knowledge. And work with them in terms of what you're trying to achieve with your design.
And I think that's a really big part of the process and what we do as well.
Stephen Drew: It looks amazing. I've deliberately turned off the presentation for a bit to give you a breather. However, Benny, if there are some slides in there that you really want me to put up, I will do it. But I am conscious that you've got lots to do as well. Are you happy? Do you want to continue with that?
Or should we just have a chat for a little bit, a bit longer? What would you prefer?
Design Delivery Unit: Keep chatting. Yeah.
Stephen Drew: We have a,
Design Delivery Unit: I don't know if you've got any questions or comments or anything particular that you're keen for us to talk about.
Stephen Drew: I do as well. So anyway, if you're in the audience, you can ask a question, but also if you watch in the replay, I'm going to bring up quickly the link to Design Delivery Unit, which is designdeliveryunit. com. So do check out all their work and I will bring up all the links in the end. Now, in the meantime, though, I've definitely got a few questions, right?
Because You are, I alluded earlier, I made a joke that, you [00:25:00] might find me after this and all this stuff. We'll see. So let's see how good my question is. However, where I'm getting to is that you are always you're doing the projects, but you're also looking for people to join your team. And you talked about the characteristics and stuff of who might like.
That kind of role. However, what I'd love to know is when you're looking through CVs, Neil and Benny, and you're looking for the type of person to fit, what sticks out to you in an application typically?
Design Delivery Unit: Depending on the role that we're after. Say it's an architect, then the portfolio that they show has to be well presented. It's got to show projects of a quality, which have been presented in a way that are attractive to look at. Someone appreciates design and how to layout and format something, because I think when they, when you do that, it shows your attention to detail and your understanding of how to sell yourself, which then gives me confidence [00:26:00] that if I put you in front of a client, You can convincingly sell whatever it is that you're working on to that person, and confidence means a lot.
I think then also it's about the quality of the experience. Obviously we can teach people a certain amount. Having seen that people have worked in these work stages is really critical, because then we know that you've started to realize that you have a bias to this, because you've experienced it.
It's not, I've seen it from the outside, it looks attractive. I'll give it a go for a year and see where I end up. I'm interested in those that are hardened and say, I've done this, I've been through it on this project, I want to do it again. I want to do it better. I've learned from what I did and I want to do it better.
Yeah, experience is key. The skills that people bring at the minute is so vital, like with the amount of complexity, size, scale of the models that we're working in and the coordination that we need. We need people that are confident or very good [00:27:00] learners in Revit. Revit being a platform that we use to model a lot of our projects.
So yeah, having that is a huge bonus. I think it's underrated in terms of Someone who is proficient at it can make that seamlessly part of their job rather than it being all encompassing and then not finding the time to do the bits that enable everyone else to do their job. Yeah, being, being proficient in that is, is really helpful.
And I think also it's about people having. a passion and wanting to push boundaries and expand and bring something to the team. We're not set in stone as this is how we do it at DDU, therefore this is what you need to do. I think we want, I think more and more kind of students coming out of university are tapping into coding, are looking into like scripting and all sorts of stuff that's way beyond me.
But it's bringing those kind of skill sets into what we do as well, about being [00:28:00] able to find efficiencies of how we can model things better and how we can create better schedules or how we can do repetitive tasks quicker. Because right, we all want to focus on the exciting things about going to the meetings, going to site, doing all this stuff.
We don't want to be stuck there drawing, a thousand toilets, like over and over again. So I think it's about people that want to bring. Those that are passionate about solving that aspect of running an architectural business and an architectural project as well. And I think we are starting to see really interesting candidates with some of our current team that are looking into, being able to like code with Python and write like Dynamo scripts and use Grasshopper and all of those things.
So I think that's an added bonus from my perspective. We've a really nice point in that. We have a good core of staff that are doing the same thing in terms of delivery from Reba [00:29:00] stages three to six, and they're learning those lessons and repeating it. I think most architecture practices and you might work and you'll find that you'll jump on a project, so Reba stage two, and then you get asked to support something at Reba stage four, and then you're back at doing something else.
And some of those staff might be lucky enough that their projects actually go from start to finish without a pause, without 'em having to do something else. But it's several years before they're back to the first stage again because of that. At least with our team, there's this constant conversation of everyone that's working from RIBA stages 3 to 6, that you're taking best practice and the things you've learned and applying them.
And that's where Benny's saying, if someone can come in and say I'm very good at scripting, I can help you identify how to spot that you're building red compliant with this particular issue by running a code on your model. That's brilliant. That's going to save someone a load of time of having to recheck something, which is quite a mundane task, and you could be prone to missing.
So anything that can make us a bit smarter and better at how we did it the last time, we are [00:30:00] trying to apply to the next project. And there's, yeah, everyone's really passionate in the team about that kind of application of learning and improving, rather than approach the same project and doing the same you did it last time.
That's just, it's not good enough. We need to be better, because What we're expected to do just keeps increasing day on day, from whether it's recording how much carbon your building uses and is made of to understanding how to demonstrate your compliance so you'll meet the new Building Safety Act.
All of these things. I'm just upping the level of kind of quality and information and management that our teams need to have, which means we need to make more of it automatic, simpler, easier for people to pick up rather than become another chore that, you don't want people working all hours to try and stay on top of a project.
So it's, we've got to get intelligent with the way we work and that's going to help improve our profession as a whole, if we can all do that. And I think the other thing is [00:31:00] the, in terms of personal qualities, because I know we touched a little bit on kind of software skills and, portfolio and those kinds of aspects.
I think it's also about having a zero ego approach. I think that's the one thing that we really are passionate about. This is not a project that's. The one person's idea and the one person's design and everybody's there to help push that one person. It's about teamwork and it's about taking ownership of every element that you're, so you could be delivering one small package, but that is your package and you have the ownership and the drive to make it the best package ever.
And that's the kind of culture that we're looking for as well because of the nature of what we do and how we work with the concept architects.
Stephen Drew: Excellent. It makes complete sense. And my goodness, what a great answer for that. While we were speaking, I have been listening, but if you caught my eyes starting over, it's because the audience is perking up. They're asking all these questions. So as I can look, make, I was just having a quick little look to check what [00:32:00] people are saying.
And it was one or two really interesting questions there. Probably more interesting than the ones I would ask. I'm going to bring up what Ian Knowles says and he says in smaller projects there's a greater link between design and delivery and I think he's saying are there stage three design teams interested in the technical challenges and do you think they're active in learning from your work so have you had that reciprocal experience then where you've been Stuff that you've done has informed the design team and they've learned from the stuff that you are doing in the executive technical team.
That's what I get from this question, but please feel free to answer, Ian, in whatever way you feel fit.
Design Delivery Unit: Yeah, I would say often projects are not completely designed when we pick them up. There's an intent and that intent can be quite loose. And it's always a pleasure when we get to work with a concept architect and take our experience, which is finding products that exist on the [00:33:00] market with manufacturers we have a really good rapport with, piecing those pieces together to come up with variations of how their concept could be delivered and being able to explain how that detail could work and then allowing them to explain themselves further now they've seen You know, in 3D and whatever it might be, how this could look.
And refine their concept and give it back to us with some comments and allow us to go away. But yeah, the collaboration that we can offer is really nice. And I think also we have been asked and we do get asked if we can peer review people's work. You can have a great idea, but no idea how to deliver it.
Or is it deliverable? And having the challenge of helping someone explain that articulated so you can convince the client that what they're doing is viable is also really beneficial. I think, yes, what we do could certainly inform others, and likewise, I think we're equally open to being informed by people at Concepts, what their ideas might bring and how [00:34:00] to challenge us to find new solutions, new methodologies of building things to deliver those concepts.
I think it goes both ways. It is definitely, I think a two way process because the other thing is like certain practices work in very different ways to wi to what we do, and I think is as much beneficial for them to get our technical input as for us to understand a different way of doing things or pro approaching a design or a problem or whatever.
And I think. With the ones that we do work consistently with, and I think you probably saw it in the presentation, we had a few make and squires and partners and stuff. I think we do have the benefit of that kind of understanding of, it's almost like the peer reviews naturally happen now because we're all on the same page and we've done this a few times, so it's a learning curve.
But it definitely goes both ways.
Stephen Drew: Yeah, fair enough. Thank you for elaborating on that. That makes sense. It's an exchange of information. Basically support each other really, isn't it? Rather than being two siloed roles. Makes [00:35:00] complete sense. We had another question that came in from Mr. and Mrs. Anonymous. So I was like, worried which way it was going to go.
Maybe they were going to talk about your deep, raspy voice, Neil, that beautiful voice, which I think could be good for audio books, by the way. But you're too yeah, close your eyes, watch the replay of this, and see what you think. However, Mr. or Mrs. Anonymous said Sorry, I might have missed this, but are you working on existing buildings, retrofit, or mainly new builds?
Is an executive architect limited to one building typology, guys?
Design Delivery Unit: Definitely not. I'd say historically, most of our projects have been new builds. There, there are on our portfolio and on the website, the link that you put up earlier, Stephen, there are obviously. Some kind of large refurb and extension buildings. So yeah we're not biased to any particular type.
And to be honest, it comes from what opportunities are out there. I think we're fortunate in that we have a lot of clients that put us onto tenders. So a lot of kind of [00:36:00] repeat business. And majority of that tends to be developers who are looking at brownfield sites. So they have. There's a couple of answers to do what they want on that site, which means we're more often working on new build developments than not.
But yeah, there's a real challenge with existing projects or existing building stock and working with those to meet current code and regulation. And another challenge entirely depending on whether they're listed or not, which is another thing we've done. Yeah, I think. It brings a whole level of kind of technical application to it when those buildings become more complex and have more constraints.
That you've got to solve. Yeah, so no, no bias, but we do all tend to work on all, but predominantly it's on new build, I would say.
Stephen Drew: Yeah, makes complete sense. It's good to know that you can do both. Thank you both in the audience for those questions. And I was going to say, it's probably last chance saloon. [00:37:00] So if you're dying for a question, then chuck it in. But what I was going to ask you both before we wind down is what are you excited about?
That you maybe can talk about because I know that you'll do a lot of cool top secret stuff. That's one of the cool things. Executive Architecture. But what are you both excited for in 2024? Cause it's round the corner.
Design Delivery Unit: This probably sounds a bit I don't know, not everyone's going to be excited by it, but the Building Safety Act. I'm currently writing an article with the AJ about implications on architectural practices. Personally, I think this is like the biggest impact it's going to have on our profession for a long time.
I think this is the, it's going to be the point where we're going to see architectural practices understand how they need to have a cultural change, how they need to become better at demonstrating compliance and management of their projects, and it's going to help really Raise the game in terms of how everyone performs in the industry and our [00:38:00] reputation if everyone grabs hold of it in the right spirit and works with it.
So I'm working here with the team in this office as hard as we can to put ourselves front and center for that. We're confident we can deliver on it and we can be PD and we can have processes and methods for dealing with gateway two and three. And yeah, I'm just lots of very exciting conversations.
We have lots of clients who are leaning on us for that kind of support and comfort to know that there are people that are out there that Want to get on and deal with these problems head on. So yeah, that'll be a good challenge for next year.
Stephen Drew: Excellent. What are you excited about, Alba? Now you're probably excited that you don't have to do another podcast
Design Delivery Unit: going to go a step further and say we're going to finally protect the function of what we do, but I think that's maybe like for a different forum. But I think it's right, isn't it? I think it's all getting. A lot more perceivably complex because of, are we going to have to test that we're competent, how are we going to do that, how do we manage that, but I [00:39:00] think from every change that we have seen as an industry and as a profession, and I remember when I was in doing my part three, we went through the whole CDM 2015 regulations and that was a big thing and everybody was reluctant to embrace that, but I think, it's happening and you either have to Ride the curve or you're just gonna wait behind, and be left behind.
And I think it's really exciting to see how we are gonna address it, but I'm also looking forward to see how maybe it will bring us a bit more together, I think, as a profession as a kind of silo in a much bigger industry. Because I think we do collaborate. But I wouldn't say that is.
The norm necessarily and I think that will be really good for us as an industry, but also for the public and the built environment and the quality of the built environment that we create.
Stephen Drew: excellent. Excellent. I fingers crossed with you that, I'm cautiously optimistic. That's what I would say, but who knows? Maybe more great stuff will happen in 2024. And one last thing before you get to ask me any [00:40:00] questions, because I love the DTU, but you are part of the wider Scott Brown Rigg family.
And while I could get fired by you, I could also get fired by everyone else at Scott Brown Rigg. Only joking. They're a cool company, right? But maybe we can just quickly, before we go, you can tell us a little bit about who Scott Brown Rig are while I bring up the fancy website, if that makes sense.
Design Delivery Unit: Yeah.
Scott Bramwick has had a lot of history. We've been around for nearly over 110 years, yeah, so I think we've gone through change as a practice, but we've also done a lot of we've probably worked in every single sector you can think of, we've done airports, we've done residential education international projects as well as home based, so I think there's a lot of History and a lot of kind of ideas that we've gone through.
And I think having the unit system within the Scott Brownie family is really interesting because it's almost like a fit for all. Depending on [00:41:00] what your passion is, you can find a place within the larger Scott Brownie family and design delivery unit's, one of the units. But we also have a design management unit.
We have a design. Safety unit now that we've just launched, which is around the Building Safety Act, a technical advisory group obviously we do interiors, master planning, architecture and design research unit as well. So we've got a bit of everything and I think that's just The reflection of where our history has taken us today.
It's always been quite a market leading practice in that if it identifies there's an opportunity within the industry to add something, it's not been afraid to make change. For example, Design Delivered came about as a brand because Scott Brammerick had expertise in both designing and delivering projects, but was being asked to deliver other architect schemes.
And so we can see there's an opportunity for an executive brand to do high quality projects. In a market [00:42:00] where there wasn't a lot of competition, but they wanted it to come with a clout of a very large, experienced practice. Yeah, just creating the brand has given us an opportunity to sell that specific set of skills and recruit for that specific set of skills.
And it's been the same for Scott Brown, again, a number of different kind of units that it's explored to make the most of what exists within the market and try and take back some of the stuff that has been lost. From architecture to other parts of industry, to other consultants, to other people.
Yeah, if we can just have a little bit back stop giving the architects a bit more, front and center and ownership of things again. I think that's always been Scott Broward's mandate. And yes, I'm very proud to be leading the DDU and shaping that part of our business because it's a really big financial contributor to what we do as a whole practice.
So yeah, very pleased with it.
Stephen Drew: But it's amazing. And forgive me, I overstepped you there because there was a bit of a lag there, but I'm just also too excited because Scott Brownrigg, I must admit, I've worked with a [00:43:00] lot of architecture practices, and I really do think that DDU and Scott Brownrigg is one of the, is definitely one of the great ones in London.
And I will say that on record, recorded, live, I And my reputation, but I'm a big believer that, we should put spotlights on companies which are doing the right thing. And that's why I feel very comfortable having Scott Brammerick on, because I do think that you are easily one of the best in London, but I'm going to say Europe or something, but I don't know all the practices out there, but in the UK, definitely at least, right?
And you do international stuff. It is a great company and I'm going to tell people where they can apply and all that stuff. But just before I let you both go and I do that, I've got a, it's only fair that you get to ask me a question if you'd like. You get to throw it back at me for hopefully, all the questions I sent to you.
You can ask me whatever you like. Neil or Benny, do you have a question for me at all before we go?
Design Delivery Unit: I was going to say knowing what we know that we do [00:44:00] now obviously you've had a career in architecture at one point in your life and you've gone down the recruitment stream, but. Knowing what you know now, would you have made a different choice? Perhaps
Stephen Drew: Oh, you cut,
Design Delivery Unit: being my colleague,
Stephen Drew: deep. It's like a live therapy session, right? You need to go back to your offices soon. I'm going to be crying tears. Do you know what? Maybe. I do enjoy where I work, however I fell into recruitment because no one in their right mind just picks it. Okay, you just don't, you don't do the five years, you don't work in industry for three years to fall into it.
And there are moments where I think, do you know what, I could really get into it. However I definitely think I would have been the front end visual guy because I just was not good at the skills that you're doing. However, I used to have someone next to me who used to have the appetite for it. He used to do the guttering systems, who used to teach me all this stuff, and it was like water over a [00:45:00] duck's back.
And that's why, I've got to be honest, I think if I went back into the industry, I'd probably be the front end BD guy. that pitches the thing because you all know I like to have a chat and then I would be on the hot phone straight away to you guys going like how do I do it and you're like oh my gosh Steve you didn't show them that render did you and I'd be like it was good what do I do so if I return maybe but I maybe what we can do is you can you could test me out you could test me out and see if I would survive On the DDU.
I might be good at the scripting stuff, and that's exciting as well. And I think that's the last thing I'd add to it, is that what I love about what you're saying on your team Is there's loads of possibilities because technical drawings, one part of it, you mentioned on site, you mentioned organization, you mentioned computational design, you mentioned saving space in all these, units.
So actually it's a lot more versatile DDU than I would have initially thought. [00:46:00] So thank you for unpacking executive architecture, but was that a fair answer in short? I don't know. I don't know if you'd have me on my team. I don't know if I'd survive. But, maybe one day. Maybe one day I'll
Design Delivery Unit: offer that to the audience. You can come do my role for a day and I'll do yours and then we can compare pages and see where we get. You
Stephen Drew: would be a great
Design Delivery Unit: I'll have to.
Stephen Drew: on how to sync DDU in 24 hours and just cause absolute loss of money. Neil does not agree with this. But I
Design Delivery Unit: bad
Stephen Drew: Yeah, exactly. Exactly. And I tell you what, I've really enjoyed this. And if I was looking in the background, it is because I did get one image. And as for everyone, if you imagine, if you, Neil, your voice is amazing.
You need to do audio books. However, I've got to be honest. I think you have a doppelganger. I think you had a Korean Hollywood. Everyone should, does it, [00:47:00] does this remind? If so, if you want to find more about DDU, you should go to designdeliverunit. com. Neil, you are the best. And Benny, you're pretty cool too.
You're both the best. All right. I love what you do. I can't wait to find out what's been happening. And maybe we can do another one in a year or two, if you'll have me. Definitely don't want me in the DDU, but for anyone. That's what you need. If you are interested in doing technical delivery, all the stuff we talked about, you definitely need to check out Scott Brannrigg or DDU.
It's a no brainer. You should go to their website now. But how does anyone get in contact with you if they want to say hello as well?
Design Delivery Unit: You can catch us on LinkedIn or LinkedIn. Yeah, LinkedIn, Instagram as well. We've got an Instagram account. We're on Twitter, so any of the socials or by all means, if anyone gets through to you, [00:48:00] you know where we are. Yeah, you know where to find us. You know where to find us,
Stephen Drew: You know where to find Neil. You know where to find everyone. What an amazing episode. You two are absolutely amazing. Now I'm going to stay on the live stream one second. I'm just going to close down the audience, but you sit there. Hopefully this has been useful for you all. I wanted to show that other side of it.
I've been dying for this episode so long. What better way to get these amazing experts to show, to showcase the bit that we don't always talk about. We focus on the design architect, but who are the architects that get that design realized and make sure that it doesn't wobble and that I get scared on my 54th floor in the apartment when the water's washing.
So exactly. This is why you need DDU. Thank you both for being here. I'm going to end the live stream now, and have a good Christmas break coming up. More content soon, but take care everyone. All right, in the audience. Bye bye.
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