A Business Directory

Find UK Architects

Welcome to Architect DB, the UK Architecture database. We list over 44,000 firms across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, from a sole practitioner drawing up a loft conversion to a multidisciplinary practice with hundreds of staff. Pick your region from the menu above, or jump straight to a town below.

Areas Covered

Architect DB features Architects throughout the UK. Just some of the towns and cities we cover include: Bolton, Rayleigh, Dunstable, Gosport, Warmley, Halesowen, Bury St. Edmunds, Banbridge, Dudley, Barnstaple, Dorking, Shipley, Carshalton, Newcastle Upon Tyne, Luton, Southwell, Brighton, Olney, Kendal, Hinckley, Camberley, Linlithgow, Hove, Arbroath, Bangor, Steyning, Spalding, Marlborough, Altrincham, Milton Keynes, Wolverhampton, Exeter, Windermere, Salisbury, Hexham, Calne, Wadebridge, Tarbert, Romsey, Witham, Frinton On Sea, Caterham, Coleraine, Melton Mowbray, Matlock, Dewsbury, Wigan, Chelmsford, Lancaster, Braintree, Tipton, Weybridge, Lincoln, Berwick-upon-tweed, Dundee, Basingstoke, 56south Queensferry, Oxford, Bath, Colchester, Dundee Technology Park, Halifax, Shetland, Brentwood, Fakenham, Stocktonontees, Leeds, Leeds, Dakeith, Maldon, and many more.

When Do You Need an Architect?

Most people first go looking for an architect when a building project stops being a sketch on the back of an envelope: an extension that needs planning permission, a loft conversion that has to satisfy the Building Regulations, a new house on a plot with awkward access, or a commercial fit-out with a landlord’s deadline attached. The practices listed here handle:

• Feasibility studies and concept design, so you know what the site and your budget will stretch to before you commit.
• Planning applications and appeals, including listed building and conservation area consent.
• Building Regulations drawings and applications, through the local authority or a private building control body.
• Detailed design, specifications and tender drawings that a builder can price and build from.
• Contract administration and site inspections while the work is on, and certifying what the builder is owed at each stage.

Who Is Listed Here

“Architect” is a protected title in the UK. Under the Architects Act 1997 nobody may use it unless they are on the register held by the Architects Registration Board, which anyone can search free of charge. Most registered architects are also members of the Royal Institute of British Architects and put RIBA after their name. A RIBA Chartered Practice has met further requirements on insurance, quality management and continuing training.

The practices range from a sole architect working from home, who will take a house extension from first sketch to completion, to large firms with studios in several cities and separate teams for housing, schools, hospitals and offices. Many also employ architectural technologists, who specialise in how a building is detailed, specified and put together, and the Chartered Institute of Architectural Technologists awards the MCIAT designation. Where a job needs other consultants, such as a structural engineer for the beam calculations building control asks to see, your architect will normally recommend one and coordinate their work.

Choosing the Right Firm

A few practical checks before you appoint anyone:

• Confirm the title. If a firm calls itself an architect, look the name up on the ARB register. Anyone can call themselves an architectural designer, which is legal but tells you nothing about their qualifications.
• Ask what stage they will take the job to. Some practices stop at planning permission, and others carry on through Building Regulations drawings, tendering and site inspections. The RIBA Plan of Work sets out the standard stages, and a written appointment should say which ones are included.
• Ask for evidence of professional indemnity insurance, and check the cover is still in force. The ARB code requires registered architects to hold it, and a practice that cannot show a current certificate should not be appointed.
• Ask how fees are charged: a percentage of construction cost, a fixed fee per stage, or an hourly rate. For small domestic jobs a fixed fee is now common and easier to budget for.
• Ask to see something similar they have done nearby. A firm that has taken three extensions through your own council’s planning department knows what that department will and will not accept.

Promote Your Business

Are you an architect? Architect DB puts over 44,000 UK practices in front of the people searching for them, organised by region and town so that clients find practices near them. A listing gives your firm its own page with your contact details, website link and a description of your services. If your practice is missing, or you would like to take control of an existing listing, submit a new listing today and we will review it for inclusion.