What on earth is an Executive Architect? Ft. Design Delivery Unit at Scott Brownrigg

In this Architecture Social CPD, Stephen Drew is joined by Neal Morgan-Collins and Albena Atanassova of the Design Delivery Unit (DDU) at Scott Brownrigg to unpack the role of the executive architect: the people who take a design through planning and turn it into a building. Approximate listening time: 49 minutes.

Who this is for

Architects, architectural technologists and technicians, Part 1 and Part 2 assistants, and students who enjoy the technical, regulatory and construction side of projects, or who are weighing up a specialism in design delivery and executive architecture. It is also useful for practice leaders thinking about how to structure delivery teams.

Learning outcomes

By the end of this session you will be able to:

1. Explain what an executive architect does and how the role differs from concept design.
2. Describe how a design delivery team picks up a scheme after planning and develops it through to completion.
3. Identify the skills and mindset the role rewards, including detailing, coordination, Revit proficiency and research.
4. Recognise how executive architects collaborate with concept architects, contractors and manufacturers.
5. Outline how the Building Safety Act is changing the way practices demonstrate compliance and manage projects.
6. Consider whether a career in design delivery suits your own strengths and interests.

Concept versus delivery: the thin pen and the fat pen

Neal describes how architects tend to have a bias, either towards the fat pen of concept sketching or the thin pen of detailing, with relatively few people sitting equally across both. Executive architecture rewards those who enjoy resolving detail and seeing a project through to completion, and who take satisfaction in solving practical problems at scale rather than producing the headline image alone.

What the day to day looks like

The DDU often picks up schemes post-planning, sometimes with only a loose design intent, and develops them through RIBA stages three to six. The work involves good reporting, minutes, programme and record keeping, alongside the technical resolution. Albena notes the team includes not only architects but architectural technicians and technologists, with growing demand for specialists able to handle large, complex projects.

Working with the concept architect

Design delivery means realising someone else's concept. The pair describe deconstructing a design, optimising it, then putting it back together so it performs better while still reading as intended. They have delivered schemes originated by practices such as Make, Squire and Partners and RSHP, and value being trusted by concept architects who want their vision respected through to site.

Adding value on complex schemes

Using examples including a large Battersea residential scheme on a former gasholder site, they explain how an executive architect can add value: refining unit sizes and mix, rationalising facade typologies, and finding efficiencies within an existing planning permission without changing the massing or envelope. Much of the work happens on site, coordinating with the trades who physically assemble the building.

What they look for in a CV

For architect roles, Neal looks for a well-presented portfolio that shows attention to detail and the confidence to present an idea, along with genuine experience across the delivery work stages. Revit proficiency is highly valued, as is an appetite for scripting and computational tools such as Python, Dynamo and Grasshopper that automate repetitive checks. Above all they prize a zero-ego, team-first attitude and ownership of your package of work.

The Building Safety Act and the future of the role

Both guests see the Building Safety Act as one of the most significant changes to the profession in years, raising the bar on how practices demonstrate competence and compliance. They frame it as an opportunity to professionalise delivery and bring the industry closer together, and discuss how Scott Brownrigg has organised specialist units, including a Design Safety Unit, to respond.

Key terms

• Executive architect: an architect or practice that takes a design, typically post-planning, and resolves the technical detail to deliver it on site.
• Design Delivery Unit (DDU): Scott Brownrigg's executive architecture brand, established in 2012.
• RIBA stages three to six: the developed design, technical design, construction and handover phases of the RIBA Plan of Work.
• Concept architect: the practice that originates the design vision, often up to planning.
• Building Safety Act: UK legislation that strengthens accountability and compliance requirements across higher-risk building design and construction.
• Section 73: a planning mechanism used to vary conditions of an existing permission, referenced when adding units within an approved scheme.

Reflective prompts for your CPD record

1. Where does your own bias sit between concept and delivery, and what does that suggest about where you add most value?
2. How well do your current skills in detailing, coordination, Revit and research match the demands of executive architecture, and what would you develop next?
3. What does the Building Safety Act change about how you record decisions and demonstrate compliance on your projects?

About the guests

Neal Morgan-Collins is Managing Director at Scott Brownrigg. He joined in 2007 as a Part II assistant and helped establish the Design Delivery Unit in 2012, growing it into an AJ100 award-recognised business. Albena Atanassova is a Project Director in the DDU, having joined in 2014 and delivered high-end residential and mixed-use schemes including Prince of Wales Drive in Battersea. Scott Brownrigg is a global architecture and design practice with over a century of history and studios across the UK and internationally.