Richard Saxon

Richard Gilbert Saxon CBE (born 14 April 1942) is a notable English architect. He was chairman of Building Design Partnership (BDP), chairman of BE (a fore-runner of Constructing Excellence), a vice-president of the Royal Institute of British Architects (2002-2008), Master of the Worshipful Company of Chartered Architects (2005-2006), and president of the British Council for Offices (1995-1996). He was awarded CBE in 2001 for services to British architecture and construction.

Saxon trained as an architect and joined BDP as a graduate, becoming an associate in 1970 and a partner in 1977. He headed the firm's London office from 1991 to 1996, then served as group chairman (1996-2002). He is now principal at Consultancy for the Built Environment.

Projects upon which Saxon worked (and associated awards) include:

• Halifax Building Society headquarters (1975 - British Council for Offices Award 2000)(listed Grade 2, 2013)
• Durham Milburngate Centre (1978 winner of Europa Nostra medal and Civic Trust Award)
• Merseyside Maritime Museum Masterplan (1981 Civic Trust commendation)
• London headquarters of J P Morgan (1986-1991 - winner of New City Architecture award in 1993)
• Paddington Basin redevelopment (1989-1992)(unbuilt)
• All England Lawn Tennis Club masterplan and redevelopment, Wimbledon, London (1992-1995 - Civic Trust commendation in 1998 for No 1 Court)
• Adam Opel AG Headquarters, Rüsselsheim Germany (1993–97)

Industry change

Saxon has been active in various industry organisations, particularly those promoting more collaborative approaches to project delivery. For example, he was a member and - from 1999-2002 - chairman of the Reading Construction Forum, which played a key role during the late 1990s in applying the recommendations of the 1994 Latham and 1998 Egan Reports. He was also involved with the Design Build Foundation (1997-2002) and BE: Collaborating for the Built Environment (2002-2005). The RCF, DBF and BE merged in 2005 into Constructing Excellence, which published Saxon's influential report Be valuable the same year.

In addition, Saxon was chairman of the Good Practice Panel of the Construction Industry Board (1996-1999), a member of the Strategic Forum for Construction (2001-2002), and a member of the executive board of the Construction Industry Council (CIC) (2006-2014).

In August 2012, he was appointed as a BIM 'Ambassador for Growth' to join the CIC and the UK government's Building Information Modelling Task Group to look at how the UK can achieve economic growth by exploiting its BIM success. This continued his involvement with BIM; he was a member of the BIS Low Carbon Construction Innovation and Growth Team which produced the key 2010 report recommending government adoption of BIM - an initiative carried forward by the government's Chief construction adviser Paul Morrell.

In addition to Be Valuable, Saxon has also written about architectural subjects including atrium buildings, client advice, and the design of the City of London (Saxon was appointed a Freeman of the City of London in 1988).