Richard Gilbert Saxon

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(born 14 April 1942) is an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

. He was chairman of

Building Design Partnership Building Design Partnership Ltd, doing business as BDP, is a firm of architects and engineers employing over 900 staff in the United Kingdom and internationally. History BDP was founded in 1961 by George Grenfell-Baines with architects Bill White ...

(BDP), chairman of BE (a fore-runner of

Constructing Excellence Constructing Excellence is a United Kingdom construction industry membership organisation created in 2003, the only such which draws its member organisations from across the industry supply chain, ranging from clients, through contractors and consu ...

), a vice-president of the

Royal Institute of British Architects The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) is a professional body for architects primarily in the United Kingdom, but also internationally, founded for the advancement of architecture under its royal charter granted in 1837, three supp ...

(2002-2008), Master of the

Worshipful Company of Chartered Architects The Worshipful Company of Chartered Architects is one of the Livery Companies of the City of London. The company was established in 1984 and was granted Livery status in 1988. The Company promotes architecture in the City of London particularl ...

(2005-2006), president of the British Council for Offices (1995-1996) and Chairman of the Joint Contracts Tribunal (JCT 2015-2021). He was awarded

in 2001 for services to British

architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing building ...

and

construction Construction is a general term meaning the art and science to form Physical object, objects, systems, or organizations,"Construction" def. 1.a. 1.b. and 1.c. ''Oxford English Dictionary'' Second Edition on CD-ROM (v. 4.0) Oxford University Pr ...

Career

Saxon trained as an architect at the University of Liverpool and joined BDP in Manchester as a graduate, becoming an associate in 1970 and a partner in 1977. He headed the firm's London office from 1991 to 1999, and served as group chairman (1996-2002). He is now principal at Consultancy for the Built Environment, a client and business adviser. Projects upon which Saxon worked (and associated awards) include: *

Halifax Building Society Halifax commonly refers to: *Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada *Halifax, West Yorkshire, England * Halifax (bank), a British bank Halifax may also refer to: Places Australia *Halifax, Queensland, a coastal town in the Shire of Hinchinbrook *Halifax ...

headquarters (1975 - British Council for Offices Award 2000)(listed Grade 2, 2013) *

Durham Durham most commonly refers to: *Durham, England, a cathedral city and the county town of County Durham *County Durham, an English county * Durham County, North Carolina, a county in North Carolina, United States *Durham, North Carolina, a city in N ...

Milburngate Centre (1978 winner of Europa Nostra medal and

Civic Trust Award The Civic Trust Awards scheme was established in 1959 to recognise outstanding architecture, planning and design in the built environment. As the longest standing built environment awards scheme in Europe, since 1959, more than 7000 projects have ...

) *

Merseyside Maritime Museum The Merseyside Maritime Museum is a museum based in the city of Liverpool, Merseyside, England. It is part of National Museums Liverpool and an Anchor Point of ERIH, The European Route of Industrial Heritage. It opened for a trial season in 19 ...

Masterplan (1981 Civic Trust commendation) *London headquarters of J P Morgan (1986-1991 - winner of New City Architecture award in 1993) *

Paddington Basin Paddington Basin is the name given to a long canal basin, and its surrounding area, in Paddington, London. The basin commences 500 m south of the junction known as Little Venice, of the Regent's Canal and the Paddington Arm of the Grand ...

redevelopment (1989-1992)(unbuilt) *

All England Lawn Tennis Club The All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, also known as the All England Club, based at Church Road, Wimbledon, London, England, is a private members' club. It is best known as the venue for the Wimbledon Championships, the only Grand Slam t ...

masterplan and redevelopment,

Wimbledon, London Wimbledon () is a district and town of Southwest London, England, southwest of the centre of London at Charing Cross; it is the main commercial centre of the London Borough of Merton. Wimbledon had a population of 68,187 in 2011 which includes ...

(1992-1995 - Civic Trust commendation in 1998 for No 1 Court) *Adam Opel AG Headquarters, Rüsselsheim

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

(1993–97) RIBA Award, 1998.

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 and DBF merged in October 2002 to form BE, and BE merged in 2005 into Constructing Excellence. 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 The Construction Industry Council (CIC) is the representative forum for professional bodies, research organisations and specialist business associations in the United Kingdom construction industry. History The first proposals for a Building Indu ...

(CIC) (2006-2014). He chaired the Value Task Group of the

Construction Research and Innovation Strategy Panel The Construction Research and Innovation Strategy Panel (CRISP) was an initiative established in 1995 to identify and prioritise the research needs of the construction industry of the United Kingdom. It operated through a series of Task Groups, eac ...

and subsequently wrote the Constructing Excellence report ''Be Valuable'' (2005). After being the inaugural Povey Lecturer for the Joint Contracts Tribunal in 2003, he was elected Chairman of JCT from 2015 to 2021. He was a regular contributor to the

Interdisciplinary Design for the Built Environment The Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership, formerly the Cambridge Programme for Sustainability Leadership and the Cambridge Programme for Industry, is part of the School of Technology within the University of Cambridge. The Instit ...

masters programme at Cambridge University and contributed a chapter on Changing Construction Culture to a book based around papers given on the course. In August 2012, he was appointed as a BIM 'Ambassador for Growth' to join the CIC and the UK government's Building Information Modelling Steering 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''Low Carbon Construction''
(accessed 30 January 2012) recommending government adoption of BIM - an initiative carried forward by the government's Chief construction adviser

Paul Morrell Paul Dring Morrell (born 28 February 1948) is an English chartered quantity surveyor, former senior partner of Davis Langdon, and from November 2009 to November 2012 the UK Government's first Chief Construction Adviser. Career After graduati ...

. Saxon produced a report for government on Growth through BIM, published by the CIC in 2013, followed by a guidebook 'BIM for Construction Clients', published by NBS in 2016 and a further, concise guide 'Going Digital' for the UK BIM Alliance in 2018. In addition to ''Be Valuable'', Saxon has also written about architectural subjects including

atrium Atrium may refer to: Anatomy * Atrium (heart), an anatomical structure of the heart * Atrium, the genital structure next to the genital aperture in the reproductive system of gastropods * Atrium of the ventricular system of the brain * Pulmona ...

buildings, client advice, and the design of the

City of London The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London f ...

(Saxon was appointed a Freeman and Liveryman of the City of London in 1988). He is also the author of numerous magazine articles, gathered on his website saxoncbe.com

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saxon, Richard Living people Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Architects from London 1942 births