The Worshipful Company of Chartered Architects is a modern Livery Company. The Company promotes quality architecture in the City of London and the architectural profession globally; it supports education through awards and prizes as well as a range of charities related to the City.
The Worshipful Company of Chartered Architects achieved Livery status in 1988 - just four years after it was founded in 1984, and received the Royal Charter in 2019 and ranks ninety-eighth in the order of precedence for Livery Companies.
Information about the current Officers and Court Members may be found on these pages.
You can look up members information on the MEMBER DIRECTORY tab below, for personal use only.
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Master - Chris Williamson
Chris is passionate about lifelong learning and qualified as a Project Manager in 1985 and an Urban Designer in 1995. He is a member of the Association of Project Managers and the Royal Town Planning Institute. He is a Visiting Professor at East London University and was recently the Vice President of the RIBA responsible for international outreach. It was this work that has led Chris to believe that the RIBA needs to change to be seen more of a globally recognised qualification to set and maintain high standards rather than a Members Club and why the theme of his year as Master will be Education.
Upper Warden - Giles Murphy
After King’s College School Wimbledon, Giles graduated from Bristol University in 1991. Shortly thereafter he joined the Professional and Financial Services business, Smith & Williamson.
Giles qualified as a Chartered Accountant at Smith & Williamson in 1994 and continues to work in the business, now as Head of the Professional Practices Team advising clients in the Real Estate, Architectural and Surveying sectors.
Giles is son of Stuart Murphy, one of the original Founding Fathers of the Company in the 1980s and is part of the 10% of the Company’s members that are not registered architects but are passionate about the promotion of quality architecture and the built environment.
Giles is Parish Clerk of St Lawrence Jewry and a Liveryman of the Merchant Taylors’ and Chartered Accountants’ Livery Companies. He is married to Pippa and has three grown up children, Ella, Georgia and Oscar. Giles lives in Esher, Surrey.
Renter Warden - Chris Bicknell
Educated at Highgate School, Chris then went on to qualify in Architectural Studies at Bath University and achieved his professional Architectural qualifications at the University of Sheffield in 1991.
He subsequently qualified with a Masters in Facilities Management at Westminster University. Chris continues to mentor students at Westminster and Bath Universities and is a Professional Practice Assessor at DeMontford University.
After spending the first part of his career within mainstream architectural practices, honing his skills and experience, Chris managed PFI operational estates as Director of an International Facilities management Company and most recently has been with AECOM for the last 14 years leading a consultancy team as Director of Asset Strategy and Facilities Management (FM) Consulting.
Chris has been a member of the WCCA since 2003 and has contributed much to the Company through committees, stewarding and being active on the Court as a Court Assistant. Chris and his partner Sara now split their time between London and Yorkshire.
Junior Warden - Nigel Ostime
Nigel is a partner at architectural practice Hawkins\Brown. He has a keen interest in modern methods of construction and has been involved in the development of industry standards for government and the BSI, digital tools to improve productivity for affordable housing providers and guidance on ‘Design for Manufacture and Assembly’ for the RIBA.
He is author of a number of books on project and practice management and is a visiting lecturer at several schools of architecture.
Nigel and his wife Ellie live in North London and have three children, Nicholas, Alex and Madeline.
He is a keen cyclist and enjoys tackling the cols of Hertfordshire at weekends.