Judges

Allan Sylvester (Dip Arch, Arb) studied architecture at the University of North London (now the London Metropolitan University, home to The Cass School of Art, Architecture and Design) and at The Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL.Co-founded Ullmayer Sylvester Architects with Silvia Ullmayer following a collaborative self-build project that established the foundation of the practice’s ethos and approach. Allan is a Visiting Lecturer at the University of Westminster School of Architecture and Cities, where he teaches on the BA Interior Architecture course. Alongside his architectural practice and teaching, he produces drone videography and films on architecture.

Asif is Director of Regenerative Design at Perkins&Will. He has raised the profile of carbon proficiency in the practice which includes a costed Zero Carbon Report at the end of concept design for all architectural projects. He has been advocating the use of circularity in design and as part of interiors provides a Life Cycle Analysis for all projects and a roadmap to achieving full circularity by 2030. He has also been involved in expanding the firm's environmental remit within designs as part of the 'Living Design' initiative utilising a multivalent approach rather than singular metrics. Asif is an Architect with over 20 years' experience in delivering Zero Carbon design projects. Notably BedZED and Jubilee Wharf in Penryn, Cornwall. He has worked in the UK and abroad in China and the Middle East. He has a PhD in Life Cycle design of buildings from Cass School of Art and Design at LMU.

Basil is Managing Partner of FORE Partnership, the purpose-driven real estate private equity firm that drives social and environmental innovation in the built environment using low carbon strategies, social impact, place making, and design. Prior to founding FORE, Basil was a partner at Capricorn Investment Group, the family office of Jeff Skoll (eBay), and was Managing Partner of a German property fund. He spent 13 years in investment banking in New York and London. Basil is Chair of the children’s charity, the Institute of Imagination, and sits on the board of trustees of the UK Green Building Council, the property industry’s largest membership organisation dedicated to sustainability. He graduated with a degree in Aerospace Engineering from Cornell University.

Ben founded Moxon Architects in 2004, growing it into a dynamic, cross-disciplinary studio working on projects across the UK and overseas. Working at the intersection of architecture, craft and engineering, Ben is interested in how landscape and heritage can inform design, and how architects can integrate circularity into new schemes. He has built a reputation for technical achievement and aesthetic versatility and is well known for fostering an inquisitive and collaborative design process. With strategic and design oversight across all projects, his work always represents a bespoke response to client aspirations, user needs, technical requirements and geographical context. Ben’s particular expertise lies in creating projects that respond to and enhance their surroundings. Working across multiple sectors, from hospitality to public infrastructure, he works with clients including Hauser & Wirth, HS2 and Transport Scotland. Ben lectures at universities in Europe and across the UK and is an external examiner at University of Dundee. He previously ran a Bartlett Degree Unit, exploring real-world design challenges and construction methods, and during this time his students received awards including the RIBA Undergraduate Medal, the RIBA Dissertation Medal, RIBA Serjeant Award and the UCL Donaldson Medal. Outside of practice Ben is a member of the Braemar Mountain Rescue Team, and his landscape photography has been published by Scottish Mountaineering Press, Phaidon and the Financial Times. Ben Addy is based at the Scottish office.

Graham is a director of Prewett Bizley Architects who are commitment to radically reducing the energy consumption of buildings, with extensive experience in delivering sustainable new-build and retrofit projects using Passivhaus construction methodologies. Graham has written regularly for various architectural journals and is the author of two books on architectural detailing published by the Architectural Press. He is a part-time teaching fellow at the University of Bath.

Lee is a Partner and Design Chair at Sheppard Robson. His diverse portfolio includes award-winning schools and higher education buildings, the retrofit of Old Marylebone Town Hall, and prominent workplace-led developments. His views on new models for education, modern methods of construction, and the pursuit of net zero carbon schools have been widely presented and published. Lee teaches at Liverpool University and is an External Examiner at the Architectural Association.

Rachel is an architect and founder of Rachel Eccles Design; a practice focussed on residential retrofits and grounded on the belief that homes should be shaped by personal narrative, rather than 'fast fashion' and trend. Prior to setting up her own practice, Rachel was a Director at HUT where she led on a number of widely publicised schemes including the retrofit and extension of British Land’s first Storey building in Broadgate and redevelopment of a six-storey converted office warehouse in Kings Cross. She enjoys collaborating with other design professionals and continues to engage with the wider architectural community through teaching and guest crits. She is an active member of Hertfordshire based 'Zero Carbon Ashwell' group - striving to reduce the community's demands on fossil fuels.

Dr Ruth Lang is an architect, researcher, curator, and head of the MArch programme at the London School of Architecture. Through her teaching and writing, her work explores how contemporary architectural practice can be restructured to more equitably address issues of diversity and the Climate Emergency, using collaborative and transdisciplinary research strategies. She was lead researcher for the Future Observatory’s Low Carbon Housing project at the Design Museum, and her book ‘Building for Change: The Architecture of Creative Reuse' was published by gestalten in 2022.

Sarah is an architect and co-Director of Featherstone Young, a practice with expertise in place-making and social engagement. She is also a member of VeloCity, an all-women, multidisciplinary team re-imagining the village for the 21st century, creating new homes and working environments in healthy and socially cohesive places. Her projects include the award winning Tŷ Pawb (Everybody’s House), a new model for an arts venue in Wrexham, and a campus for the newly formed Black Mountains College set in the Brecon Beacons National Park. Sarah teaches at Central St Martins, UAL and the Welsh School of Architecture and is on various local authority Design Review panels. Her teaching and practice reflect her interest in the way people shape their environments and how architecture can stimulate, rather than dictate, activity and social interaction.

Shaun Ihejetoh, co-founder and director of West Port, has built an architectural practice based on a people-first philosophy, focusing on impactful public and private spaces, truely formed from a contextual approach. Informed by his global lived experience and a love for London where he lives, Shaun advocates for those who typically have little influence over their neighborhoods' makeup. He is dedicated to democratising architecture and expanding the professional discourse to include voices from outside the industry bubble.