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Chris Williamson is the founder of Weston Williamson + Partners, one of the UK鈥檚 best known architectural practices. Formed with fellow Leicester Polytechnic student Andrew Weston (the pair were told to work together in the design studio because their surnames were alphabetically adjacent in the register), the practice is best known for its transport infrastructure projects, including the Paddington and Woolwich stations on the Elizabeth line.

鈥溾�榊ou can work with Weston,鈥� they said to us at Leicester,鈥� says Williamson. 鈥淎nd, 40 years later, we鈥檙e still working together.

鈥淭he reason we clicked was because we had compatible interests. That included a shared concern about sustainability 鈥� even at the end of the 1970s, climate change was an issue.鈥�

Having sold the practice to Egis Group in 2022, Williamson went from being a practice owner to being an employee again. Motivated by a desire to ensure RIBA gives a new generation of architects the support he feels it gave his practice at a crucial moment in the 1980s, Williamson is running to be RIBA president from 2025-27.

Given recent changes to the RIBA organisational structure, with the board having executive control, and the president now primarily a representational role, why do you think the presidency is still important?

鈥淲ell, first of all, I think the changes were absolutely the right thing to do. You wouldn鈥檛 run a business where you were changing the chairman every couple of years, so giving more responsibility to the board makes a lot of sense.

鈥淏ut, yes, I think a lot of members are concerned that they have less of a voice, and I think that鈥檚 where the president comes in 鈥� to be a voice for the members and also to promote the RIBA.

鈥淚 want to work on getting more visibility for architecture 鈥� communicating the value of architecture, locally, nationally and internationally.

My polling shows that members鈥� concerns are around pay, remuneration, prestige and respect

鈥淚鈥檝e been involved in the RIBA under several presidents in a range of different roles, going back to the early 2000s. But my concern is that nothing seems to change, and that the RIBA is sleepwalking into oblivion. I think the youngsters in our profession don鈥檛 see the relevance of a member鈥檚 club anymore.

鈥淭he only way that the RIBA can survive is for it to be seen as more of a qualification, rather than something where you just pay for a prestigious crest and the initials after your name 鈥� the initials have to stand for something.

鈥淎nd the only way to do that is through lifelong learning. My polling shows that members鈥� concerns are around pay, remuneration, prestige and respect, but I think lifelong learning is the way to address these issues.

鈥淐urrently, you can spend an hour sitting down, watching somebody try and sell their light fittings and you can strike that off as an hour of CPD. But that doesn鈥檛 demonstrate that we are the best in the world, or that we鈥檙e fit for purpose.鈥�

At the last presidential election in 2022, the turnout fell again to just 12.4%. Why does it appear that members are not engaging with the institute?

鈥淚 have very strong views on why RIBA matters for the members. The RIBA has been incredibly good to me and Andrew. We were selected for RIBA鈥檚 鈥�40 under 40鈥� exhibition in 1985, along with people like Allies and Morrison, Alsop and Lyall and Amanda Levete.

鈥淭he RIBA actually gave us a lot of encouragement at that time. They would put young architects on shortlists for projects 鈥� we had the most amazing opportunities. It was the RIBA that gave us that start and gave us those opportunities. So, I have a lot to thank the RIBA for and that鈥檚 why I鈥檓 passionate about doing this job.

鈥淚 want to make sure that for young architects it is seen as their home, their chance to progress. I think we can do a lot for young architects 鈥� they need all the help they can get at the moment.鈥�

It sometimes appears that salaried architects look to the RIBA to provide a trade union function, while sole practitioners worry about architectural designers undercutting them on fees, and practice principals 鈥� running large practices and perhaps employing hundreds of people 鈥� have got a different set of concerns. Is there a risk that RIBA is almost set up to fail its members because it cannot actually address the needs of these different groups?

鈥淚鈥檝e been an employee, I鈥檝e been a small practice owner, I鈥檝e been a large practice owner and now I鈥檓 an employee again. And each one of them is stressful. But I really don鈥檛 like this idea that there are workers and there are business owners.

鈥淭he stress of being a business owner can be huge. When our office was 20 or 30 people, you knew intimately what was happening in everybody鈥檚 lives 鈥� you knew who was getting married, who was having children, who was moving house.

鈥淭he sleepless nights I had worrying about the people that I employed were far more stressful than when I was an employee. I鈥檓 not saying one鈥檚 better than another, but I think that this divisive attitude about workers and business owners doesn鈥檛 really get us anywhere.

鈥淚鈥檝e always been passionate about making sure that people are properly paid and properly rewarded, and the way to tackle this, in my opinion, is to be better. We鈥檝e all got to be better.

鈥淧eople love our design skills, but we鈥檙e not good at management. We have to get better at a whole range of other skills to convince people that we are worth paying.

鈥淪o, we need to ratchet up our skills, get better at negotiation, get better at presentation, get better at listening to clients.鈥�

What will be your top priorities as RIBA president?

鈥淚鈥檝e been incredibly pleased with the support that I鈥檝e had for my campaign. I鈥檝e got five or six Stirling prize winners, but I鈥檝e also got students, sole practitioners, educationalists and young architects, international architects and regional architects.

鈥淎nd I need to represent them all. They all have different concerns, but everybody is passionate about their own brand of architecture or their particular interests, whether it鈥檚 heritage or conservation or sustainability.

鈥淪o, I broke my manifesto down into 10 priorities and these are just my top three: The first one is a comprehensive spending review to ensure that every penny at RIBA is spent to promote architecture for the benefit of all our RIBA members and society at large.

鈥淧art of this would be making sure that we paired up our experts with the government ministers responsible 鈥� like Ben Derbyshire on heritage, or Alex Ely on housing and Duncan Baker-Brown on climate change. We also really need to leverage our honorary fellows. We make people honorary fellows and they鈥檙e fantastically well connected and real experts in their field and then we just forget about them and they鈥檙e telling me that they want to be more involved.

鈥淢y second priority is improved communications 鈥� between the RIBA and members and our wider community, creating an engaged global network with shared values. When I was international vice-president, I met with all the institutes 鈥� Australia, Canada, Brazil, Japan 鈥� and they all want to be associated with the RIBA.

鈥淚 think we鈥檙e pushing at an open door to create a global community for architects that we can then use to solve some of the world鈥檚 problems of urbanisation and climate change. We can鈥檛 tackle it on our own. We have to take everybody with us.

I still think the architect is the best person to be the project manager. But to be project managers 鈥� and principal designers - we have to do training and lifelong learning properly

鈥淎nd my third priority is to overhaul lifelong learning, so that it would add skills and increase knowledge. This would increase remuneration and help rebuild respect.

鈥淎t the moment CPD isn鈥檛 nuanced enough. It has to be geared for where you are in your career and for your specialism. I think that you should be allowed to specialise and that then clients can choose what kind of architects they want.

鈥淭here are something like 17 different types of surveyors in the RICS chartered system, and we鈥檙e still trying to make everybody be 鈥榓n architect鈥�. And, in this day and age, that doesn鈥檛 work.鈥�

Jack Pringle wrote recently that the new principal designer role was an opportunity for architects to 鈥済et back to conducting the design orchestra鈥�. Is this an important opportunity, or is that idea of the architect as lead consultant outdated?

鈥淚 think it鈥檚 sad that it鈥檚 come to this, and I can understand members鈥� concerns and why they might be saying 鈥榯hat鈥檚 what we do already鈥�. But the reason the principal designer role has been created is because we no longer had that golden thread through the construction process anymore. And so, yes, it is an opportunity.

鈥淏ut there is a danger 鈥� because it鈥檚 another qualification and because it鈥檚 expensive 鈥� that architects are going to again let this opportunity slip, and that somebody else ends up filling this role.

鈥淏ack in 1985 I did an MSc in project management. I鈥檇 been working for Michael Hopkins and all of our projects were project managed by Bovis or Laing. So, as the architect,  you were always divorced from the actual nitty-gritty.

I鈥檇 like to get the institute in a place where it鈥檚 approaching its 200th anniversary with confidence

鈥淪o the actual management of projects was something that I knew I needed more experience of. I did a course at the South Bank and it was one of the best things I鈥檝e ever done.

鈥淏ut there were just the two architects on the course 鈥� Morley von Sternberg and me 鈥� in a sea of surveyors and developers. So, just as we let go of the project management role, there鈥檚 a real risk we will let this principal designer opportunity slide too.

鈥淚 still think the architect is the best person to be the project manager. But to be project managers 鈥� and principal designers - we have to do training and lifelong learning properly.鈥�

We interviewed Joe Morris a few weeks ago and he said that he finds the expectations on architects to push the retrofit agenda to be unrealistic because there鈥檚 no legislation to back them up when clients want to go for new build. What are your thoughts?

鈥淚 think it has always been difficult to get clients to focus on sustainability.

鈥淲e鈥檝e worked for housing developers who鈥檝e won 鈥榗lient of the year鈥� several times, but when we鈥檝e tried to get them to install triple-glazing, rather than double-glazing, they鈥檝e said, 鈥榠t鈥檚 going to cost us 拢10,000 鈥� we鈥檙e not going to do it鈥�.

鈥淚 think it鈥檚 incumbent on us to try and get them to do it and to argue for it. But it鈥檚 also incumbent on us to try and get the legislation tightened up. So, I agree with Joe Morris 鈥� it has to be done by legislation and we have to lobby for better standards.鈥�

Are you supportive of the House of Architecture programme?

鈥淚 am, I am! I love 66 Portland Place, but I would still like to see where the money鈥檚 being spent. It needs work doing to it, but it鈥檚 a hell of a lot of money. What I鈥檓 more interested in is what we鈥檙e going to get out of it. How鈥檚 it going to work for us?

鈥淚鈥檓 used to running a 拢20m business, which is what the RIBA is, and spending 拢80m is an awful lot of money for that sort of turnover. Before investing that amount, ideally, I鈥檇 have preferred to see us increase membership. I鈥檇 like to get the institute in a place where it鈥檚 approaching its 200th anniversary with confidence.

鈥淚鈥檇 like to see it in a really good place, in terms of reputation and prestige, with clients really wanting to use an RIBA architect.鈥�

How would you connect with members outside of London?

鈥淚 bought an old church in my hometown of Ilkeston, which is in the East Midlands between Nottingham and Derby. And we engaged with the East Midlands by getting 90 architecture students to look at ways to turn Ilkeston into a creative hub.

鈥淚t鈥檚 on the train line between Nottingham and Leeds and Sheffield and a lot of the industry has disappeared. So, the question we鈥檝e asked is, 鈥榟ow can you give a post-industrial town a new reason for being?鈥�

鈥淲e鈥檝e been working with Nottingham Trent University, de Montford University, and Derby. So, I鈥檓 very aware of the amazing work that there is in the regions. And the regions are just as passionate about architecture as we are in London.

鈥淲e need to give them a bit more money to be able to do their own programmes and not control everything so much from the centre.鈥�

Is there one final thing you鈥檇 like to say to members?

鈥淛ust vote. I鈥檓 trying to do as much as I can to get people interested. And what I鈥檝e said is that I would rather lose by 1,000 votes with a big turnout, than win by 100 on a low turnout.

鈥淚 hope that doesn鈥檛 happen [laughs], but I would like to see a bit more enthusiasm about the membership. From the polls that I鈥檝e taken and the people that I鈥檝e spoken to, it鈥檚 help that the members need.

鈥淭he big practices have sustainability consultants, they have business advisors, they have a legal team, but the small practices and the sole practitioners don鈥檛.

鈥淎nd that鈥檚 what the RIBA can do 鈥� we can be a family and help each other because we鈥檝e already got those skills. So I want to concentrate on developing a community. I know that it exists in the regions and that it exists internationally as well.

鈥淎nd, in order to do that, you need to have a coherent programme. Everything is connected 鈥� competitions, awards, lectures, events 鈥� and they all go together to create a brand.

鈥淚f you鈥檝e got the right leadership team, you can do the most amazing things. And if you haven鈥檛, it soon falls apart.

鈥淪o, I think that鈥檚 really important to me 鈥� to try and use this opportunity to rejuvenise the RIBA.鈥�