Tentang
Our directory allows housing developers and lead architects to find the right architecture practices for their projects, based on criteria which matter to them.
Public authorities of various kinds buy architectural services for the design of new housing to the tune of c. £40m/year in London and 4-5 times that in the UK as a whole. Private sector developers are likely to be spending around twice that in London. All developers are currently not able to see the full gamut of practices who can design housing, and public sector formal procurement processes seek bids 'blindly' via the Find a Tender process. Whilst the authorities will get expressions of interest from a number of practices, there is no easy way to quickly see what the practices are capable of without going to each firm's website, which is time-consuming.
There is an increasing emphasis on social value in procurement, and the relevant data about the supply chain is not currently visible to the market. Private sector developers want to easily see practices who they might bring to a public sector opportunity, by seeing who is local, and/or representative of a local demographic.
Architects do not currently report on inclusivity stats and should be encouraged to do so and thus to improve the diversity of their workforce.
Purpose of Directory
Improving the quality of new homes
Enabling housing developers of all kinds to make better choices of architects and thus drive a better quality built environment
Visibility of whole supply chain
Helping local authorities and housing associations as well as housing developers 'see' the architectural supplier market in one place, and use relevant filters to narrow down the suppliers
Visibility of profession statistics
Showing collective and individual supplier stats to the profession itself as well as clients and government
Promotion of best practice public procurement
Showing procurement tips to the public sector
Promotion of SME suppliers
Giving visibility to smaller firms who aren't on people's radar
Promotion of Equality and Diversity
Encouraging architecture practices to value diversity and inclusion in their workforce
About Chemistry
The Architect Directory was started by Chemistry Team.
Chemistry set up Municipal in 2016 to help visionary public land owners achieve better quality homes on their land. Her clients include several London boroughs, Housing Associations and Homes England.
The directory allows public and private housing developers to choose the right practices for their projects, based on criteria which matter to them. We hope that the directory will also encourage the architectural profession to continue to diversify their staff so that our built environment is authored by many hands.