{"id":422403,"date":"2026-02-12T21:06:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-12T21:06:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/422403\/"},"modified":"2026-02-12T21:06:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-12T21:06:09","slug":"duncan-baker-brown-eyeing-second-run-at-riba-presidency","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/422403\/","title":{"rendered":"Duncan Baker-Brown eyeing second run at RIBA presidency"},"content":{"rendered":"

In a comment piece<\/a> published exclusively by the AJ today, the 61-year-old architect said he was \u2018giving serious thought to running\u2019 in this year\u2019s election. If victorious, he would take over from incumbent president Chris Williamson when his term ends in 2027.<\/p>\n

If Baker-Brown does throw his hat into the ring \u2013 a decision the AJ understands is based on whether he feels he has enough support \u2013 it will be the second time the academic, architect and founder of East Sussex-based BakerBrown Studio has stood for the RIBA\u2019s top elected role.<\/p>\n

Currently the postgraduate course leader for MArch architecture at the University of Brighton, Baker-Brown previously ran against Williamson and Funmbi Adeagbo<\/a> in the 2024 election, eventually losing narrowly<\/a> to the Weston Williamson + Partners founder.<\/p>\n

In his article, Baker-Brown described the current professional and academic landscape as an \u2018extraordinary moment to be in architecture\u2019, adding that to call \u2018this a period of change\u2019 felt like an understatement.<\/p>\n

Given this \u2018once\u2011in\u2011a\u2011generation chance to reshape the profession\u2019, Baker-Brown said, \u2018I\u2019m giving serious thought to running for RIBA president in June. Last time around, I was defeated by just 110 votes.<\/p>\n

\u2018Perhaps it\u2019s time for a small\u2011practice director, postgraduate course leader, and regular RIBA representative at UN COPs to step forward.\u2019<\/p>\n

Baker-Brown said his presidency would \u2018differ considerably\u2019 from Williamson\u2019s, arguing that as a small\u2011practice director, he understood \u2018the same pressures and uncertainties as most RIBA members\u2019.<\/p>\n

He also took a swipe at Williamson\u2019s recent, headline-grabbing<\/a> Loop high-speed rail proposal for the UK, which the current president said had been inspired by the mammoth ambitions of Saudi Arabia\u2019s 170km-long Line scheme.<\/p>\n

\u2018I won\u2019t champion vast, outdated, high\u2011carbon megaprojects such as the Line,\u2019 Baker-Brown said.<\/p>\n

The architect, who worked at Rick Mather Architects before setting up his own Lewes-based studio in 1994, said that \u2018for decades\u2019 architects had lost ground to contractors, developers and other consultants who had absorbed key roles.<\/p>\n

However he said: \u2018[The] proposed Single Construction Regulator (SCR) could help shift this by unifying oversight of professionals, safety, products and digital regulation. With ARB and RIBA involvement, the SCR could finally define and protect the role of the architect.\u2019<\/p>\n

Baker-Brown is co-chair of the RIBA\u2019s Climate Action Expert Advisory Group and sustainability champion for the proposed \u00a358.8 million retrofit of the institute\u2019s 66 Portland Place headquarters in London, a key plank of the wider House of Architecture<\/a> programme.<\/p>\n

Nominations to become president, and for other roles in the RIBA elections, officially open on April 1 and close on April 15. Voting opens on 15 June.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In a comment piece published exclusively by the AJ today, the 61-year-old architect said he was \u2018giving serious…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":422404,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[6225,6485,6486,146035,1120,155471,96,86176,155472,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-422403","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-chris-williamson","tag-design","tag-duncan-baker-brown","tag-entertainment","tag-riba","tag-riba-president","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/422403","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=422403"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/422403\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/422404"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=422403"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=422403"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=422403"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}