Richard Gilbert Saxon

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(born 14 April 1942) is an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs, and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

. He was chairman of

Building Design Partnership Building Design Partnership Ltd, doing business as BDP, is a firm of architects and engineers employing over 900 staff in the United Kingdom and internationally. History BDP was founded in 1961 by George Grenfell-Baines with architects Bill Whit ...

(BDP), chairman of BE (a fore-runner of

Constructing Excellence Constructing Excellence is a United Kingdom construction industry membership organisation created in 2003, the only such which draws its member organisations from across the industry supply chain, ranging from clients, through contractors and cons ...

), a vice-president of the

Royal Institute of British Architects The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) is a professional body for architects primarily in the United Kingdom, but also internationally, founded for the advancement of architecture under its royal charter granted in 1837, three suppl ...

(2002-2008), Master of the

Worshipful Company of Chartered Architects The Worshipful Company of Chartered Architects is the 98th Livery Company of the City of London. The company was established in 1984, was granted Livery status in 1988 and received a Royal Charter in 2019. The Company promotes quality architectur ...

(2005-2006), president of the

British Council for Offices British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and cultur ...

(1995-1996) and Chairman of the Joint Contracts Tribunal (JCT 2015-2021). He was awarded

in 2001 for services to British

architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and construction, constructi ...

and

construction Construction are processes involved in delivering buildings, infrastructure, industrial facilities, and associated activities through to the end of their life. It typically starts with planning, financing, and design that continues until the a ...

Career

Saxon trained as an architect at the University of Liverpool and joined BDP in Manchester as a graduate, becoming an associate in 1970 and a partner in 1977. He headed the firm's London office from 1991 to 1999, and served as group chairman (1996-2002). He is now principal at Consultancy for the Built Environment, a client and business adviser. Projects upon which Saxon worked (and associated awards) include: *

Halifax Building Society Halifax (previously known as Halifax Building Society and colloquially known as The Halifax) is a British banking brand operating as a trading division of Bank of Scotland, itself a wholly owned subsidiary of Lloyds Banking Group. It is named ...

headquarters (1975 - British Council for Offices Award 2000)(listed Grade 2, 2013) *

Durham Durham most commonly refers to: *Durham, England, a cathedral city in north east England **County Durham, a ceremonial county which includes Durham *Durham, North Carolina, a city in North Carolina, United States Durham may also refer to: Places ...

Milburngate Centre (1978 winner of Europa Nostra medal and

Civic Trust Award The Civic Trust Awards scheme is a British awards scheme to recognise outstanding architecture, planning and design in the built environment. It was established in 1959, and is the longest-standing built environment awards scheme in Europe. The ...

) *

Merseyside Maritime Museum The Merseyside Maritime Museum is a museum based in the city of Liverpool, Merseyside Merseyside ( ) is a ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial and metropolitan county in North West England. It borders Lancashire to the north, Greater M ...

Masterplan (1981 Civic Trust commendation) *London headquarters of

J P Morgan John Pierpont Morgan Sr. (April 17, 1837 – March 31, 1913) was an American financier and investment banker who dominated corporate finance on Wall Street throughout the Gilded Age and Progressive Era. As the head of the banking firm that ...

(1986-1991 - winner of New City Architecture award in 1993) *

Paddington Basin Paddington Basin is the name given to a long canal basin, and its surrounding area, in Paddington, London. The basin commences 500 m south of the junction known as Little Venice, of the Regent's Canal and the Paddington Arm of the Grand ...

redevelopment (1989-1992)(unbuilt) *

All England Lawn Tennis Club The All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club (AELTC), also known as the All England Club, based at Church Road, Wimbledon, London, England, is a Gentlemen's club, private members' club. It is best known as the venue for the Wimbledon Championsh ...

masterplan and redevelopment,

Wimbledon, London Wimbledon () is a suburb of southwest London, England, southwest of Charing Cross; it is the main commercial centre of the London Borough of Merton. Wimbledon had a population of 68,189 in 2011 which includes the electoral wards of Abbey, Wimb ...

(1992-1995 - Civic Trust commendation in 1998 for No 1 Court) *Adam Opel AG Headquarters, Rüsselsheim

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

(1993–97) RIBA Award, 1998.

Industry change

Saxon has been active in various industry organisations, particularly those promoting more collaborative approaches to project delivery. For example, he was a member and - from 1999-2002 - chairman of the Reading Construction Forum, which played a key role during the late 1990s in applying the recommendations of the 1994 Latham and 1998

Egan Report The Egan Report, titled ''Rethinking Construction'', was an influential report on the UK construction industry produced by an industry task force chaired by Sir John Egan, published in November 1998.Egan, J. (1998) ''Rethinking Construction: Repor ...

s. He was also involved with the Design Build Foundation (1997-2002) and BE: Collaborating for the Built Environment (2002-2005); the RCF and DBF merged in October 2002 to form BE, and BE merged in 2005 into Constructing Excellence. In addition, Saxon was chairman of the Good Practice Panel of the Construction Industry Board (1996-1999), a member of the

Strategic Forum for Construction The Strategic Forum for Construction is a United Kingdom construction industry organisation established in 2001 as the principal point of liaison between UK government and the major construction membership organisations. It also enables different r ...

(2001-2002), and a member of the executive board of the

Construction Industry Council Construction Industry Council may refer to: * Construction Industry Council (Hong Kong) * Construction Industry Council (United Kingdom) Construction Industry Council (CIC) is the representative forum for professional bodies, research organisati ...

(CIC) (2006-2014). He chaired the Value Task Group of the

Construction Research and Innovation Strategy Panel The Construction Research and Innovation Strategy Panel (CRISP) was an initiative established in 1995 to identify and prioritise the research needs of the construction industry of the United Kingdom. It operated through a series of Task Groups, ea ...

and subsequently wrote the Constructing Excellence report ''Be Valuable'' (2005). After being the inaugural Povey Lecturer for the Joint Contracts Tribunal in 2003, he was elected Chairman of JCT from 2015 to 2021. He was a regular contributor to the

Interdisciplinary Design for the Built Environment The Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL), formerly the Cambridge Programme for Sustainability Leadership and the Cambridge Programme for Industry, is part of the University of Cambridge. The institute works with leaders to ...

masters programme at Cambridge University and contributed a chapter on Changing Construction Culture to a book based around papers given on the course edited by

Sebastian Macmillan Sebastian may refer to: People and fictional characters * Sebastian (name), including a list of persons and fictional characters with the name * Saint Sebastian, a Christian saint martyred in the 3rd century * Sebastian of Portugal (1554–1578 ...

and others. In August 2012, he was appointed as a BIM 'Ambassador for Growth' to join the CIC and the UK government's

Building Information Modelling Building information modeling (BIM) is an approach involving the generation and management of digital representations of the physical and functional characteristics of buildings or other physical assets and facilities. BIM is supported by vario ...

Steering Group to look at how the UK can achieve economic growth by exploiting its BIM success. This continued his involvement with BIM; he was a member of the BIS Low Carbon Construction Innovation and Growth Team which produced the key 2010 report''Low Carbon Construction''
(accessed 30 January 2012) recommending government adoption of BIM - an initiative carried forward by the government's Chief construction adviser

Paul Morrell Paul Dring Morrell (born 28 February 1948) is an English chartered quantity surveyor. Formerly senior partner of Davis Langdon, he was, from November 2009 to November 2012, the UK Government's first Chief Construction Adviser, and was later a ...

. Saxon produced a report for government on Growth through BIM, published by the CIC in 2013, followed by a guidebook 'BIM for Construction Clients', published by NBS in 2016 and a further, concise guide 'Going Digital' for the UK BIM Alliance in 2018. In addition to ''Be Valuable'', Saxon has also written about architectural subjects including atrium buildings, client advice, and the design of the

City of London The City of London, also known as ''the City'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county and Districts of England, local government district with City status in the United Kingdom, city status in England. It is the Old town, his ...

(Saxon was appointed a Freeman and Liveryman of the City of London in 1988). He is also the author of numerous magazine articles, gathered on his website saxoncbe.com

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saxon, Richard Living people Alumni of the University of Liverpool Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Architects from London 1942 births