The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) has announced 27 new RIBA Honorary Fellows.
These are awarded every year to non-architects who have made a significant contribution to architecture.
Reflecting on the 2026 Honorary Fellows, RIBA President, Chris Williamson, said: “Congratulations to our new cohort of Honorary Fellows. It is a privilege to acknowledge 27 new Fellows this year, whose backgrounds, professions and perspectives span a remarkable breadth. From serving politicians and economists to lawyers, lecturers, artists and more, the vast range of sectors they represent underlines architecture's ability to touch each aspect of our everyday lives.
“We welcome all suggestions from our members for clients, collaborators or colleagues who deserve recognition as Honorary Fellows.”
The RIBA Honorary Fellows 2026 are:
Alan Bainbridge FRICS, Director of Workplace, BBC
Alan is a passionate advocate of the role that design can play in bringing smiles to people in the built environment, he respects the skill and expertise of design professionals. He has led the delivery of the award-winning transformational projects at MediaCityUK in Salford and a new headquarters for BBC Wales in Central Square, Cardiff.
Richard Baldwin, Director of Development at Derwent London plc
Richard believes that value through design excellence combined with positive user experience have been guiding principles through his 40-year career in the UK and Global construction market. He continues to focus on delivering high quality design led projects. He has been responsible for the successful delivery of numerous high-profile projects collaborating with many notable architects.
Fahad Bin Mohammed Al-Attiyah
Fahad Bin Mohammed Al-Attiyah is considered a leading expert on food security in dry lands. He has held the role of government legal counsel, food security planner, organiser of UNFCCC-COP18, and a diplomat. He founded Caravane Earth Foundation to support local communities all over the world which aims to promote social, cultural, and ecological transformation in the space of Architecture, Agriculture, Textiles, and creativity.
Nicholas Boys-Smith MBE
Nicholas is the founder and chair of Create Streets and a visiting professor of architecture at the University of Strathclyde. Create Streets is an award-winning social enterprise which pioneers methods of research, master-planning, design coding and community co-design. Nicholas was co-chair of the Building Better Building Beautiful Commission and chair of the Office for Place. Between 2016 and 2022 he was a Commissioner of Historic England.
Pamela Buxton, Journalist and Editor
Pamela has been immersed in architecture and design publications for all her working life. Spells at Designers’ Journal and Design Week were followed by a move into architectural journalism at Building Design. As a freelance journalist, she has contributed to a wide variety of trade, consumer and national publications including RIBA Journal, The Guardian’s Space supplement, Blueprint, Time Out, Grand Designs Magazine, Elle Decoration and Crafts magazine.
Tom Copley, Deputy Mayor of London for Housing and Residential Development
Tom has demonstrated a steadfast commitment to making London a fairer place to live and is a vital force in addressing the city’s housing crisis. As the Deputy Mayor of London for Housing and Residential Development, he has tackled the core issues with determination and a deep understanding of the complexities involved. His leadership has seen the implementation of the "Building Council Homes for Londoners" programme, an initiative that has provided crucial funding to local councils, enabling the construction of new, affordable homes.
Andy Downey BEng (Hons), CEng MIStructE Main Board Director, Elliott Wood
Andy is a Chartered Engineer and Director of Elliott Wood. With over 35 years’ experience in engineering, he continues to value the challenge and craft of designing and building. His work focuses on how engineering can support better architecture. He works closely with clients and architects to test ideas and develop solutions that are robust, elegant and purposeful. He values the process of making, with equal respect for traditional materials and skills and for digital tools and emerging technologies.
Theodore Gamble, Managing Director Prescott Holdings, LLC
Ted Gamble is Co-Founder and a Managing Director of Prescott Holdings, LLC, a globally focused group of investment and financial service entities that undertake property investment, asset management, and investment banking activities. He has served as a senior member of multiple financial and real estate industry organizations such as the Urban Land Institute as well as a director or trustee of various corporate and non-profit entities.
Samantha Hardingham, independent architectural designer, writer, curator, scholar and educator
Samantha’s research is in experimental design practices. The generation of both form and content of publications and exhibitions are central to her methodology. Notable projects include devising of the pocket architecture guides with ellipsis, the Supercrit series events and publications at the University of Westminster and the design and production of a 400m2 inflatable touring theatre building for children. She was Interim Director at the AA from 2017-2018, and Academic Director at the London School of Architecture 2021-2024.
Dr Roger Harrabin, former BBC Environment Analyst, now Hon Fellow St Catharine’s College, Cambridge.
Roger has pioneered reporting on energy and the environment, via his time at the BBC. His articles have helped to bring the issue of embodied emissions into the mainstream media. In 2022 he helped to initiate the RIBA Reinvention Award, celebrating outstanding examples of buildings that promote retro-fitting, reduce waste, and reuse materials.
Charles Wheelton Hind, Curator
Charles has always regarded architectural history as key to understanding and developing the built environment in a way that is economically realistic as well as conservation-friendly. He has championed the use of the RIBA’s visual collections to children, students and architects through teaching, lecturing and writing. He has had a varied career working in the British Library, Sotheby’s, and as an architecture editor before becoming Curator of Drawings at the RIBA in 1996 and later Chief Curator.
Will Hurst, Journalist and Campaigner
Will is an award-winning architecture and construction journalist and campaigner. He has played a pioneering role in promoting the reuse of existing buildings and materials. In 2018, he focused the Architects’ Journal on the climate crisis and spearheaded the AJ RetroFirst campaign. More recently, Hurst co-founded voluntary group Don’t Waste Buildings.
Stella Ioannou, Founding Director, LACUNA
Stella launched LACUNA in 2010 to realise visionary public art projects and events. Stella is Artistic Director of Sculpture in the City, having delivered 162 artworks by 137 artists to date. Stella was Founding Deputy Director of the London Festival of Architecture (2003-2007) and in 2021 joined the Lord Mayor’s Culture and Commerce Task Force. She joined the New London Architecture (NLA) Expert Panel on Culture in 2026.
Tom Nancollas MSc, FSA, Assistant Director (Design) at the City of London Corporation
Tom oversees the design of all new buildings as part of the City’s award-winning planning service. Promoting the importance of stellar, charismatic architecture in City placemaking, striving for and securing both inherent design quality and the conservation and enhancement of the City’s seminal heritage assets and archaeology. Tom has additionally written widely on Britain’s marine history and naval architecture, his publications include Seashaken Houses (2018) and The Ship Asunder (2022).
Lara Newman MBE, Chief Executive, LocatED Property Ltd
For over 25 years Lara has been dedicated to transforming how property intertwines with community. Her career spans all major government education capital programmes since 2000 including BSF, academies, and free schools, contributing to the delivery or improvement of well over 1,000 schools. As founding Chief Executive of LocatED, she has driven innovative approaches including creative use of constrained sites and the sensitive repurposing of heritage buildings.
Murray Orr, RIBA Trustee
A 40-year career investment banker with a keen interest in architecture, Murray joined the first RIBA Board of Trustees as an external non-architect member in 2020. He has supported and contributed to many key developments during his six-year term, including overseeing the sale of the remaining NBS shares, which laid the groundwork for establishing and structuring the RIBA investment fund.
Lorenzo Pandolfi, Director of Logic Planning
Lorenzo is the founding Director of Logic Planning, a London-based planning consultancy advising developers, investors and organisations on unlocking value on residential, commercial and mixed-use projects across England. He founded and leads FORMA, a London-based network that connects architects, designers and real estate professionals with the wider British industry.
Alicia Pivaro, Activist and Artist
Alicia is an educator, community and climate activist, and artist with 35 years of experience working in the built environment sector, creating projects and communicating ideas about architecture and cities through a range of media to a wide audience. Alicia has held several key positions at leading organisations including the Arts Council, the Design Council, RIBA and the Architecture Foundation developing and funding projects that engaged the public and diverse voices in architecture.
Edi Rama, Prime Minister of Albania
Edi Rama entered politics in the capacity of the Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports, in 1998. During his tenure he won the support and appreciation of the Albanian public for his creative and efficient ways of promoting art and culture in Albania. He set off on a campaign aimed at transforming and regenerating the capital city by restoring public spaces and increasing green areas, while instilling a new spirit and vision in the administration of the Capital. In June 2013 he became Prime Minister.
Kate Raworth, co-founder of Doughnut Economics Action Lab
Kate Raworth is an ecological economist and author of the internationally best-selling book Doughnut Economics: seven ways to think like a 21st century economist. Through her work with the Doughnut Economics Action Lab (DEAL), she has collaborated with architects, urban designers, and policymakers to explore how cities and buildings can operate within ecological limits while meeting essential social needs.
Professor Matthaios Santamouris, Distinguished Professor of High Performance Architecture at the University of New South Wales (UNSW), Sydney
Professor Mat Santamouris’ research focuses on the energy and environmental performance of the built environment, with particular emphasis on urban climate mitigation and adaptation technologies, passive and hybrid cooling of buildings, intelligent energy management, indoor environmental quality, and advanced building materials. He has served as Professor at the University of Athens, Greece, and has held Visiting Professorships at ten leading institutions worldwide.
Marjorie Strachan, RIBA Trustee
Marjorie has 35 years’ experience leading transformation across the private and public sectors, both as a consultant and as an industry practitioner. Raised in Africa, she developed an early appreciation for place and context, seeing first-hand how culture, landscape, and the built environment shape communities, opportunity, and economic outcomes—an influence that continues to inform her professional perspective today.
Alison Watson, MBE
Alison is a former land surveyor and the founder and Chief Executive of award-winning education consultancy and social enterprise ‘Class Of Your Own’, established in 2009. Alison is working with inspirational educators to encourage children and young people to join ‘Team Construction’, leveraging once-in-a-lifetime opportunities to work alongside industry AEC professionals while they’re still in school. She created the innovative “Design Engineer Construct!” (DEC) accredited learning programme for secondary school students, supported by world-leading companies, professional bodies and universities through the groundbreaking 'Adopt A School' scheme.
Steve Webb, Engineer
Steve founded Webb Yates Engineers with Andy Yates in 2005. Since founding the company, he has led several prestigious, multi award-winning projects, including the Stirling Prize shortlisted 15 Clerkenwell Close, The Kantor Centre of Excellence for the Anna Freud Centre, and the Hoover Building. While thriving to make building structures intrinsic to architecture, Steve has pioneered the practice’s approach to innovation and sustainability.
David Worthington, Designer
David is a life-long designer with experience in international and national branding and retail projects. He ran his own practice for twenty years, before merging it with Conran Design Group, which he led for a further decade. More recently he chaired Holmes & Marchant, the design brand of MSQ Partners alongside continuing to run his own consultancy.
Farhana Yamin, Lawyer
Farhana Yamin is an international lawyer, published author and climate justice activist who has advised vulnerable countries in UN climate talks for over 30 years. She played a key role in the negotiation of the 1997 Kyoto Protocol as well the 2015 Paris Agreement ensuring it contained the goal of net-zero emissions, an idea she put forward in 2013. Her work has earned her numerous accolades & awards, including being named No. 2 on the BBC’s 2020 Power List, where judges described her as a “powerhouse of climate justice.”
Dr Wei Yang OBE FAcSS FRTPI MCIHT CEO, Digital Task Force for Planning, and Chair, Wei Yang & Partners
Dr Wei Yang OBE is an internationally renowned town planner and urban designer who champions a place-based, whole-systems approach to tackling the grand challenges of our time. Wei is Co-Founder and CEO of the Digital Task Force for Planning, the world’s first innovation-led social enterprise pioneering the systemic transformation of spatial planning in the digital era, and Chair of Wei Yang & Partners, an award-winning masterplanning practice based in London. Actively promoting joined-up thinking across professions, Wei served as Chair of the Construction Industry Council from 2023 to 2025 and as President of the Royal Town Planning Institute in 2021.
