19 Best Architecture Firms in the United Kingdom

The United Kingdom is a treasure trove of architectural gems, with diverse buildings across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The four countries that make up the larger sovereign state each have their own unique history, which plays out in an architecturally unique way. So while London-based firms may be more heavily represented in ranked lists, many of the designers working in the city’s offices come from further afield, bringing knowledge and culture from more distant parts of the islands.

Indeed, the United Kingdom’s strength is the sum of its parts. Firms commissioned with projects in the state’s more rural areas are forging a uniquely modern rural aesthetic. At the same time, growing cities in the north and south alike have served as fertile ground for new civic designs. As a result, more established and younger UK firms alike are finding ways to design more sensitive to context and typologically innovative.

With so many architecture firms to choose from, it’s challenging for clients to identify the industry leaders that will be an ideal fit for their project needs. Fortunately, Architizer is able to provide guidance on the top design firms in United Kingdom based on more than a decade of data and industry knowledge.

How are these architecture firms ranked?

The following ranking has been created according to key statistics that demonstrate each firm’s level of architectural excellence. The following metrics have been accumulated to establish each architecture firm’s ranking, in order of priority:

• The number of A+Awards won (2013 to 2022)
• The number of A+Awards finalists (2013 to 2022)
• The number of projects selected as “Project of the Day” (2009 to 2022)
• The number of projects selected as “Featured Project” (2009 to 2022)
• The number of projects uploaded to Architizer (2009 to 2022)

Each of these metrics is explained in more detail at the foot of this article. This ranking list will be updated annually, taking into account new achievements of United Kingdom architecture firms throughout the year.

Without further ado, here are the 24 best architecture firms in United Kingdom:

19. Alex Sutton

Some of Alex Sutton’s most prominent projects include:

The following statistics helped Alex Sutton achieve 19th place in the 25 Best Architecture Firms in United Kingdom:

18. Eva Sopeoglou | architecture

© Mariana Bisti

‘Eva Sopeoglou | architecture’ is a London-based and Greece-based professional practice and research studio. It offers an expertise at the architectural and urban scale in environmental design and sustainability. It pursues a creative engagement with technology, materials and fabrication. The work has received national and international acclaim, awards and research grants, and has been published and exhibited internationally.

Some of Eva Sopeoglou | architecture’s most prominent projects include:

The following statistics helped Eva Sopeoglou | architecture achieve 18th place in the 25 Best Architecture Firms in United Kingdom:

17. Orms

© Orms

We create an architecture that seeks to elevate the human experience through insight, collaboration, and design integrity. We bring meaningful solutions to urban life, creating modern structures of clarity, beauty and rigour, delivering a real and positive impact on people’s lives. At Orms we believe that true innovation is not only in form, but in method. So, we listen. To clients, to each other and to the individuals that live and work in our buildings. We like to start conversations, to educate and encourage debate, ensuring every voice is heard and this insight informs our process, it is embedded into our designs and realised in our structures.

Some of Orms’s most prominent projects include:

The following statistics helped Orms achieve 17th place in the 25 Best Architecture Firms in United Kingdom:

16. Studio Egret West

© Studio Egret West

We make memorable places that surprise and delight.

Some of Studio Egret West’s most prominent projects include:

• Plus X, Brighton, United Kingdom

The following statistics helped Studio Egret West achieve 16th place in the 25 Best Architecture Firms in United Kingdom:

15. Daniele Petteno Architecture Workshop

DPAW is a team of architects and interior designers that works on a variety of residential, cultural and commercial projects in UK and Europe. Based in London and in Venice (Italy), our practice specialises in the design of contextualised and fully bespoke luxury homes and interiors, residential developments, cultural/community centres and facilities, and commercial/mixed-use settlements.

We built our reputation on a range of successful projects, developing our experience year after year and learning from project to project. Our multidisciplinary and multicultural backgrounds allow us to work with different countries and environments, for very diversified needs and requirements, and regularly collaborating with a network of locally based experienced consultants.

Our architecture is contemporary, highly energy efficient and environmentally friendly.

Some of Daniele Petteno Architecture Workshop’s most prominent projects include:

• Linear & Square, London, United Kingdom
• BW Villa, South of London, United Kingdom
• Olympia Loft, London, United Kingdom
• Terraced House in Fulham – Open Living, London, United Kingdom
• CR Apartment, London, United Kingdom

The following statistics helped Daniele Petteno Architecture Workshop achieve 15th place in the 25 Best Architecture Firms in United Kingdom:

14. PiM.studio Architects

We are PiM.studio, a London-based team of Architects with a global outlook, fresh ideas and big ambitions. We work on architecture, urban design and beyond. We go beyond what is expected of us in everything we do. We’ve lived and worked in many different places – Italy, France, Japan, China, the Netherlands, the US, Switzerland, the UK – and this has given us broad horizons and a perspective unhampered by preconceptions. Our minds are open, and we believe that almost anything is possible. We also feel strongly that the very best buildings sit happily in their context. Place is always our starting point. We love the feeling of arriving at a new site – in a new city or even a new country – and seeing it with fresh eyes.

Some of PiM.studio Architects’s most prominent projects include:

• A Second Life Exhibition, London, London, United Kingdom
• Woodland RA exhibition, Royal Academy, London, London, United Kingdom
• Massimo De Carlo Pièce Unique, Paris, Paris, France
• Spinning Climate Change – Les Jardins de Métis / Reford Gardens
• St Paul’s Wild Hanging Garden, London, United Kingdom

The following statistics helped PiM.studio Architects achieve 14th place in the 25 Best Architecture Firms in United Kingdom:

13. FORM studio (previously FORM design architecture)

© FORM studio (previously FORM design architecture)

Architecture has the power to transform environments and quality of life. FORM studio aims to create places that can be inhabited and experienced by people in a natural and instinctive way. Enjoyable places with a tranquil sense of simplicity, which create a supportive and uplifting backdrop for life.

Individual solutions are developed for our clients which are an intelligent, inventive and sustainable response to the complex matrix of issues that shapes each project. Solutions with a lucidity and apparent simplicity which belie their underlying complexity.

Listening, analysis, discussion and clarification are at the heart of an inclusive approach that recognises the fact that some of the best ideas are generated in the space between people rather than by individuals.

Some of FORM studio (previously FORM design architecture)’s most prominent projects include:

• Narrow House, Covent Garden, London, United Kingdom
• Flatiron House, London, United Kingdom
• Artillery Mansions, London, United Kingdom
• Bermondsey Wall Duplex Penthouse, Greater London, England, United Kingdom
• Benbow Yard, London, United Kingdom

The following statistics helped FORM studio (previously FORM design architecture) achieve 13th place in the 25 Best Architecture Firms in United Kingdom:

12. Brisac Gonzalez Architects

© Brisac Gonzalez Architects

Brisac Gonzalez is a multi-lingual and multi-national architecture firm established in London in 1999 by Cecile Brisac and Edgar Gonzalez. We are concerned with all things architectural in the broadest sense, be it urban or interior design, cultural, commercial buildings, or sociological matters. We work by collaborating with our clients and challenging the conventional to create outstanding architecture, better places to live and work, and greater value in the built environment.

Instead of producing repetitive designs, our work evolves from rigorous working methods that include collaboration with specialist consultants, comprehensive research of our projects sites, extensive use of three-dimensional studies, and most importantly responding to our client needs. By working on a variety of building types in numerous locations we continuously enrich the knowledge in our practice and the buildings we produce.

Some of Brisac Gonzalez Architects’s most prominent projects include:

The following statistics helped Brisac Gonzalez Architects achieve 12th place in the 25 Best Architecture Firms in United Kingdom:

11. bureau de change

Bureau de Change is an award winning architecture practice founded by architects Katerina Dionysopoulou and Billy Mavropoulos. Its work is a direct product of the founders’ upbringing, passions and experiences – combining the pragmatism and formality of their architectural training with a desire to bring a sense of theatre, playfulness and innovation to the design of spaces, products and environments. The result is a studio where rigorous thinking and analysis are brought to life through prototyping, testing and making.

Some of bureau de change’s most prominent projects include:

• Folds House, London, United Kingdom
• Slab House, London, United Kingdom
• Step House, London, United Kingdom
• Long House, Cirencester, United Kingdom
• Frame House, London, United Kingdom

The following statistics helped bureau de change achieve 11th place in the 25 Best Architecture Firms in United Kingdom:

10. Michaelis Boyd

© DOOK Photography

Michaelis Boyd is a design-led architectural practice with a uniquely creative approach that challenges and develops a client’s brief to create elegant, effective and rewarding solutions. Our ultimate goal is to ensure that each scheme functions in the best possible manner, in terms of flow, light and space.

Some of Michaelis Boyd ‘s most prominent projects include:

• Brewdog Clapham, London, United Kingdom
• Sandibe Okavango Safari Lodge, North West, Botswana
• The Groucho Club, Dean Street, London, United Kingdom
• Battersea Power Station : Residential Interior Architecture, London, United Kingdom
• Arijiju, Kenya

The following statistics helped Michaelis Boyd achieve 10th place in the 25 Best Architecture Firms in United Kingdom:

9. Patel Taylor

© Patel Taylor

Patel Taylor is an award-winning architectural practice, responsible for projects that range in size from city planning to private residences, and everything in between. We have a proven track record in designing exemplary residential, mixed-use and workplace developments, as well as educational and cultural buildings. The practice is currently working on some of the largest urban regeneration schemes in the UK.

Some of Patel Taylor’s most prominent projects include:

• Athletes’ Village, London, United Kingdom
• Essex University Silberrad Student Centre, Colchester, United Kingdom
• Eastside City Park, Birmingham, United Kingdom
• London Dock, London, United Kingdom
• Courtyard Housing, Barking, United Kingdom

The following statistics helped Patel Taylor achieve 9th place in the 25 Best Architecture Firms in United Kingdom:

8. Knight Architects

© Edmund Sumner

Knight Architects is an extraordinary architectural practice specialising in the design of bridges and infrastructure. We have brought architectural excellence and design creativity to infrastructure since 2006, generating value for communities and recognition for our clients.

Through intelligent design and proactive collaboration with the world’s leading engineers, we create memorable and distinctive landmarks as well as understated structures which embody the ‘beautiful ordinary’.

Some of Knight Architects’s most prominent projects include:

• Kienlesbergbrücke, Ulm, Germany
• Merchant Square Footbridge, London, United Kingdom
• Taplow Bridge, Taplow, United Kingdom
• Ordsall Chord, Manchester, United Kingdom
• Marple Aqueduct, Marple, United Kingdom

The following statistics helped Knight Architects achieve 8th place in the 25 Best Architecture Firms in United Kingdom:

7. Mamou-Mani ltd

Mamou-Mani helps people and companies create inspiring spaces and products. We are an award-winning RIBA chartered practice based in London, UK. We provide architectural, computational design, visual merchandising and fabrication services including workshops, private software classes, digital and physical modelling (laser-cutting, 3D Printing, CNC-milling) and rendering. We like challenges, collaborative work and beautiful designs. We are open to any ideas and opportunities.

Some of Mamou-Mani ltd’s most prominent projects include:

• Wooden Waves, London, United Kingdom
• The Fitting Room Origami Tree, Shanghai Shi, China
• Cloud Capsule, London, United Kingdom
• Food Ink 3D Printing Restaurant, London, United Kingdom
• Xintiandi 3D Printing Pop-up Studio, Shanghai, China

The following statistics helped Mamou-Mani ltd achieve 7th place in the 25 Best Architecture Firms in United Kingdom:

6. Bennetts Associates

© Bennetts Associates

Bennetts Associates creates sustainable and enduring architecture. As one of the UK’s leading practices, their diverse portfolio has been celebrated with more than 150 awards over 30 years and covers education, cultural and workplace projects in both the public and private sector, ranging from masterplans to small historic buildings. They are an employee-owned trust of 70 people with studios in London, Edinburgh and Manchester, and have recently earned Building Design’s Higher Education Architect of the Year 2019 Award.

Bennetts Associates also leads in their field in sustainability – in April 2019 they became the world’s first architects to secure Science Based Target approval and commit to the UN’s Climate Neutral Now campaign.

Some of Bennetts Associates’s most prominent projects include:

• Bennetts Associates’ London Studio, London, United Kingdom
• London Fruit and Wool Exchange, London, United Kingdom
• Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon, United Kingdom
• New Street Square, London, United Kingdom
• Syggrou Office Complex, Athens, Greece

The following statistics helped Bennetts Associates achieve 6th place in the 25 Best Architecture Firms in United Kingdom:

5. Tim Greatrex Architect

© Nathan Gallagher

Tim Greatrex Architect, founded in 2013, is a design and architecture studio based in London. The practice started from a passion for the unique history of London’s buildings and works sensitively to adapt them to today’s commercial, retail and domestic uses.

At the heart of the work is a commitment to addressing the context, history, ambition and timescale of each project to generate a considered and elegant design. Tim enjoys collaborating with other designers and working closely with clients, consultants and suppliers to achieve the ideal solution. The studio is currently working on a range of projects from residential to exhibition design and commercial / retail commissions.

The practice utilises the latest 3D modelling software, Revit Architecture (BIM), providing the highest quality of service through coordinated architectural drawings, 3D visualisations and material quantities, of project information at all stages.

Some of Tim Greatrex Architect’s most prominent projects include:

The following statistics helped Tim Greatrex Architect achieve 5th place in the 25 Best Architecture Firms in United Kingdom:

4. Wolfgang Buttress

© Wolfgang Buttress

Wolfgang Buttress creates simple, elegant and contextual sculptures which seek to define and celebrate a sense of place. Stepping out of the cacophony of the modern world, the artworks seek to establish a connection to something timeless and elemental. Increasingly, he has drawn inspiration from nature, collaborating with experts to explore and interpret scientific discoveries. Such collaborations enable something of the timeless mystery of nature to transpose into art.
Elegance is achieved through integrated structural analysis, allowing the sculptures to be refined and reduced to an essential form.

Some of Wolfgang Buttress’s most prominent projects include:

The following statistics helped Wolfgang Buttress achieve 4th place in the 25 Best Architecture Firms in United Kingdom:

3. Atelier Chang Ltd

© Kyungsub Shin

Atelier Chang is an international design praxis based in South Kensington, London and Zurich since 2011. Our design philosophy is to create innovative design through focusing on the unembellished basics – basics of nature, social behaviour, and urban phenomena. To achieve this absolute simplicity of content through impactful forms takes extra effort in researching the context, a devotion to material and technology, and active interaction with other industries. Currently we work on projects in Asia and Europe at multiple scales of design, covering master plans, architecture, interior design, installations, and products.

Some of Atelier Chang Ltd’s most prominent projects include:

The following statistics helped Atelier Chang Ltd achieve 3rd place in the 25 Best Architecture Firms in United Kingdom:

2. Arup Architecture

© Arup Architecture

Arup Associates is the architecture practice of Arup. Set up in 1963 and underpinned by Ove Arup’s belief that built space will be inspirational when all of its components work in harmony, our holistic design approach integrates expertise from the diverse range of specialists and the amassed body of knowledge across Arup. The practice has repeatedly won awards for our projects on the basis of the exceptional standards that they set.

Some of Arup Architecture’s most prominent projects include:

The following statistics helped Arup Architecture achieve 2nd place in the 25 Best Architecture Firms in United Kingdom:

1. Heatherwick Studio

© Iwan Baan

Heatherwick Studio is a team of 180 problem solvers dedicated to making the physical world around us better for everyone.
Based out of our combined workshop and design studio in Central London, we create buildings, spaces, master-plans, objects and infrastructure. Focusing on large scale projects in cities all over the world, we prioritise those with the greatest positive social impact.

Working as practical inventors with no signature style, our motivation is to design soulful and interesting places which embrace and celebrate the complexities of the real world. The approach driving everything is to lead from human experience rather than any fixed design dogma. The studio’s completed projects include a number of internationally celebrated buildings, including the award-winning Learning Hub at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University and the UK Pavilion at the Shanghai World Expo 2010.

The studio is currently working on 30 live projects in ten countries.

Some of Heatherwick Studio’s most prominent projects include:

• Little Island, New York, NY, United States
• Bombay Sapphire Distillery, Hampshire, United Kingdom
• Maggie’s Leeds, Leeds, United Kingdom
• Zeitz MOCAA, Cape Town, South Africa
• Coal Drops Yard, London, United Kingdom

The following statistics helped Heatherwick Studio achieve 1st place in the 25 Best Architecture Firms in United Kingdom:

Why Should I Trust Architizer’s Ranking?

With more than 30,000 architecture firms and over 130,000 projects within its database, Architizer is proud to host the world’s largest online community of architects and building product manufacturers. Its celebrated A+Awards program is also the largest celebration of architecture and building products, with more than 400 jurors and hundreds of thousands of public votes helping to recognize the world’s best architecture each year.

Architizer also powers firm directories for a number of AIA (American Institute of Architects) Chapters nationwide, including the official directory of architecture firms for AIA New York.

An example of a project page on Architizer with Project Award Badges highlighted

A Guide to Project Awards

The blue “”+”” badge denotes that a project has won a prestigious A+Award as described above. Hovering over the badge reveals details of the award, including award category, year, and whether the project won the jury or popular choice award.

The orange Project of the Day and yellow Featured Project badges are awarded by Architizer’s Editorial team, and are selected based on a number of factors. The following factors increase a project’s likelihood of being featured or awarded Project of the Day status:

• Project completed within the last 3 years
• A well written, concise project description of at least 3 paragraphs
• Architectural design with a high level of both functional and aesthetic value
• High quality, in focus photographs
• At least 8 photographs of both the interior and exterior of the building
• Inclusion of architectural drawings and renderings
• Inclusion of construction photographs

There are 7 Projects of the Day each week and a further 31 Featured Projects. Each Project of the Day is published on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram Stories, while each Featured Project is published on Facebook. Each Project of the Day also features in Architizer’s Weekly Projects Newsletter and shared with 170,000 subscribers.

We’re constantly look for the world’s best architects to join our community. If you would like to understand more about this ranking list and learn how your firm can achieve a presence on it, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us at editorial@architizer.com.