Catherine Burd
DipArch RIBA ARB SCA

Founding director Catherine has over 25 years’ experience of working at all RIBA stages on award-winning residential, masterplanning, education, community and arts projects, with values ranging from 200K to £20million. She is directly involved with the design and delivery of all projects in the practice.

An experienced critic, communicator and educator, Catherine is highly regarded for her work championing design quality in the profession. She provides independent advice to institutions, charities, developers and local authorities, and is currently co-chair of City of Westminster's Design Review Panel (DRP) and Chair of Oxford's DRP, where she advises on design quality on major projects at planning stage. Prior to this, she was Chair of Kensington & Chelsea's DRP and a member of Oxford and LLDC’s (Olympic Legacy) Quality Review Panels. She led Camden's DRP from its inception until 2023, and was instrumental in raising design quality across the borough. Her incisive, sensitive and constructive design advice is valued by planning teams and applicants alike.

In practice, Catherine has in-depth experience of delivering new build residential and cultural projects at a range of scales, from the multi award-winning Gospel Oak housing scheme, to the design of large-scale housing and mixed masterplans. She collaborated on the design of the phased estate regeneration scheme comprising 900 new homes in the West Kentish Town Estate, which recently gained planning consent.

As an RIBA Specialist Conservation Architect (SCA), Catherine holds the highest level of conservation accreditation. She has led significant heritage, retrofit and re-use projects at high profile architecturally sensitive historic sites, including at the Palace of Holyroodhouse and Abbey Strand Buildings, Edinburgh, and for the Queen’s College, Oxford. She is currently leading the Bloomsbury Terraces project, a major programme of works for the University of London, combining sophisticated conservation strategy with ambitious - EnerPhit – sustainability targets.

Catherine has taught and lectured widely and been juror on numerous industry design awards. She was external examiner for architectural MA courses at Newcastle University and University of Ghent (Belgium), and is currently external examiner for the University of Westminster's MArch course.