Company

About Watson Batty Architects

Company Profile

Nationally recognised as a future-focused practice offering award-winning, cross-sector building design services

With studios in Leeds and Loughborough, Watson Batty Architects has more than 45 years of experience creating many types of buildings across a diverse range of sectors.

We undertake projects throughout the UK, ranging from commercial refurbishments to multi-million-pound new-build projects and ground-breaking regeneration schemes. Our cross-sector experience includes the areas of Learning, Retail, Commercial, Living, Regeneration, Industrial, Later Living & Care, Sport & Leisure, Transport, and Faith-related projects.

Our core architecture business is supported by specialist in-house services: including Masterplanning, Access Consulting, Listed Building Advice, Graphics & Visualisation, Party Wall Surveying, Health & Safety Management, Principal Designer, Interiors, and Project Management.

Today, our team comprises over 30 architects, interior designers, technicians and masterplanners. Our management structure consists of three Directors, supported by two Regional Directors, three Associate Directors, and five Associates who manage each sector, lead the design teams and monitor staff resource.

With a strong and respected brand, a financially robust business, a healthy project pipeline, and a strategy to invest in exceptional talent, we are a company built for the future.

Our Ethos & Values

We’ve built our valued reputation by upholding our guiding principles and core values

Our four guiding principles ensure we never lose sight of what makes us a successful and respected practice that provides outstanding service to clients:

Providing measurable value
We create spaces that work. It’s not enough for architecture to have a positive visual impact. We pride ourselves on offering cost-effective, feasible design solutions that are buildable, functional and well-detailed.

Reliable and professional
Our clients don’t just know us, they trust us. Our broad experience and our unbending commitment to deliver are two reasons why we have client relationships that span three decades.

Great to work with
We work openly and with energy. We believe the design process should be collaborative and enjoyable. Listening and understanding always come first. And as a project progresses, free-flowing communication remains central to its success.

Future-focused
We never stand still. Technologies and processes in our industry are constantly evolving and improving, and we readily adapt to offer our clients the best possible service. The need to push the boundaries of our capability is central to our ethos.

Memorable, meaningful and motivating, our core values are the fundamental qualities of our business and brand that we live and breathe.

Our Approach

Putting our clients first
Reliable, professional and knowledgeable, Watson Batty Architects are a trusted design practice because we take time to understand our clients and their specific needs. Our motivation as designers is to interpret and articulate the client’s vision, turn it into outstanding architecture and add value at every opportunity.

Creating places for people
Whatever purpose a building may serve and within whatever sector it falls, our ethos is to place users at the heart of the design process and create the very best environments that nurture and inspire.

Responding to the Climate Crisis
Sustainability sits at the very heart of everything we do; it is an integral part of good architecture, not a concept to be bolted on at the end. With over 40% of the UK’s carbon footprint attributed to the built environment, we recognise our responsibility to help reduce the causes of our climate emergency.

Championing change and innovation
The building industry is progressing fast, and we’re moving with it. We’re embracing Modern Methods of Construction, which use offsite building techniques and digital technologies to minimise site construction, reduce waste and energy, and increase project efficiency. We utilise the latest Building Information Modelling technology, enabling us to lessen cost and risk by sharing information about design, construction and operation in a virtual form.

Employing the best talent
Our highly qualified and experienced architects and support teams are committed to providing clients with exceptional service combined with the highest levels of design and technical expertise.

Harnessing cross-sector knowledge
We provide a truly multi-disciplinary service for a diverse client base operating in a range of sectors. With over 45 years experience designing and working within various environments, we have a successful track record in the design, delivery and completion of facilities that integrate a variety of uses.

Corporate Social Responsibility

We strive to ensure our part in CSR is brought to the attention of our staff at all times

As a practice, we recognise the importance of approaching Corporate Social Responsibility in a coordinated and committed manner to make a positive impact to our clients, the community, our partners and the environment.

Through our culture, our work in the community and both our environmental and ethical policies, we strive to ensure our part in CSR is brought to the attention of our staff at all times. We encourage the utmost efforts both as individuals and as a company to operate in an ethical manner, both currently and as a future focus of the practice.

The nature of our work makes our impact on the environment at the forefront of how we operate, and we subscribe to the concept of environmentally aware design, supporting the activities of the entire development team in meeting this objective. Through our design approach, we are committed to reducing the impact of our activities on the environment and raising awareness of this among our staff, external clients, subcontractors and suppliers. Furthermore, it is in our best interest to achieve client satisfaction and retention through a commitment to policies of good practice and service and adhere to Statutory and Regulatory requirements in doing so.

Being future focused, we value diversity in the workplace and believe in caring for our employees and work experience students, encouraging continual learning and development opportunities across the business. As a firm, and as individual staff members, we understand the significant impact we can have on the community and are therefore dedicated to being a responsible contributing member of society both through financial and active support.