James Pickard
Principal & Founding Director
James is co-founder of the award-winning architecture, urban design and interiors practice Cartwright Pickard, established in 1997.
He has over 35 years’ experience as a qualified architect and has led major transformational projects in the housing, office, education and masterplanning sectors. He was on the steering board for the first edition of the Urban Land Institute’s ‘Built to Rent’ best-practice guide and helped to write the first and second editions of the BCO’s Guide to Best Practice. He has been a judge at the World Architecture Festival for several years, including chairing the masterplanning jury.
A research-led practitioner, James has carried out several government-funded research into the design of low-carbon buildings, office occupier productivity, air quality in new homes, integrating whole life carbon and cost estimation with BIM and most recently, pioneering design for Later living. In 2018, he was made Honorary Professor at the Mackintosh School of Architecture. An advocate of the benefits of offsite manufacturing, James’ pioneering use of offsite manufacture in housing projects has received international recognition and he has advised the UK and several foreign governments on the use of Modern Methods of Construction for the provision of affordable housing.
