Transform Your Architecture Career Through Mentoring with Chris Simmons | 028

Would you like to feel more fulfilled by your career in architecture?

And to be happy, healthy, and well paid.

Chris Simmons shares the pivotal role of mentoring in sculpting a

frightening career in architecture.

So stay tuned to discover how mentoring can transform your professional journey.

On this episode of architecture business club, the weekly podcast for solo

and small firm architecture, practice owners, just like you who want to build

a profitable future proof architecture business that fits around their life.

I'm the host John Clayton.

And if you want a business in architecture that gives you more freedom,

flexibility, and fulfillment, then go to architecture, business club.com

forward slash blueprint and download the architecture business blueprint.

It's the step-by-step formula to freedom for architects, architectural

technologists and architectural designers.

And it's absolutely free as a gift from me.

Now let's talk about mentoring.

Chris Simmons is an architect, illustrator, and educator.

He's an associate director at Squire and Partners and the

founder of Architects Instruction.

His mission is to create a generation of architects who

are fulfilled by their careers.

Architects who are happy.

Healthy and well paid.

To receive one piece of actionable advice every week from Chris,

visit architectsinstruction.

com and sign up for Chris's free weekly email newsletter.

Chris, welcome to Architecture Business Club.

Oh, thanks for having me.

I mean that was a pretty good introduction and uh, sounds good.

Brilliant.

Well, it's an absolute pleasure to have you here on the show today.

Aside from your, your role as an associate director at Squaring Partners,

you run architect's Instruction.

and.

You're sketching service drawn, and you're a family man as well.

Like, how do you find the time to fit everything in?

Yeah, very good question yeah, my my wife asks me very similar

things I think I think for me it's uh, so yeah, as you said, I i'm

an associate director at um squire and partners And I I live in kent.

So I work in brixton.

That's where our offices um, and I actually have a You How long?

Hour and a half commute each way.

So for me, that was always my kind of captive time.

And it's, you know, it was a choice of whether, you know, sort of bleary eyed

watching Netflix or, you know, sort of trying to sleep on the train or something,

but it was, it was that kind of thing of, you know, actually having focused point

of time where I could do other things.

And that's, that's really where it came from.

I mean, the, the whole, you know, architects instruction

thing came originally.

During lockdown and, you know, me just kind of, you know, trying to share my

work online and doing some nice sketches to make me feel a bit better at the

end of a long day sort of But yeah, it, it, it kind of took off and yeah, using

the, using the train as, as, as that kind of point to focus on my own stuff.

Really helped kind of balance out, you know, my own, you know, the

private work and, and, you know, my employee job sort of thing.

So, yeah, I think that's the, the, you know, the thing made of that's

through, you know, time blocking or something like that, I guess it's a

similar premise, it's just saying, this is the time that I do certain things.

And, you know, this is what happens and staying consistent at it.

That's really interesting.

That's something that sometimes people might see as a negative, like

having a long commute to get to the office that you've actually managed

to find a way to put that into amazingly good use and to make that

a really productive time for you.

So I think that's absolutely brilliant.

Something that a lot of us can, can take a lesson from that.

For sure,

I would, yeah, I would agree and it's, uh, it's time

without the kids that I can focus on myself for once, which is quite nice.

absolutely.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I'm, a parent too.

And obviously I love my children, but it is good to have

some time away from them now.

and then.

So Chris, we're going to talk about mentoring.

This is a great topic.

So I'm really excited to talk about this with you.

for those who are listening that might not be as familiar with it.

I mean, what is mentoring?

What is it?

So I think it's different for different people.

And I think it's, it's a lot of it comes from our own, you know, basic

experiences of, of, you know, being in education or in, in, in work.

But I guess my point of view is, you know, having someone that is either more

experienced or more senior, or, um, has.

know,

had experience within the field that you are supporting you, you know, through

your career or through your process of learning something, you know, for, for

me, it's kind of, you know, you can have mentors when you're in education.

So having an older person having, you know, it could be someone that's

a year older, older than you in, in university, or it can be in

practice, you know, obviously we're.

We're talking about architecture here, so, you know, within architecture

practice, having someone that, you know, can, you know, be your person

to, um, guide you, to support you, to, you know, have a shoulder to cry

on and, and, and be there to support you through your, you know, journey.

I guess it's, you know, it's, it's very much having someone that, that

takes an interest in your, um, career progression at its, at its heart,

Why, why do you think it's so important?

I mean, what's the, some of the, the reasons why it's so important to.

you?

To be mentored or to have a mentor.

I guess in, in, in architecture, we're all, we're

all very used to the idea of mentoring being part of the process.

And.

I think it kind of harks back to a lot of the stuff that I talk about in, in

terms of architectural education, you know, the long process of becoming

an architect specifically, you know, we will hear about the sort

of seven years and things like that.

And architecture historically has, you know, had a strong

sort of mentoring presence.

The idea that university can only teach you so much.

And then you come out into practice and you learn all these additional things.

Obviously that doesn't happen.

And it's not all just through random experience.

You know, it has to be, um, in part the responsibility of either practice owners

or other architects or, you know, people within the industry to take an interest.

So I think we do have a very strong and positive, you know, kind of position

of, of mentoring within the industry.

But

It does, I guess, put the onus on, you know, the next generations and

giving forward and back the kind of experiences you've had, you know, I

always kind of say, like, if you've, you know, if you've been mentored by

someone, you will then pass it on.

It is that kind of age thing of, of, you know, if you've had a positive

experience in being mentored.

You know, you will do that for somebody else.

So it's a, yeah, it's an incredibly kind of positive thing that, that,

that we can do within the industry and lots of people do, it just doesn't

necessarily happen within a kind of rigid and regulated kind of format.

It's kind of a bit more.

naturalistic.

Got it.

Got it.

So what would you say some of the the common myths?

Out there about mentoring,

Well, I mean, I, I, I talked to lots of people about, um, I

mean, obviously, you know, as part of an architect instruction, I offer mentoring

to people that, that, that don't have it or don't have access to it, but a lot

of people I talk to it, it's kind of.

Their practices don't offer it as a kind of rigid thing.

And it's, it's kind of that sort of dialogue between do we, do we instill it

within our people or do we let, you know, leave it up to it happening naturally.

And I think one of the kind of myths is that, you know, if it's, if it's not kind

of, you know, something on your time sheet and it's not a kind of regulated, we don't

have a formal mentoring system that it doesn't happen, which is obviously not

true because, you know, there are, there are lots of, um, skill exchanges and, and

the way people are nurturing each other through shared experience and through, you

know, basically more experienced people helping, you know, Younger people within

practices, you know, it does kind of happen naturally, but then again, there,

there are sort of benefits to having it, um, as a more formalized procedure,

you know, I have, you know, like I said, I have heard of practices that

actually put it down on their timesheets.

You know, the idea of mentoring is seen as a.

You know, amongst other office requirements, it is a, it is a sort of

formal thing that we should be doing.

And, and, you know, that does have its benefits because you

can allow it to happen more.

And similarly, you know, you have practices where you have assigned mentors.

So you, you know, you come into a practice and there are people there.

Which may be sitting outside of your team, for example, that can,

you know, share their knowledge and experience and understanding.

So I think that's one of the kind of the big things about mentoring.

I guess, I guess the other thing is about, you know, maybe in this age of sort

of social media, we always talk about.

Mentoring as a, you know, a must have, you know, we all, we all kind of,

if we want to be a business leader or you want to be Steve jobs sort

of thing, you, you need to have a mentor and, and, and things like that.

And I get a lot of messages on LinkedIn of people saying, Oh, will

you be my mentor sort of thing?

Like it's, you know, I've ticked this thing off the list and now I have a

mentor and, you know, it's going to get where I want to go sort of thing.

But.

It's so much more than that in terms of, you know, it's about relationship.

It's about learning from people and having ongoing dialogues and meetings

and, and, and things like that.

It's not just a kind of, you know, a tick box thing where,

you know, I've got a mentor, so I must, I must be doing all right.

So, I mean, similarly, we have mentors in our everyday

life, you know, the, the, the.

You know, so much we learn from people around us and, and older people that

we can, we can rely on sort of things.

So, you know, it, it doesn't necessarily have to be this kind of,

you know, golden formal type thing.

It can be a little more natural.

I think that is, well, that is what my experience of it was when I

previously worked in practice when I was earlier in my own career in architecture

that it tended to be something that there wasn't any set formality to it.

It was just something that happened naturally as and when

that I needed support on the projects that I was working with.

Maybe I'd been working alongside a project architect or as part

of a design team on a project.

We're working together and it's so that looking back that there were

certain colleagues that were mentors at that time for me, even though they

weren't formally labeled as a mentor.

they did kind of become the go to person during those stages of my

career in practice, where there was that person who was that little bit

older and more experienced or had that knowledge that, I needed support with,

um, to to assist on that project.

So, I mean, that's a little bit about my experience of it, but could you.

Tell us about one of your first or earliest experiences

of being mentored yourself.

Yeah, sure.

I think, I think like lots of people, you know, I, I completed my, my BA and

went into practice for my part one.

And it was, it was a sort of eye opening moment of realizing

that I didn't know very much.

And, you know, this is a very strange thing working in an

office, having worked in.

been in the studio a lot sort of thing.

And it was, there was a, there was a guy who was, was quite senior

at the practice that I worked at.

So I worked at probably a sort of midsize practice in the, in Kent, um,

doing sort of churches and schools and sort of one off resi stuff.

So, you know, very sort of quiet.

Practice and, you know, run by quite experienced people and, and, you know,

a few, a few younger people, but there was one guy there who was, um, the, the

senior architect and it was very much the experience of someone taking you

under, under their wing sort of thing.

So.

It always felt like he had seen something in me that he kind of thought

was worth his time, that, you know, you kind of spot something and you

kind of go, you know, this person can learn and is willing to learn and

are interested and things like that.

And it really was that process of nurturing, of teaching, of,

you know, there was, there was, Learning the ropes, basically.

So, you know, someone going out of their way to, you know, take me to site to,

um, you know, make sure I got different experiences of different projects.

So it was just, it was just like really sort of, you know, nurturing

and supportive environment and.

You know, when I talk to other architects of their part one experience, you know,

not everyone has had that as their, as their kind of part one experience.

So I do kind of, you know, I do kind of consider myself incredibly lucky.

And I, you know, I do always kind of, you know, present this idea that we're

all kind of built on the shoulders of our, of our mentors, you know, the idea

that I am where I am today because of a series of people that has seen something

in me and, you know, supported me.

So, yeah, it was just.

A really nice, positive, nurturing, you know, kind of environment.

And it, it allowed me to really kind of flourish and.

You know, at that sort of part one age, you know, you've, you've had three

years experience of architecture from university where you've learned certain

skill sets, but there's a whole, you know, ream of skill sets, which you

haven't, you know, got a clue about.

So being able to sort of fill that out, you know, by someone that's

willing to give their time, willing to give their effort and, you know,

it's, and, and, you know, a very kind of respectful relationship as well,

you know, it was very sort of kind and nurturing and, You know, all those,

all those sort of positive things.

So yeah, I just, I mean, so much of it comes down to people kind of treating

you well and, you know, being, you know, supportive and, and, and things

like that, it's, it's, it's so much down to the kind of nature of people.

And I do, I do think that, you know, there is, I mean, yeah, maybe, maybe

there's something else in, in, um, sort of resource and, and time, you

know, whether people have the time to do this thing, whether they have the,

the, you know, whether the projects are running well enough that people

can give their additional time.

But I think a lot of it does come down to character of people, you

know, wanting to support others.

So, yeah, I just, I just had a really.

wholly sort

of positive experience in that kind of first part one, um, job.

And luckily it's kind of gone on throughout my career.

You know, I can, I can pinpoint kind of key people in my part two and in my kind

of career in, in Squires, you know, key people that have made time and effort.

You know, into my career and, and paid the kind of interest and, and,

you know, notice for me to kind of progress, which now I do to other people,

That's awesome.

Did those experiences, those positive experiences of mentoring

that occurred to you throughout your career, did those then inspire the

formation of Architects Instruction?

Yeah, completely.

I mean, there's a, there's a couple of things at play with, with, with the

whole, you know, me, me trying to do this, you know, the, the idea that, you

know, obviously you kind of, you're, you're looking to support you from a

couple of years ago, you know, we, we hear a lot about that kind of online.

So, you know, that is very much the crux of, you know, what I'm trying

to do is, is, you know, take my.

Experiences, which, you know, I've been very lucky, you know, maybe

some 10 percent is my kind of ability and them seeing something in me,

but, you know, the rest is kind of, you know, I've, I've, I've found

the right practices to work for.

I found the right people to align myself with and, you know, and, and

I've been lucky to, to, to have it.

And there are so many people that aren't lucky in that situation.

You know, that have terrible experiences of practice that, you

know, don't get mentored and also don't get paid overtime and, you know,

kind of have all levels of kind of issues with, industry sort of thing.

So it's such a kind of varied experience.

So yeah, that's, I mean, that's in one part is, is kind of address,

addressing problems with the industry and trying to spread the idea.

I mean, similarly.

I lost my parents quite young and that was kind of that, that kind of

strange eye opening moment for me.

So I think my dad died when I was about 25 and my mom died

when I was about 30 something.

So, you know, to be left without your parents at kind of, you know,

just over 30 was quite a, a kind of eye opening moment for me.

Cause it was.

You know, similarly, as I was saying before, is that that kind of

moment of, you know, these people have kind of supported me my whole

life and, you know, they've been my people to kind of go to with issues.

And, you know, if I ever had a problem sort of thing, and now for them,

for you not to have that kind of support network was a very kind of eye

opening moment where I kind of went, you know, there are people that go

through their lives not having this.

You know, and particularly in their careers.

And, you know, we put so much time and effort into our careers and so much of

our happiness is, is, is kind of aligned with you know, so, so, you know, a lot

of it came from that, uh, of that kind of, that wake up moment of, you know,

you need to have people in your life, in your careers to, to support you.

And, you know, if I can, if I can.

Help some people out and so they can have a kind of positive experience in

the industry, then, then all the better.

That's, um, that's quite inspirational.

I think that obviously it's tragic, isn't it?

If you, you know, you lose family.

Before their time.

And the fact that it sounds from what you've said that that going

through that experience is that was another one of the catalysts for what

you're doing now and the direction that you're going supporting others.

And I feel that's wonderful that something really positive as has come out of that.

Chris, could you share a story of the impact that you've had on

others as, as a mentor yourself?

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Now, back to the show.

yeah, sure.

I mean, yeah, there's, I mean, it makes me smile to kind of think about,

you know, being able to help people.

And I suppose there's kind of two kind of, that I kind of think about.

I won't, I won't mention in within practice.

So, you know, I've worked at Squire and Partners for 10 years.

And there are people that who I have, you know, been part of their kind of hiring,

you know, I've worked with, they've worked within teams that I, you know, I'm leading

projects on being able to watch them.

You know, sort of grow as architects and then grow, you know, into sort of

project runners and, and, you know, me being able to kind of take a step back

and, and, and let them kind of flourish, you know, there's a real, you know, it's

that, it's that, it's the, you know, the ducks leaving the nest, it's, it's, you

know, that sort of super proud thing.

And then, and then for them to be, um, you know, recently there's a, there's a

guy who I had that exact experience with.

So, you know, I was part of his hiring process.

He's been on my team for a number of years and, you know, he's recently

been promoted to an associate within the practice sort of thing.

So he's, you know, he's, he's on my coattails sort of thing, chasing me

for, for, for my role sort of thing.

So, so, you know, that's an incredible kind of.

You know, positive experience to know that, you know, through his time in

practice, I've been his kind of person to, to, for him, you know, to nurture

him and, and to kind of teach him the ropes and, and things like that.

So that's, you know, for me, that's an incredible kind of positive, you know,

story to say, you know, I've had, had a role in, in, in his learning and, and,

you know, his success sort of thing.

So.

So there's kind of that side of things, which is obviously

much more kind of high touch.

So that's, you know, that's a person that I see every day and, and, you know,

get to kind of support, obviously in, you know, with architects instruction,

you know, we're, we're meeting people either infrequently, you know, one

off things or it's weekly kind of sessions or bi weekly sessions.

So there was a guy that I Worked within the early days

of, of architects instruction.

And he, you know, was just starting his own practice, you know, very young.

He'd, he'd, um, he, he'd built a house for his, his parents and, um, you know,

had, had sort of started off the back of that and similarly that was, you

know, watching, watching him grow.

You know, his practice to, you know, kind of, you know, he had some experience

of, of, of some things, but, you know, again, you know, kind of learning the

ropes as he, as he went, me being able to support him from the sidelines, sort

of, you know, cheering him on and, and seeing, you know, his business kind

of flourish, you know, it's exactly the kind of, you know, the, the.

The stories you kind of want to be involved in, you know, people doing

good things and you being able to cheer them on, you know, I'm more, I'm more

than happy to kind of sit, you know, on the sidelines and watch people,

you know, really flourish and, and, and, you know, experience all the,

all the things they kind of deserve.

And I mean, that is a real kind of privilege to all of this.

And it's, you know, it's something I've kind of experienced, you know, partially

being in education and, and having links with Canterbury, my old university, like

being able to be involved in some of their stuff, but, you know, as, as, you

know, sort of educators and mentors and things, you know, the real joy is seeing.

You know, the next generation of people pretty succeeding and it is, it is the

kind of positive news that the industry needs to hear sometimes because, you know,

we all get kind of obsessed with all the negativity around stuff, but there are

lots of kind of positive stories and good people and, and, you know, people wanting,

you know, willing you to succeed as well.

How does it feel to.

To see the successes that the people are having that you've

supported as a mentor and educator.

How does that make you feel?

Yeah.

I mean, it's, it's, yeah, it's, it's wonderful.

I mean, the, the, the problem with all of this is that obviously I have to charge

for my services and I can't always give out all of my advice for free, you know?

I mean, that would be the ideal and, you know, it's stuff I'm kind of, you

know, trying to work out at the moment.

How can I, you know, spread my kind of message a bit further.

So it's not just, you know, the lucky few that can afford it sort of thing.

So, you know, being able to see people succeed in this

industry is, is great because.

Again, you know, like I said, I've had a really positive experience and I feel

like, you know, I've, I've achieved some things at quite a young age and,

and, you know, I've, I've all in all, I really like being an architect.

So I really think it's a good job, you know, there is, you know, you

read so much about, things being down on architecture and, you know, it

does have its problems and, you know, there are lots of issues with it, but.

I've never regretted becoming an architect or working within, you

know, the industry sort of thing.

So I really like seeing people succeed and enjoy it and embrace it sort of

thing, because I think it's really worthwhile and it's really varied.

And yeah, you know, as, as you can imagine, it just, it's, it's a wonderful

thing to see people succeed and know that you've played, you know, 5 percent

of, of, of that is, is down to you.

So.

Uh, Yeah,

that's absolutely fantastic.

I think there's something that I just wanted to touch upon there

that you'd you'd mentioned.

You mentioned about You'd love to be able to do this for free,

if it was possible to do that.

I think you're already doing a lot for people for free.

I think the, the, content that you put out there that you are, you've got, I think

last time I looked over 30, 000 followers on Instagram, you've got a number of

followers on LinkedIn and other platforms, and you put out a lot of valuable content

for people, which is one way to do it.

That people can get a little, little, tiny little slice of your expertise

every week and obviously the email newsletter that you send out every week

is another way that people can access a little bit of your support and expertise.

But yeah, it's, it is a tricky one that.

To be able to kind of have more impact and be able to kind of work with people

on a one to one basis or smaller groups, it's, it is obviously difficult to do

that without charging, but I guess it's sort of meeting people where they're at,

that as long as you've got a mixture of different ways to support people, that

when, when they're ready or they need that additional support, that there's some

options there that they can book a session with you or come and work with you and

and, Get a little bit of extra help.

I think, I think it's a really kind of interesting thing

and, obviously we, we, we have kind of similar interests around this and, and,

you know, wanting to support people in, in, in the industry and stuff.

I do think we've come a long way when I think about, you know, what

it was like when I, you know, I've been an architect for 10 years

and obviously was in education for seven, eight years before that.

And, you know, all of, all of these kind of messaging, you

know, wasn't really around.

There was, you know, there was probably a few blogs that kind of spoke about bits

and pieces, but, you know, this whole.

Idea of social media and people, you know, giving you advice online and stuff.

So I think it's, yeah, it's, it's, it's really kind of come on and, you

know, I, I really do like the kind of the, the architecture space that's

kind of grown around all this kind of, you know, idea of sharing values.

And, you know, all these people that you kind of connect with,

they're all in the round.

You know, decent people trying to do decent things and kind of spread, you

know, this, this, this kind of idea of positivity and, and, you know,

trying to get architects to be valued and, and, you know, how they should be

and, you know, all this kind of stuff.

So, yeah, I mean, hopefully we are all kind of doing our little bit to kind

of improve things and, and, you know, the, the kind of wide spectrum of,

you know, Architecture and engineering and construction and stuff like that.

So yeah, I suppose, you know, it's all, it's all, it's all good stuff.

I think, uh, I think the other thing that I love about what

you're doing, Chris, is your, the positivity that you bring to what you

do, because you mentioned a little bit earlier in the conversation that there

is, you know, there is a little bit of negativity out there in the industry.

I mean, you only have to look at some of the kind of, Conversations

that people are having in groups online or like LinkedIn or whatever.

And there is a lot of negativity.

The fact that you are still very positive about architecture as an industry and

about, you know, becoming an architect as a viable profession, still for people

to, to enter in, to be able to enjoy, to be able to thrive at doing it is, is

fantastic because there are, you know, it.

It's not, it's not a profession that's dead in the water.

There is a great need for it.

And there is ways that, you know, that we can work in this industry

and be happy and healthy and get paid what we deserve in the process.

I think something that maybe does need to change that the way that

people Go about their business, the way that they do things.

I mean, you can't, I don't think you can approach things in the way that maybe

practices did 20 or 30 years ago, you know, it's a different landscape now.

But I think that the, the positivity that you bring to things is, is refreshing.

And, uh, I'd love to see, to see more of that for more people.

Chris, what's the main thing that you'd like everyone to take

away from this conversation?

well, I, well, I, I suppose the main thing is that if we

were all, if we all gave a little bit more time to mentor, then you could

probably put me out of a job, you know, uh, which, which I think is a

great thing, you know, I'm, I'm, I'm there to kind of fill in the gaps.

You know, to support people where they're not feeling supported and to,

you know, share my knowledge to, you know, people in, in certain situations

where they're struggling, you know, like, like I said, at the beginning,

you know, I am the product of, you know, having really kind, generous.

You know, positive mentors all throughout my career and, you

know, now I'm giving it back.

And, you know, I completely understand that, you know, when people are

under pressure, there are deadlines, there are, you know, architecture is

a difficult industry at the start, let alone trying to encourage you as

business owners or your staff to, you know, share their knowledge and, and,

and, you know, support other students.

But, you know, I, I think we all kind of need to do our part a little bit.

I think that is kind of the message that.

You know, I'd like to kind of have a kind of takeaway, you know, if you

can just give 10 minutes of your time.

Every day to someone in the office, if you can, you know, you're going on a site

visit and you say, Oh, maybe I can take someone with me, you know, can you spare

them, you know, just for the afternoon?

So they get a bit of experience sort of thing.

It is just about those kind of small measures, you know, now and again,

if you giving a little bit extra of your time to support somebody else.

And then, you know, all for the better and, and they will, they will see the

benefit of them and, and hopefully do that to someone in the future.

Yeah, so important.

And, uh, yeah, those little, little baby steps that.

can take, it can make such a huge difference to somebody that's, you

know, a little bit further behind on their career journey or, or, you

know, not quite as far along as you.

So yeah, really important.

Chris, is there anything else that you wanted to say that we, we

haven't covered in the conversation?

I think, I mean, luckily we've kind of touched on the kind

of negativity of the industry, but I suppose the other thing I'm kind of hot

on at the moment is about, um, students coming out of work and looking for jobs.

And, you know, I've been doing a lot of work kind of recently with that idea

of, you know, trying to support people.

And again, you know.

It's so difficult coming out of, um, university trying to

make your way in practice.

And it's something that we all struggle with.

And I guess it's just a kind of message of it's, it's okay to kind of struggle

and it's okay to kind of, you know, struggle to find a job, you know,

and, and, you know, there are people out there that are kind of, that

want you to succeed and, and, and are willing to support you sort of thing.

So I think it is just, you know, Again, kind of a message of, of, of kind of

hope to say that, you know, even if you're struggling to find a job at the

moment and, you know, you've come out of university or you're planning to

come out of university, you know, very shortly, you know, it's, it's, it's a

tricky road, but, you know, trying to find the right place and somewhere that's,

that suits you and your personality and the work you're interested in is a.

You know, it will be tricky, but it will be worth it in the long run.

And yeah, if anyone has any issues, just let me know.

That's

great advice, Chris.

I'd like to ask you a question that I like to ask all of the guests.

I love to travel and to discover new places.

And I wondered if you could tell me about.

One of your favorite places and what you love about it.

It could be near or far.

Does anywhere spring to mind?

Yes, it does.

So before we had our three wonderful children, my wife and I used to

go on a lot of city breaks and as an architect, my wife is the least

architect y person you will ever meet.

She, um,

Mine too.

Yeah, so I like to drag her around cities and, and, um, point

at things while she stands behind me and kind of pretends to look interested.

So we had a really great trip just before we had our daughter to

Washington DC quite a while ago now.

So that would be nine years, 10 years.

And it was just a, a really wonderful experience.

We'd been to New York the, the year before and, and kind of loved that.

And then, yeah, went to Washington and, you know, just, just, you know,

there's that kind of wonderful thing of, of seeing all the things you see

in the movies sort of thing and, and the wonderful kind of architecture.

But again, they have the, all the, um, all the kind of Smithsonian museums,

um, which, you know, we both kind of loved and yeah, just it was that kind

of the, the, our final holiday away.

You know, doing our, our sort of couple y thing before we had children.

So it's one of those things that really kind of stays in my memory

and, and something which, you know, I, I mean, our children are wonderful,

but the idea of, of being able to do that again one day with her is, is,

you know, something I kind of look forward to dragging her around, you

know, cities to look at buildings.

Yeah, you're looking forward to it.

And, uh, yeah, maybe your wife is, I don't know, but

having said, having said all that, like it's, um, a few days away from

the kids is a wonderful reset as much as we both love our families.

I'm very sure.

Chris, that's been absolutely awesome.

Thank you so much for joining me today and sharing your experiences

on your knowledge and expertise.

Where is the best place online for people to connect with you?

Yeah.

So, um, obviously website is architects, instruction.

com.

And if you want to sign up for the newsletter, I'm very active

on LinkedIn and Instagram.

They're kind of my, my big, um, two homes and, uh, Yeah.

Instagram is, is obviously great for video content and LinkedIn

is great for conversations.

And, you know, similarly, if there's anyone in the architecture industry,

I'd really encourage them to get onto LinkedIn and, you know, connect

with me and lots of other people in the industry and, and, you know,

spread the word of what you're doing.

Brilliant.

Well, look, thanks again, Chris.

Take care.

Brilliant.

Thanks so much.

Next time I'll be chatting about time management.

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