Paul Monaghan
Paul is an internationally acclaimed architect. His work, channelled through his studio’s creative intelligence, is focused on redefining the built environment in the UK and abroad.
His key projects in the workplace, arts, education, residential and masterplanning sectors have all been recognised with numerous national and international awards including the 2015 RIBA Stirling Prize for Burntwood School. Since co-founding Allford Hall Monaghan Morris in 1989, Paul’s projects at all scales have been recognised as demonstrations of outstanding design, collaborative creativity, applied technology, research and sustainability. Paul is a member of the government’s Office for Place Advisory Board over the last year he has been helping local authorities test the National Model Design Code (NMDC) in their pilot program.
The steering group is an expert design body working towards greater design quality and community involvement in planning decisions in England. Paul was a member of the advisory group for The Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Governments (MHCLG) Building Better, Building Beautiful Commission, which published its report Living with Beauty and one of only two architects on this board in 2020. In 2000 Paul joined the CABE Enabling Team where he specialised in helping local authorities procure well-designed schools.
In 2008 Paul became Vice Chair of the CABE Schools Design Review Panel identifying and reviewing design quality within the entire BSF Programme. Since 2010 Paul has chaired Design Review panels for the Design Council on major regeneration projects in London including Old Oak common and Heathrow airport. Judging: Paul was a member and chaired the RIBA Awards group from 2004- 2012. In 2016, Paul was also judge for the Stirling Prize. Over the Years, he was also chair of the Young Architect of the Year Awards and most recently organised and judged the Liverpool Town House Competition. As an academic, Paul taught at the Bartlett School of Architecture for 15 years and is now a visiting professor of the school. In 2018 Paul was awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Letters by the University of Sheffield, where he studied architecture and has been a Visiting Practice Professor since 2011.
Paul’s projects at all scales have been recognised as exemplars of outstanding design, collaborative creativity, applied technology, research and sustainability. These include William Street Quarter; Villaggio in Ghana; Unity on Liverpool’s historic waterfront; Barking Central; Westminster Academy; North London Hospice and Kentish Town Health Centre. His current and recent key projects include the redevelopment of Television Centre in west London; New Scotland Yard for the Metropolitan Police; and Liverpool’s Royal Court Theatre. Paul led AHMM’s work on the RIBA Stirling Prize-winning Burntwood School in south London, as well as two other Stirling-shortlisted buildings, Westminster Academy in 2008 and Kentish Town Health Centre in 2009.
In addition to his project work, Paul is an active speaker, teacher and juror. He is a visiting professor at the Bartlett and Sheffield schools of architecture; he has also been Vice Chair of the CABE Schools Design Review Panel and is on the CABE National Design Review Panel; and he is an RIBA Client Design Advisor. He has been chair of the Young Architect of the Year awards, chaired the RIBA awards panel until 2010, and was a judge for the RIBA Stirling Prize in 2016. Paul recently received an honorary doctorate of letters from the University of Sheffield, and has been appointed the Liverpool City Region Design Champion.
