Rab Bennetts has spoken of his fears that the rising trend towards the use of executive architects risks de-skilling the profession and stifling innovation.

The Bennetts Associates co-founder told a panel discussion at this week’s BD Live event that at a time when greater integration between design and project delivery was needed, the development sector was “separating them out” between concept and executive architects.

Bennetts said he anticipated that a fundamental finding from the Grenfell Tower Inquiry would be a lack of consistency in concept and delivery of the refurbishement of the west London tower block, which caught fire in June 2017 with the loss of 72 lives.

…