Podcast · Book · Leadership Circle · One to one
Architecture training taught you to design. Nobody taught you the business that makes it possible.
Helping you grow, reach your potential and make a positive impact.
As featured on the Business of Architecture podcast
- 01Nobody taught you the business of architecture, and all of it is learnable.
- 02Charge what your design is worth.
- 03Protect the fee and the relationship.
- 04Build a practice that runs without you, so you have a life.
- 05Hard-earned experience, to help you reach your potential.
Start anywhere
Build a practice worth belonging to.
Meaningful work, a financially healthy practice, a team that feels like family, and time for life beyond the studio. Four ways in, all growing towards the light.
- 01 · Proof
The podcast
Stories from purpose-led architects and leaders, showing you can make a difference at the scale you choose.
Listen - 02 · Inspiration
The book
A field guide: the principles, systems and starter tools to begin. Out January 2027, and your ticket to the Leadership Circle.
Reserve your copy - 03 · Transformation
The Leadership Circle
The book, live: a step-by-step course through the Blueprint, with an accountability partner to keep you going. Launching January 2027.
Join the Circle - 04 · Personal help
One to one
Support at the moments that matter, from a fee proposal to a difficult negotiation.
Book a call
The podcast
Conversations with people doing purpose-led work.
Inspiring stories that help architects and design professionals grow, reach their potential and make a positive impact on the built environment.
About the podcast
Inspiring practices, leadership and stories for growth.
We hope you enjoy the conversations, tips and hacks, all aimed at helping you build a practice of fulfilling, financially rewarding work with a healthy work–life balance. Keep living the dream!
Say hello
Got an idea for an episode, or a guest we should talk to? We’d love to hear from you.
info@bigwoodpartnership.com
Andy on LinkedIn
Business Secrets For Architects is hosted by The Bigwood Partnership.
Filter episodes by the stage of the Blueprint you’re working on.
None of this is taught in architecture training. All of it is learnable. Build the machine: the practice systems that let your design work grow and reach its potential.
Art Gensler started his firm in 1965 with three people. Today it has more than 6,000 in 57 offices. He said he wrote down his principles because nobody had written them down for him.
Most practices are led by people of extraordinary design talent who were never taught how to win work, price it, protect it or build a team around it. So they work harder every year, for the same money, with less time at home.
Business Secrets For Architects exists to close that gap: through the podcast, a community called the Leadership Circle, and a simple framework that works whether you are one person or fifty.
Business Secrets For Architects: Leadership Circle
The Blueprint
One framework, with a system for each stage. Charge what your design is worth, protect the fee and the relationship, and build a practice that runs without you, so you can take a holiday.
Purpose
What is the practice for, and who is it for?
A plan and a strategy, not a headless chicken.
Attract
How do the right clients find and trust you?
Positioning, relationships and a pipeline you can see.
Win
How do you win it at a fee that reflects its value?
Fee triangulation, options, negotiation and terms.
Deliver
Be the safe pair of hands, and keep the fee.
Change control, cash and delivery strategy.
Grow
Grow your people, and the practice grows.
A constellation of stars, not a handful of names.
As featured on · Business of Architecture
Business development lessons from signature firms
Andy joined Rion Willard on episode 562 of the Business of Architecture podcast to share how signature firms win work: refining your processes, building momentum through setbacks, growing a young team, and staying resilient and balanced.
Watch on YouTube
The book
Business Secrets For Architects: Valuing Design. The commercial education the profession was never given.
Architects are trained to design buildings, not to win them, price them or get paid properly for them. This book closes that gap. It is a short, practical guide in the spirit of Dale Carnegie, built on more than 20 years in the commercial seat of the world’s leading studios and the stories of the architects, developers and leaders on the podcast.
A practice is two things: the human and the machine. The human is everything a system cannot copy: purpose, design flair, judgement and care for your clients and team. The machine is the business engine that wins the work, delivers it as promised and gets it paid for. The book shows you how to blend the two into a purpose-led practice.
It follows the Blueprint, the stages every practice moves through:
- PurposeKnow what the practice is for, and who it is for.
- AttractBecome the obvious choice for the clients you want.
- WinQualify the work, triangulate the fee, offer options and agree the terms before you start.
- DeliverProtect the design, the fee and the relationship through change, decisions and cash.
- GrowBuild a team, not a factory, and a practice that runs without you.
Twenty-one short chapters, each ending with a principle and one thing to do this week, plus starter tools you can use on Monday, including a free fee triangulation guide. The outcome is fulfilment, finances and freedom: a practice that values design, and is valued for it. Valuing design is good for your practice, your clients and society.
The ebook is sold here, with an audio version to follow. It is a living field guide: when the book is updated, you get the new edition free. Buying it gives you a place in the Leadership Circle pilot.
The newsletter
One idea you can use, one story from the podcast, and dates for the next Leadership Circle session. Subscribers hear first when the book is ready.
Subscribe freeThe Leadership Circle · Free pilot year, 2027
A community, not just a webinar.
The book, live. Each month takes one or two chapters: a 30-minute talk on the first Thursday at lunchtime, then questions. Every member has an accountability partner, every session is recorded, and members keep talking between sessions.
Opens January 2027 as a pilot year. A place is free with the book. Members can also book optional sessions, such as a Negotiation Doctor call or a deeper workshop, when they need more help.
- JanPurposeThe overwhelm is not your fault · Know your why
- FebPurposeChoose your position
- MarAttractRelationships · Be the obvious choice
- AprAttractThe small first step · Keep the pipeline full
- MayWinChoose the work you win · Pitch as a tag team
- JunWin ★Triangulate your fee · The win-win-win
- JulWinNegotiate like a partner
- SepWinAgree the terms before you start
- OctDeliverAgree it before you do it · Cash is reality
- NovGrowBuild a family · Lead, delegate, hand over
- DecGrowBuild the machine · The annual practice check
Your host · Helping you grow and reach your potential
Hi, I’m Andy Bigwood.
The architect’s commercial partner: protecting the value of design and enabling healthy project delivery.
So architects are valued, and clients, investors and the communities who use their buildings get better, more thoughtful, inclusive and sustainable places.
For more than 20 years I’ve been the commercial partner to design, at Foster + Partners, Heatherwick Studio and Gensler. I’ve gained hard-earned lessons, and I’m experienced in building tailor-made approaches to unlock your potential.
Across every scale, building type and country, the same patterns repeat. So whatever you’re facing, a fee under pressure, a contract you’re unsure of, a pipeline that’s gone quiet, I’ve probably seen it before and know what tends to work.
I share my experience of building relationships, nurturing opportunities and simply showing how to reach mutually agreeable outcomes.
I share this experience now for your continued professional development.
Commercial and project leadership on international projects, from airports and rail to a wellness masterplan.
For you: how the best studios protect both the design and the fee on complex work.
Built the business development and contracts team through rapid growth: a pipeline, a go / no-go process, and sound contracts with Google, Changi Airport, British Land and Argent.
For you: the systems a design-led studio needs to grow without losing its soul.
Co-led a growing London studio inside a multidisciplinary firm.
For you: how a smaller studio aligns brief, budget and vision, and competes with bigger names.
Leading major projects in London with clients, architects and project teams.
For you: first-hand, current insight into how large clients buy, decide and appoint.
I’ve seen the mistakesso you can avoid them
- Work started with no signed contract, and the leverage gone
- Fees eaten by scope creep somewhere around month four
- One big win, then an empty pipeline behind it
- A single fee number that invites a discount
- Good people leaving because there was no next step
I’ve built what worksso you don’t start from scratch
- A weekly pipeline meeting and a go / no-go rule
- Fee triangulation, and three options instead of one number
- The Bangers List: the six contract clauses to settle first
- A proposal machine: tailored for the client, quick to produce
- Roles and routes that let people grow with the practice
Kind words
What colleagues say
“He worked with the senior leadership team to develop and implement clear processes for finding, selecting and prioritising work, developing a healthy, diverse pipeline and negotiating sound contracts. He is a great collaborator and has solid professional experience with top-tier clients and contracts won both through competitions and direct commissioning.”
“Andy brought his sharp mind and good sense to help calibrate the decision-making process for new business opportunities. His broad experience in negotiating contracts and dealing with clients was fundamental to locking in great projects for the studio. I would highly recommend Andy to any organisation in need of a perfect blend of strategic thinking, business focus and a caring professional to help them grow to the best version of themselves.”
Who this is for
Wherever you are in your career.
Get in touch
Want to talk something through?
If you’d like to know more about the Leadership Circle, talks for your team, or one-to-one support with your practice, book a short discovery call and we’ll talk it through privately.