Jon Clayton:

Have you ever wondered why mental health is

Jon Clayton:

such a critical concern in the architecture profession at the moment?

Jon Clayton:

Join us for part two of my conversation with architects, Doug Hodgson, Doug

Jon Clayton:

shares his thoughts on what to do.

Jon Clayton:

If you're feeling overwhelmed or close to burnout.

Jon Clayton:

And what is practice new works have been doing to safeguard

Jon Clayton:

their teams, mental health.

Jon Clayton:

I catch it all on this episode of architecture business club,

Jon Clayton:

the weekly podcast for solo and small firm architecture

Jon Clayton:

practice owners, just like you.

Jon Clayton:

You want to build a profitable future proof architecture business

Jon Clayton:

that fits around their life.

Jon Clayton:

I'm John Clayton, your host, if you're a small practice leader or

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so practitioner in architecture, struggling to find clarity or reach

Jon Clayton:

your goals, consider working with me.

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I offer personalized one-to-one support, free coaching consulting, and mentoring.

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This tailored approach helps you navigate your unique path to success.

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Whether it's growing your practice, working fewer hours or building

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your team, I've got you covered.

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Just click the link in the show notes to book a call with me to

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discuss your options or email John J O n@architecturebusinessclub.com.

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For more information.

Jon Clayton:

Now let's continue the conversation with Doug about mental health.

Jon Clayton:

We were talking there about overwhelm and we've talked about a few ideas there

Jon Clayton:

about how people can set their practice up in such a way to try and minimize

Jon Clayton:

that and avoid it from happening.

Jon Clayton:

But for those people that might be listening that are already feeling

Jon Clayton:

overwhelmed or, or even feeling close to burnout from the work that they're

Jon Clayton:

doing, what can we do about it?

Jon Clayton:

Do you have any thoughts on that?

Jon Clayton:

If somebody's listening and they're already feeling really overwhelmed

Jon Clayton:

with the work that they're doing?

Doug Hodgson:

Yeah, and it's, it's, it's a tricky one because.

Doug Hodgson:

Obviously, Tom and I closed one company to set up another one, and most, most

Doug Hodgson:

professionals aren't in that, um, space, you know, the ability to do that.

Doug Hodgson:

So I'd say that most important thing is to be kind to yourself, um, and that

Doug Hodgson:

is, I often find actually, it's, it's a link to physical health, um, mental

Doug Hodgson:

health and has links to physical health.

Doug Hodgson:

So, um, have a, be able to sort of step back if you can and,

Doug Hodgson:

and, and go somewhere different.

Doug Hodgson:

So I often find, um, as we spoke about earlier, connection to

Doug Hodgson:

nature is incredibly important.

Doug Hodgson:

So we've just moved actually our, well, our new studio is here in, in Bermondsey

Doug Hodgson:

and we've stumbled across Park, which I weirdly hadn't been to before.

Doug Hodgson:

It's absolutely stunning.

Doug Hodgson:

And there were these moments of nature of green space all over the city in London

Doug Hodgson:

and all over the country, of course, um, I'd say take the time to go out into

Doug Hodgson:

nature during the day, you know, so don't, you know, if you need to take some time

Doug Hodgson:

off work, talk to your thoughts, people in the practice about it, we need to talk to

Doug Hodgson:

each other more about our mental health.

Doug Hodgson:

And if you need to take.

Doug Hodgson:

a morning off to go and walk through the park or if you're down and you live

Doug Hodgson:

in Brighton and he's gone to the South Downs and just, I'd hope that responsible

Doug Hodgson:

employers would say that's fine, that's a mental health, uh, Half day off or

Doug Hodgson:

a day off, and it's not a holiday.

Doug Hodgson:

It's, uh, to enable you to be better when you come back,

Doug Hodgson:

uh, to work the following day.

Doug Hodgson:

You know, it's, it is, if we need to treat it more like that, um, it's as though you

Doug Hodgson:

are, you've got a cold or flu or whatever, you know, it is, you as an employer

Doug Hodgson:

would give them time off to, to do that.

Doug Hodgson:

It wouldn't be sneered at.

Doug Hodgson:

It wouldn't be counted as being a problem.

Doug Hodgson:

It's just that you just need that moment, that breath to, to do that.

Jon Clayton:

I hope that most employers would be understanding of that and I know

Jon Clayton:

that, I mean, from my own experience, I've had times when I've felt overwhelmed

Jon Clayton:

with things or I felt really stressed and particularly when there's a lot on

Jon Clayton:

my to do list and sometimes I'm getting better at becoming self aware of when this

Jon Clayton:

happens and I know that there's things that I can do And it isn't, it isn't

Jon Clayton:

just, oh, well, the thing you have to do is you just have to work a longer day.

Jon Clayton:

You've got to cram in more hours.

Jon Clayton:

You've got to get to the end of that to do list.

Jon Clayton:

We never get to, the end of the to do list.

Jon Clayton:

But actually, um, I've had times when I might have been working on a particular

Jon Clayton:

task one afternoon and it just feels like I'm, I'm wading through treacle.

Jon Clayton:

It's so difficult and it's taking so long.

Jon Clayton:

But then, if I walk away from it and, have an early finish, have a restful

Jon Clayton:

evening, come back to it the next day, I can get the same task done in a fraction

Jon Clayton:

of the time because I've had time to recharge my batteries or another thing

Jon Clayton:

that I'd like to do is I think even during the day, just having a short

Jon Clayton:

period of time out away from my desk.

Jon Clayton:

If I start to feel that way, I will sometimes I'll, I'll go

Jon Clayton:

out and just go, you know what?

Jon Clayton:

At lunchtime, I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna sit at my desk or, or sit at home.

Jon Clayton:

I mean, I work from home, so I know this is a little bit different if you

Jon Clayton:

work in an office, but if you work in an office environment, go out, like go out,

Jon Clayton:

walk, take a walk to a, a nearby park or something, just get out in nature.

Jon Clayton:

Even just doing that for half an hour can have a really good impact

Jon Clayton:

on how you're feeling that day.

Jon Clayton:

Definitely.

Doug Hodgson:

There's a lot of research around, um, being surrounded

Doug Hodgson:

by nature, surrounded by green.

Doug Hodgson:

I've got a lot of plants here in the new studio.

Doug Hodgson:

Um, that it just, it does, we are, we got to remember we are, we're humans,

Doug Hodgson:

we're animals effectively, and we like being out and surrounded by nature.

Doug Hodgson:

Um, and I think that often as most of us are city dwellers, I think in the

Doug Hodgson:

profession, probably most of us are urban based, um, We can forget that.

Doug Hodgson:

And I think that this, this is one of the things where, you know,

Doug Hodgson:

we're, we're, we're super aware of.

Doug Hodgson:

It's actually as designers, we are designing places where

Doug Hodgson:

people live and where they work.

Doug Hodgson:

And, um, the spaces between are as important as the buildings themselves.

Doug Hodgson:

And that it's a lot of, um, a lot of our current clients,

Doug Hodgson:

uh, really recognize that.

Doug Hodgson:

And it's about, uh, I think as a profession, we kind of need to

Doug Hodgson:

not forget that we also need to sort of live the lives that we are

Doug Hodgson:

designing, if that makes sense.

Doug Hodgson:

Um, and, uh, it's actually, it's one of the, one of the other things around the

Doug Hodgson:

sort of mental health of the profession more generally is do we, uh, as individual

Doug Hodgson:

architects, Have the ability to on the, on the current sort of fee structures

Doug Hodgson:

and pay structures ever be able to afford to own the same houses that

Doug Hodgson:

we're often asked to design for others and live in those same environments

Doug Hodgson:

that we're, that we're creating.

Doug Hodgson:

And I think for young, um, graduates and, and I see, I see that as being a

Doug Hodgson:

real problem in the future for this, um, that the housing crisis is, is

Doug Hodgson:

fundamental to architects because.

Doug Hodgson:

in two really quite serious ways.

Doug Hodgson:

One is obviously that, um, we, we as a profession needs to be better at designing

Doug Hodgson:

homes, um, more generally in that sort of was what we're involved with down

Doug Hodgson:

in Lewis, for instance, at the Phoenix project, um, our, young architects need

Doug Hodgson:

to feel that they can one day live in one of these spaces that they're designing.

Doug Hodgson:

Um, and I fear that too much of London's sort of creative, um, Energy is focused on

Doug Hodgson:

high net worth individuals from all around the world that just seem to gravitate

Doug Hodgson:

here or be encouraged to be here.

Doug Hodgson:

And, uh, and then, uh, effectively abused the young sort of creatives,

Doug Hodgson:

uh, that are, that are here.

Doug Hodgson:

Um, And that has a huge impact on the mental health of, of, uh, young

Doug Hodgson:

professionals, uh, who are sort of asking the question, why, you know,

Doug Hodgson:

why, why, why, why is this client spending 400 pounds on the toilet brush?

Doug Hodgson:

Uh, when I, I, I, I might, they know that said.

Doug Hodgson:

a quarter of my salary or something per month.

Doug Hodgson:

And it's, it's a, it's a real, there's an issue there.

Doug Hodgson:

I think that I'd like to see more from the RIBA, especially, um, but

Doug Hodgson:

whatever the ARB do, uh, but the RIBA, um, saying, especially through their

Doug Hodgson:

awards program and, um, through the way in which they promote architecture

Doug Hodgson:

and talk about architecture.

Doug Hodgson:

I think there needs to be far more focus on affordable housing, far less

Doug Hodgson:

focus on, um, expensive houses, um, or expensive endeavors, um, that, you

Doug Hodgson:

know, who are they for, how many people are they actually for, um, and I think

Doug Hodgson:

that it's, it is quite sad, I think, that the, the Sterling, uh, shortlist

Doug Hodgson:

this year is, is so bereft of, um, really, you know, A lot of really good

Doug Hodgson:

new housing, um, which I was quite shocked by, I think, and actually over

Doug Hodgson:

the last couple of years, and if you go to the sort of a house of the year

Doug Hodgson:

competition, like, oh, you know what, what are we celebrating as profession.

Doug Hodgson:

I would like to just qualify that by saying that I think more

Doug Hodgson:

should be celebrated, not less.

Doug Hodgson:

Um, and, and, you know, there is space for, for incredible design everywhere.

Doug Hodgson:

Um, but I do fear that there is too much concentration on, uh, the sort of, of

Doug Hodgson:

our profession on these high net worth individuals that exist within the city.

Jon Clayton:

Yeah.

Jon Clayton:

And I mean, when we look at the population as a whole, that there's such, that's

Jon Clayton:

such a minority of the general population.

Jon Clayton:

And as you say, we have a housing crisis and to have celebration of good

Jon Clayton:

design on more everyday properties.

Jon Clayton:

More everyday projects that's actually accessible for most

Jon Clayton:

people, affordable homes as well.

Jon Clayton:

And that would would be good to see.

Jon Clayton:

Because as you say that, I mean, it must be frustrating for a lot of architects and

Jon Clayton:

designers that they are Spending the days working on, designs for properties that

Jon Clayton:

are such high value that, that it must be just feel like a pipe dream to ever have

Jon Clayton:

the opportunity for them to, to live in a home that they have designed themselves,

Doug Hodgson:

yeah, absolutely.

Doug Hodgson:

And I think I think I'd like to think that, you know, with

Doug Hodgson:

the new targets of the 1.

Doug Hodgson:

5 million new homes that are going to be needed within five years

Doug Hodgson:

time for later to get reelected.

Doug Hodgson:

There needs to be a focus from the profession to be involved in that.

Doug Hodgson:

And not only involved to lead it, because it's just.

Doug Hodgson:

It would be such a shame if we just got a whole swathe of naughty houses knocked

Doug Hodgson:

up by Taylor Wimpy across the country that had absolutely no relevance to any

Doug Hodgson:

kind of local condition or anything.

Doug Hodgson:

Um, and I, and what is the design life of those anyway, you know,

Doug Hodgson:

so, and what are they profession needs to really grasp this.

Doug Hodgson:

And, and some people are, aren't being vocal about it.

Doug Hodgson:

Uh, like Jay Morton for example, at Bell Phillips, and she's

Doug Hodgson:

doing an amazing job on it.

Doug Hodgson:

The, this needs to be at the forefront of the discourse.

Doug Hodgson:

And I would like to see the RBA on the Channel four news saying we want

Doug Hodgson:

to be involved in this and where are, why isn't RBA needs to be out there?

Doug Hodgson:

Um, really sort of saying that this is the focus of the profession

Doug Hodgson:

for the next five years and.

Doug Hodgson:

All those multi million pound houses can be put on pause.

Doug Hodgson:

They'll still be there if necessary in, in a few years time.

Doug Hodgson:

Um, and I, and I think that would encourage these big house builders

Doug Hodgson:

to go to, well, yeah, to maybe engage the profession better

Doug Hodgson:

to pay the profession better.

Doug Hodgson:

But also, um, that they can't have the excuse of, Oh, well, you know what?

Doug Hodgson:

It's too difficult.

Doug Hodgson:

It's too difficult to come up with all these different designs.

Doug Hodgson:

Let's just knock out stuff that we're just used to doing.

Doug Hodgson:

If you need 1.

Doug Hodgson:

5 million, then we just have to do what we've always done.

Doug Hodgson:

I think just carrying on the way that we've always carried on, I don't think

Doug Hodgson:

it's ever is an acceptable answer, um, for the profession that we shouldn't

Doug Hodgson:

take it as an acceptable answer.

Jon Clayton:

No, not at all.

Jon Clayton:

Just swinging back to Mental health and well being, um,

Doug Hodgson:

Hmm.

Jon Clayton:

prevention.

Jon Clayton:

Prevention is always going to be better than cure, isn't it?

Jon Clayton:

Could we talk a little bit more about what you've, you've tried at NewWorks

Jon Clayton:

to safeguard your team's mental, uh, mental health and wellbeing?

Doug Hodgson:

Yeah, of course.

Doug Hodgson:

Yeah, I think absolute core of it needs to be.

Doug Hodgson:

We need to be true to ourselves.

Doug Hodgson:

Um, and then for me, that's about being your authentic self.

Doug Hodgson:

And I'm now openly gay, uh, in the construction industry.

Doug Hodgson:

And as I feel confident to do that at this point in my career, I haven't always felt

Doug Hodgson:

that I've often felt that I was sort of coming out on a regular basis to various.

Doug Hodgson:

Various people and there are some sort of horror stories of the reactions

Doug Hodgson:

that that would entail But some mostly it was it was people were very very

Doug Hodgson:

kind um But I think that we need to do I think we need to call out other

Doug Hodgson:

people's behaviors and languages.

Doug Hodgson:

Um, when when when people are in those moments and um To safeguard

Doug Hodgson:

others well being as well as our own.

Doug Hodgson:

Um, but I think that one of the things that um, We do at new works,

Doug Hodgson:

which is You different to what we used to do as we completely

Doug Hodgson:

restructured, um, our working day.

Doug Hodgson:

So, uh, the first hour of the day, if you like, so.

Doug Hodgson:

9 till 10 is given over to physical well being.

Doug Hodgson:

So everyone an activity they do, either going running, or going to the gym, or

Doug Hodgson:

swimming, cycling, long walk to work.

Doug Hodgson:

You know, there's these, the space is given over to that physical

Doug Hodgson:

well being in the morning.

Doug Hodgson:

Um, and that enables you then to then do the sort of the second part, which

Doug Hodgson:

is 10 till two, uh, which is then this deep creative work, um, where there's no

Doug Hodgson:

emails, there's no phone calls, there's no WhatsApp, uh, limited access to the

Doug Hodgson:

internet, um, purely for research basis.

Doug Hodgson:

Uh, but no distractions from.

Doug Hodgson:

Uh, blogs, I'm sorry, podcasts, uh, or anything else, which is sort of

Doug Hodgson:

taking away from the focus of, uh, of what, what you're, what you're

Doug Hodgson:

doing, what that creative endeavor is.

Doug Hodgson:

Um, after that, the afternoon is then open for collaboration.

Doug Hodgson:

So that's meetings with other consultants, with clients.

Doug Hodgson:

So that's two till, um, two till five and emails of course, um, during that period.

Doug Hodgson:

Then the hour, if you like, thereafter, five till six, or is

Doug Hodgson:

to, um, it's for your mental health.

Doug Hodgson:

So maybe you want to, you don't want to learn a new language, or

Doug Hodgson:

you want to go and meet some friends that are just that little bit

Doug Hodgson:

further away, you can get there.

Doug Hodgson:

Um, or you want to, um, do something which is very personal to you,

Doug Hodgson:

go to a gallery or something.

Doug Hodgson:

And so that gives you the space that will just go and meet, you know, just, just.

Doug Hodgson:

Go home, you know, uh, and spend some time with the family as I

Doug Hodgson:

do having a young three year old son who requires my attention.

Doug Hodgson:

Uh, so, you know, it's a, it's about structuring the day to really focus

Doug Hodgson:

on the creative work in that, in that morning, which is why we're

Doug Hodgson:

did architecture anyway, why we, and what our clients are paying for.

Doug Hodgson:

Um, and they, so they, it's about, For us, um, sort of informing our clients

Doug Hodgson:

and keeping them sort of and letting them buy into this, uh, way of working by

Doug Hodgson:

through saying that this is why this is why you want us to work on your project.

Doug Hodgson:

So, you know, help us carve out this space.

Doug Hodgson:

And, um, once you get through a few of the jokes of clients going, Oh,

Doug Hodgson:

I promise I won't interrupt your.

Doug Hodgson:

Your meditation, or I promise I won't, uh, I won't call you after five o'clock.

Doug Hodgson:

Uh, you know, because, you know, we'd spend time with the family.

Doug Hodgson:

Uh, it's, they, they, they then really do start to see the fruits of it as well.

Doug Hodgson:

We've really noticed that we're far more efficient in the way we work.

Doug Hodgson:

We're producing far more.

Doug Hodgson:

Um, and I think that it is actually a structure to the

Doug Hodgson:

working day, which I really hope others start to, start to adopt.

Jon Clayton:

I love it.

Jon Clayton:

I love it.

Jon Clayton:

It sounds, sounds like a fantastic way to structure the day.

Jon Clayton:

Doug, what advice would you give to other practice owners, um, to

Jon Clayton:

safeguard their mental health?

Jon Clayton:

Would you give?

Jon Clayton:

Some similar advice to them.

Jon Clayton:

Remember.

Jon Clayton:

Don't forget to download the architecture business, blueprint the

Jon Clayton:

step by step formula to freedom for architects, architecture, technologists,

Jon Clayton:

and architecture designers.

Jon Clayton:

You can grab the blueprint without any charge@architecturebusinessclub.com

Jon Clayton:

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Jon Clayton:

And if you enjoy this episode, then please leave a five star review or

Jon Clayton:

rating wherever you listen to podcasts.

Jon Clayton:

Now, back to the show.

Doug Hodgson:

Yeah, absolutely.

Doug Hodgson:

The first and foremost is like stay connected to the work.

Doug Hodgson:

So don't stop drawing.

Doug Hodgson:

We stopped drawing for a while.

Doug Hodgson:

We're doing markups, but that's not the same thing.

Doug Hodgson:

I mean, it's um, we actually get back into the drawing.

Doug Hodgson:

There was the sort of the happiest and quite a pivotal

Doug Hodgson:

moment in the last year or so.

Doug Hodgson:

It was a sort of sat down for two days and drew a street elevation for projects and

Doug Hodgson:

by hand and knowing that on the third day.

Doug Hodgson:

We'd be presenting it to the client.

Doug Hodgson:

So it's a little bit high pressure, but very, very enjoyable.

Doug Hodgson:

And I just didn't do anything other than that.

Doug Hodgson:

I just, I know this is rather sort of self indulgent possibly, but turned off

Doug Hodgson:

emails and shut down everything else.

Doug Hodgson:

And, and it was this wonderful thing.

Doug Hodgson:

It was a really enjoyable experience working with Tom.

Doug Hodgson:

Tom would come along, we'd draw something and then we had, we effectively had

Doug Hodgson:

this sort of, this drawing, which had all these sort of flaps of.

Doug Hodgson:

I'll see if I can find it, but the, um, uh, and the client was mesmerized and

Doug Hodgson:

they sat there and they were just, could, their nose got closer and closer and

Doug Hodgson:

closer to the drawing as, as mine did while I was drawing it and sort of, uh,

Doug Hodgson:

realized I need a proper drawing board.

Doug Hodgson:

Um, it's the, it's that sort of don't lose the connection to the actual

Doug Hodgson:

work and why, why you're doing it.

Doug Hodgson:

So that would be my biggest piece of advice to, uh, practice owners.

Doug Hodgson:

Um, the other would be minimize emails.

Doug Hodgson:

You know, treat them as letters really don't engage in the tit for tat.

Doug Hodgson:

Um, and that I feel that the more that we treat them as, as letters, others

Doug Hodgson:

respond similarly, and especially since we don't respond to emails in

Doug Hodgson:

the morning, um, others are really starting to sort of treat us with it.

Doug Hodgson:

It's a little bit more care in the way in which they structure

Doug Hodgson:

a question or, um, a request.

Doug Hodgson:

Um, they realize there's a finite amount of time that they have.

Doug Hodgson:

for that response to be sort of, um, organized.

Doug Hodgson:

Uh, so it's, it's about respecting other people's time.

Doug Hodgson:

Uh, I think Jen more generally, uh, and that's sort of being kinder to

Doug Hodgson:

others and sort of that, and it gets reciprocated back, I think, uh, by others

Doug Hodgson:

when they sort of realize what it is that you're doing with your day, uh,

Doug Hodgson:

and that you're not a filing cabinet.

Doug Hodgson:

And you're not a, uh, a sort of an AI bot who can just respond to any

Doug Hodgson:

sorts of question in the moment.

Doug Hodgson:

Um, so yeah.

Doug Hodgson:

Um, and I'd say that all the other thing would be to trust others more.

Doug Hodgson:

So whether it's external consultants, you know, bookkeeping, accounting, all the

Doug Hodgson:

obvious ones, but, um, publicity, HR, IT.

Doug Hodgson:

Um, it can go on and then it should, that should go on to being, uh, you know,

Doug Hodgson:

delivery practice, creative practice.

Doug Hodgson:

I'd just like to say that I think I'd love to encourage more

Doug Hodgson:

really good delivery architects.

Doug Hodgson:

who maybe feel undervalued in their current situation to step out and

Doug Hodgson:

set up their own practice because we'd love to collaborate with them.

Doug Hodgson:

Um, I think that they should be, feel more empowered, um, and more

Doug Hodgson:

celebrated within the profession.

Doug Hodgson:

And then if they become business owners and they take in their working methods.

Doug Hodgson:

And they're sort of more structured possible way of, uh, way of working,

Doug Hodgson:

trying to emulate Veritech's confidence in that, in those work stages, then

Doug Hodgson:

I, we would love to work with them.

Doug Hodgson:

So, um, obviously we'd hope that they would share our values on

Doug Hodgson:

working day and, uh, the way they treat their employees as well.

Jon Clayton:

Absolutely.

Jon Clayton:

I think that's a great idea.

Jon Clayton:

I I'd like to give a shout out actually to the humble chartered architectural

Jon Clayton:

technologists out there, because I think that they could potentially make, um,

Jon Clayton:

a great delivery partner for, for many, uh, design focused architects practices.

Jon Clayton:

Um, I would love to see more cross collaboration between

Jon Clayton:

professions of in the industry at a.

Jon Clayton:

Out of sort of membership, well with amongst members, but also a sort

Jon Clayton:

of organizational level as well.

Jon Clayton:

I think that organizations like the RIBA and CIAT.

Jon Clayton:

CIOB, they could do a better job of coordinating things together.

Jon Clayton:

And I think their members would get a lot more value from that collaboration,

Jon Clayton:

uh, across those different, um, bodies.

Jon Clayton:

I think at the moment that people are often in these different silos.

Jon Clayton:

And actually, if we all work together a bit more collaboratively, I think

Jon Clayton:

we could, we could achieve some better results, I think, um, again, that's that

Jon Clayton:

we could probably do a whole episode on that story for another day, perhaps.

Jon Clayton:

Yeah.

Jon Clayton:

um, so are there any, are there any other steps that you think we could,

Jon Clayton:

we could all take to improve mental health across the industry as a whole?

Doug Hodgson:

I think it's really sort of similar to what we were talking

Doug Hodgson:

before, and that's about collaborating, more specializing and Um, the respecting

Doug Hodgson:

each other's skill sets, and I think that if we if we haven't, I think, as

Doug Hodgson:

you were just saying, the architectural technologists, and I think that if if

Doug Hodgson:

there's a way in which the I think the R.

Doug Hodgson:

O.

Doug Hodgson:

B.

Doug Hodgson:

A.

Doug Hodgson:

needs to be more responsible here, there needs to be more, um, sort

Doug Hodgson:

of realizing this is important.

Doug Hodgson:

Part of their role is to, um, is to sort of facilitate it.

Doug Hodgson:

Bye.

Doug Hodgson:

Those kind of relationships and, um, and be more supportive of, of practices.

Doug Hodgson:

Um, I think, you know, one of the, going back to the Bartlett again,

Doug Hodgson:

but, um, when we left the Bartlett, we were just sort of chucked out into

Doug Hodgson:

the wider world and they ignore you for years unless you're successful.

Doug Hodgson:

You know, the Bartlett only came back to us like 10 years

Doug Hodgson:

later after we were in there.

Doug Hodgson:

40 under 40.

Doug Hodgson:

And then suddenly there was all arms open like, Oh, you're great.

Doug Hodgson:

I'm like, where have you been for the last 15 years?

Doug Hodgson:

And I think that discarded into the wilderness.

Doug Hodgson:

And I, I think that the RBA have a similar position.

Doug Hodgson:

I think that they need to be far more Progressive in what they do.

Doug Hodgson:

And, um, I think that they need to be more inclusive and, um, representative, and

Doug Hodgson:

they need to be really pushing an agenda for more diversity within the profession.

Doug Hodgson:

And I think that as a wider industry, uh, mental health in one industry,

Doug Hodgson:

that the only way in which the industry is going to, uh, I believe survive

Doug Hodgson:

our profession within the industry is going to survive really in the

Doug Hodgson:

longterm is to become more diverse.

Doug Hodgson:

Um, and be more effective with communities and to be more

Doug Hodgson:

supportive of the individuals that are working on the projects.

Doug Hodgson:

I think the industry needs to be more respective of what the architects provide

Doug Hodgson:

to the whole design team, the project team, and therefore renumerated and

Doug Hodgson:

correctly in comparison to all the other people within, within the industry.

Doug Hodgson:

Um, and.

Doug Hodgson:

As a profession, we need to be more respectful of the individuals within

Doug Hodgson:

and provide hope and roots for young people from more diverse backgrounds

Doug Hodgson:

to, to be able to access the profession.

Doug Hodgson:

Otherwise we will become an irrelevance.

Doug Hodgson:

Um, I think there's a, As a group, as a profession, um, and that's, we can,

Doug Hodgson:

and that's, we can structure restructure education to be more reflective of that.

Doug Hodgson:

And I think that that requires a completely reset on, on part one and

Doug Hodgson:

part two and part three, um, where as far less years required in full time

Doug Hodgson:

education, I think there's the LSA model is a really good one, but I still think

Doug Hodgson:

that the whole thing can be shortened.

Doug Hodgson:

Um, at least to achieving a level of part two after four years, um, you

Doug Hodgson:

don't need to keep repeating years like third year is a repeat of second

Doug Hodgson:

year, fourth and fifth year are pretty much repeats of third year.

Doug Hodgson:

So if you can have maybe two years in education full time, and then a

Doug Hodgson:

year out in practice, I suggest six months in creative, six months in.

Doug Hodgson:

Uh, then back to education full time for your effectively your

Doug Hodgson:

fourth year, um, in the process.

Doug Hodgson:

And then after that fourth year, that's your part two, then into

Doug Hodgson:

profession and, uh, working towards like a seventh, eighth year when you're

Doug Hodgson:

then sort of, you've gained enough experience to be taking a part three.

Doug Hodgson:

Um, to become a professional.

Doug Hodgson:

So I don't think that we're endangering the general public through sort of casting

Doug Hodgson:

these out too young and experienced.

Doug Hodgson:

I say, I'd say that they would be more experienced.

Doug Hodgson:

They'd have more opportunity to learn from practice, um, but with a much less.

Doug Hodgson:

outlay, um, and debt burden, um, being put on young people.

Doug Hodgson:

Um, and also actually just to add, I think that that year in

Doug Hodgson:

the middle, that sandwiched year should be organized by the RIBA.

Doug Hodgson:

It should be a responsibility of the RIBA to make it, uh, a

Doug Hodgson:

requirement of charter practices that they take on these part ones.

Doug Hodgson:

And so that you have a guaranteed job and income during that third year.

Doug Hodgson:

And so that you can enter the education with the knowledge that you can

Doug Hodgson:

get to the end of it and afford it.

Doug Hodgson:

And I think it's absolutely astonishing that part ones are

Doug Hodgson:

expected to try and find their own job.

Doug Hodgson:

I mean, it's, it's, it's At the whim of, uh, employers.

Doug Hodgson:

Again, it's the, it's the basis that we were talking about earlier and the

Doug Hodgson:

education system being broken, but the, um, it shouldn't be like that.

Doug Hodgson:

And you shouldn't, they shouldn't have to be negotiating their own pay or

Doug Hodgson:

having to work unpaid in some places, um, when it's really part of the education.

Doug Hodgson:

So, um, yeah, I think there needs to be more support for young people.

Jon Clayton:

Doug, um,

Jon Clayton:

What would be the main thing that you'd like everyone to

Jon Clayton:

take away from the conversation?

Doug Hodgson:

I think the main thing is that architecture is important.

Doug Hodgson:

And, um, but it's not so important that we need to kill

Doug Hodgson:

young architects in the process.

Doug Hodgson:

And I think that we need to be kinder to ourselves as the, um, sort

Doug Hodgson:

of, more senior people within the profession, um, to as well, but we

Doug Hodgson:

also need to be kind of throughout.

Doug Hodgson:

So, um, I think that's that there's a, there's an over requirement on, on

Doug Hodgson:

young people in the profession, I think to take a lot of the heavy burden.

Doug Hodgson:

Um, and then I think that we're without being, uh, mentally

Doug Hodgson:

and physically healthy.

Doug Hodgson:

Um, I think that the profession will suffer and we'll, and

Doug Hodgson:

we will become more under.

Doug Hodgson:

under the pressure of, um, others within the industry who are, who

Doug Hodgson:

are very large and, um, powerful and well, well financially supported.

Doug Hodgson:

So, um, be more, if we can be more agile, collaborate more, talk to one another

Doug Hodgson:

more within the profession, I think that that will be, um, for the betterment of

Doug Hodgson:

everyone within the profession and the death and thereby also the betterment

Doug Hodgson:

of, Architecture in this country, and I think we'll have better buildings will

Doug Hodgson:

have more sustainable buildings and we'll have hopefully will be more engaged in the

Doug Hodgson:

housing crisis and how that is resolved.

Doug Hodgson:

Because as of it will have more practices working across large projects, where

Doug Hodgson:

we're specializing in the design, and then others who may be the big builders can

Doug Hodgson:

have more faith and can be delivering.

Doug Hodgson:

sort of at the other end.

Doug Hodgson:

Um, so I think that's what I'd like to segue.

Jon Clayton:

That would be good to see.

Jon Clayton:

Doug, is there anything else that you, you wanted to say that we haven't covered?

Doug Hodgson:

Um, I thought we were covering quite a lot, but I think

Doug Hodgson:

possibly just around the planning system.

Doug Hodgson:

Now, this is obviously currently under review and, um, which is good to see,

Doug Hodgson:

but I fear that unless the profession gets more involved in the conversation.

Doug Hodgson:

We're not going to be able to enact the change that's required, which

Doug Hodgson:

is around improving the quality of the buildings that are being these

Doug Hodgson:

mass housing builders are going to be building over the next five years.

Doug Hodgson:

So we need to be far more within that.

Doug Hodgson:

And we need the reset of, of that.

Doug Hodgson:

I think that there's, there's a lot.

Doug Hodgson:

should be done with communities and communities should be involved

Doug Hodgson:

in an architecture and we should be respectful of communities, but

Doug Hodgson:

we should engage with communities.

Doug Hodgson:

And I think having sort of CICs and other organizations or CLTs, um, where.

Doug Hodgson:

The actual profession is then responding to the requirements.

Doug Hodgson:

Um, it's going to be a much more fruitful way in the long term of achieving

Doug Hodgson:

these, these large numbers of, of houses that we do need, we do need to build.

Doug Hodgson:

Um, but I just think they need to be respectful of local conditions.

Jon Clayton:

Absolutely.

Jon Clayton:

Doug, um, this has been a really great conversation.

Jon Clayton:

It's, been great to have the opportunity to talk to you about this.

Jon Clayton:

I, I do have one other question, and it's, it's not related to, um, Well, I suppose

Jon Clayton:

it kind of loosely is related to wellbeing because, um, I love to travel and

Jon Clayton:

discover new places and get out and about.

Jon Clayton:

And, um, I just wondered if you could, you could tell me about one of your favourite

Jon Clayton:

places and what you love about it.

Doug Hodgson:

um, I was definitely connected to wellbeing.

Doug Hodgson:

Um, I think that everyone needs a sort of a stabilizing place.

Doug Hodgson:

I feel and currently that stabilizing place for me is spending time

Doug Hodgson:

with my son, who we adopted a year and a half ago in our garden.

Doug Hodgson:

Um, because at the end of the garden, there's a fence and then

Doug Hodgson:

there's a field and then there's a really long view beyond.

Doug Hodgson:

And, uh, it's just a really wonderful space.

Doug Hodgson:

Um, where we sort of, we had that connection to nature, but we had to spend

Doug Hodgson:

time together and, um, this is why we sort of catch the sun every now and again.

Doug Hodgson:

Um, but it's, Yeah, it's a wonderful space.

Doug Hodgson:

And I think that the other thing is about, um, favorite places.

Doug Hodgson:

I think often our mental health, we need for our mental health.

Doug Hodgson:

We need to somewhere that we can go to sort of in our, in our sort of our mind.

Doug Hodgson:

And mine for me is, uh, my grandma's, uh, house, uh, in Somerset where I

Doug Hodgson:

spent a lot of time, I was often shipped off to Somerset, uh, weeks on end.

Doug Hodgson:

And, um, I spent an awful lot of time gardening with her in her garden.

Doug Hodgson:

So I.

Doug Hodgson:

I remember that very, you know, very vividly.

Doug Hodgson:

And, uh, at Christmas time, we'd then bring in most of the garden inside

Doug Hodgson:

and we'd sort of chop down the holly tree and bring it in and completely,

Doug Hodgson:

completely cover the house in greenery.

Doug Hodgson:

So I feel that a lot of, actually maybe a lot of my sort of, uh, want

Doug Hodgson:

to be outside and gardening and sort of lot hunting has comes from

Doug Hodgson:

that relationship with my grandma.

Doug Hodgson:

Um, and so, yeah, I think, um, that, that those sorts of spaces is what

Doug Hodgson:

I, what I feel most connected to or

Jon Clayton:

Oh, that sounds lovely.

Jon Clayton:

Yeah.

Jon Clayton:

Yeah.

Jon Clayton:

I, uh, I love, uh, I love getting out into, I love going out into the garden

Jon Clayton:

and into the woods and into nature.

Jon Clayton:

I am, I'm a terrible gardener though.

Jon Clayton:

I will readily admit that.

Jon Clayton:

My wife is the one that's the, the green fingered member of our household.

Jon Clayton:

So she tends to like, tends to the, the plants and the flowers and things.

Jon Clayton:

Which actually reminds me, she's away for a couple of days and she

Jon Clayton:

wanted me to water her plants and I've actually forgotten to do it.

Jon Clayton:

So, um, I'd be in trouble if I don't, if I don't go and do that today.

Jon Clayton:

So Doug, thank you so much again for coming on the show.

Jon Clayton:

Really appreciate you um, sharing and talking about this

Jon Clayton:

really important topic with me.

Jon Clayton:

If people want to connect with you online, where's the best

Jon Clayton:

place for them to do that?

Doug Hodgson:

Um, probably through LinkedIn.

Doug Hodgson:

Um, I think, uh, I'm trying to be better on that now.

Doug Hodgson:

Uh, I know my business partner, Tom, is, is, is far more

Doug Hodgson:

sort of linked in than I am.

Doug Hodgson:

Uh, But that's a, that's a really good space.

Doug Hodgson:

We're also on Instagram, um, and, uh, as new works and, um, or, or email us,

Doug Hodgson:

uh, studio New works with a hyen.net.

Doug Hodgson:

Uh, and, uh, we'd love to, love to hear from you, especially if you're a

Doug Hodgson:

delivery practice, you know, or, uh, we'd like to collaborate on on any project.

Jon Clayton:

That's brilliant.

Jon Clayton:

And, um, Doug, do you want to remind everyone of your, your

Jon Clayton:

website address again, please?

Doug Hodgson:

Yes.

Doug Hodgson:

So we are, uh, ww New Works with a hyphen in middle, uh, net.

Jon Clayton:

Got it.

Jon Clayton:

Perfect.

Jon Clayton:

Thanks again, Doug.

Doug Hodgson:

Fantastic.

Doug Hodgson:

Thank you, John.

Doug Hodgson:

Have a great day

Jon Clayton:

Next time I chat with Fabio.

Jon Clayton:

Zammit about how you can generate more leads from your website.

Jon Clayton:

Thanks so much for listening to this episode of architecture business club.

Jon Clayton:

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Jon Clayton:

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Jon Clayton:

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Jon Clayton:

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Jon Clayton:

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Jon Clayton:

And if you haven't already done, so don't forget to hit the subscribe button.

Jon Clayton:

So you never miss another episode.

Jon Clayton:

If you want to connect with me, you can do that on most social media

Jon Clayton:

platforms, just search for at Mr.

Jon Clayton:

John Clayton.

Jon Clayton:

The best place to connect with me online, though is on LinkedIn.

Jon Clayton:

You can find a link to my profile in the show notes.

Jon Clayton:

Remember.

Jon Clayton:

Running your architecture business.

Jon Clayton:

Doesn't have to be hard and you don't need to do it alone.

Jon Clayton:

This is architecture business club.