Newly qualified HAUS architect Elliot Reilly pauses to appreciate the view:

It’s been ten years. Ten long years filled with lectures, work placements, choosing study over socialising, early mornings and late nights. Now, having recently passed my final ‘Part III’ exam and I can refer to myself as an architect, I find myself taking a deep breath and reflecting on what I’ve done and what happens next.

Looking back, there have been a few key influencers and pivotal moments. My grandfather first sparked my interest in architecture when he took me to visit the Glasgow School of Art when I was 13 years oldut of all my years at the University of Dundee, I had one tutor who really stands out; he lit the fire inside me and changed how I think about design. One module he led focused on repairing the broken urban fabric of the historic old town of Shanghai, China. As part of the project I got to visit Shanghai, where I designed modular housing for the deprived suburb. Myself and two colleagues subsequently entered an international design competition and were placed second out of 400 entries.

The university course was hugely challenging, and I had to remain focused, engaged and disciplined in my everyday behaviours. I don’t really like sitting still. I hate not doing anything. So I couldn’t just walk or sit in my room and watch the TV. I needed to be doing something engaging. Maintaining a social connection with friends and family helped, along with the occasional round of golf.

There’s far more to the course than learning how to design buildings. It opens up a different way of thinking about the world and gives you the skills to imagine and construct entire communities that can thrive for generations. Few professions allow you to create something that stands for hundreds of years, which is inspiring.

Following my undergraduate and Master’s degrees, my experience in practice has been invaluable. Over the course of the past three years, I have worked at practices in Glasgow and Kinross before joining HAUS in 2022. It is here at HAUS that I came to understand the importance of personal development and building my career as an architect through involvement in a number of projects at various stages. To date, I have had the benefit of working on a high-density build-to-rent residential community at Lancefield Quay, a sensitive refurbishment and repurposing of the former Napiershall Street School for residential use, and more recently, a new hotel and short-stay accommodation building on Maxwell Street in Glasgow, balancing new build with sensitive heritage restoration. I received huge support from all of my colleagues during the Part 3 process, and this support has continued as my role at HAUS enters a new chapter.

I’ve achieved a key milestone in my career – my primary motivation for the last decade. Now, it’s about putting everything I have learned into practice to pursue my passion for design and its positive impact on everyday life.