Esmond Reid is an architect, surveyor and technical author. He has more than thirty years experience in his field, the survey, alteration and repair of existing buildings. And he also writes about it. On any project he knows what is practicable, how to manage the contract and its costs and how to set up the clearest communication with everyone involved: the client, the design team, the builder.

Esmond’s interest in the practical-technical aspects of building, how it informs the design and running of projects, is at the core of his service to clients and has characterised his career from the start. Graduating in architecture from Edinburgh University in 1969, he was more on the building site than in the studio, working ‘hands on’ renovating Scottish buildings. This was an early, rigorous lesson on how buildings are put together and projects run. Moving to London, he was a technical editor on The Architects’ Journal before starting his own practice in the late 70s.

His book Understanding Buildings, published in the UK and USA and translated into other European languages, has become a standard primer in building technology, adopted by architecture and construction courses internationally.