Lee Davies

Director, Architect, Masterplanner, Urban Designer and RIBA Accredited Conservation Architect at HNW Architects, also BHT Sussex (Housing & Homelessness Charity).

Lee is a RIBA Awards Jury Member and SECBE Awards Chair. He is also a Mentor and Visiting Critic, University of Brighton – School of Architecture.

With over three decades in professional practice, Lee has worked at the intersection of architecture, urban design, and regeneration, delivering projects that shape places and communities across the South East and London. His career has been defined by a belief that good urban design is both social and spatial — about people, movement, memory, and context — and that enduring places emerge through collaboration and clarity of vision.

As a Director of HNW Architects, Lee leads their Brighton & Hove studio and sits on the main board, driving work in masterplanning, regeneration, residential, and community projects. He champions design processes that are inclusive, evidence-based and place-specific, ensuring that each scheme responds to its physical, social and economic setting. Lee's leadership has strengthened HNW’s role in shaping sustainable neighbourhoods and town-centre regeneration across the region.

Lee's approach is informed by earlier experience at Conran and Partners and Pollard Thomas Edwards, where he led multi-phased regeneration projects such as Green Man Lane, Ealing and Walthamstow Stadium — exemplars of design-led renewal integrating heritage, housing, and public realm. These projects reinforced his belief in the long-term value of community-driven, human-scaled urbanism.

Lee is a RIBA-accredited Conservation Architect, bridging the dialogue between old and new, and Chair of the SECBE Retrofit Awards, where he advocates for sustainable adaptation and reuse. As a RIBA Awards Judge and Mentor at the University of Brighton, he actively supports the next generation of professionals, promoting critical thinking and reflective practice.

Beyond project work, Lee contributes to broader social impact through his role as a Trustee of BHT Sussex, supporting strategic decision-making on housing and homelessness. These roles reflect his belief that design should serve wider societal purpose — that regeneration must be equitable as well as beautiful.Through teaching, advocacy and leadership, Lee aims to advance the principles central to the Urban Design Group: collaboration, contextual design, sustainability and civic value.