The RSAW President is the most senior elected representative of the society and serves a crucial role in representing the interests of Chartered Architects in Wales. One of the main responsibilities of the RSAW President is to lead RSAW Council, which helps to shape the strategic direction of the RSAW and gives voice to elected representative members of RSAW from across Wales. The RSAW President also represents Wales on RIBA Council.
Alan Francis has been elected as the next President of the Royal Society of Architects in Wales (RSAW) and will start his two-year term as President, succeeding Dan Benham, on 1 September 2025.
Get to know me
I am 68 years old. Maybe I’m the oldest RSAW president ever?
I love being in the office, working at the drawing board, interacting with colleagues and clients and there’s plenty of things I love to get involved in. Importantly, I have plenty of years of useful experience I can share with others along my journey.
I grew up on a hill farm near Pontypool. Not the usual start for an architect, but - influenced by creative parents - I was committed from an early age. I hadn’t a clue what it involved, but I landed, fortuitously, (my A level results were stymied by rock music) at what used to be called Oxford Polytechnic (now Oxford Brookes University) where, after a period wondering whether it was all really for me, found myself being tutored by Peter Aldington, and that changed everything.
I co-founded Gaunt Francis in 1996. In the early days we had offices in London and Cardiff, but these days it’s all based in Cardiff. We have a great office, a fabulous group of talented colleagues and a lovely creative atmosphere. I spent eleven years as a Director at the Design Commission for Wales, and for eight of those was chair of the Commission. These days I am also a Trustee of the Architectural Heritage Fund. My home and family are still close to Pontypool, where I have converted and extended a grade II listed 16C barn.
What interests me outside the office?
I still sketch a lot, even on holidays; dw i’n dysgu cymraeg a gobeithio y byddaf yn rhugl yn fuan ; and I am a keen, though very amateur, gardener.
Why I decided to run for president?
I think the profession is at a real crossroads, and I wonder where we might be in 30 years’ time. That’s not a resigned state of mind and I have every faith in our abilities to adapt, but in my experience we are increasingly on the edge of things, when in reality we are the only consultant who can coordinate a beautifully crafted result.
I believe that, in seeking a way to overcome those concerns, and to survive and prosper in practice, the pressures on architects operating on projects in Wales are different to those in most of England. RIBA, understandably, concentrate on promoting experiential issues that exist in England, but here in Wales have our own Planning Act, our own Building Regulations, our own Language Act, our own architectural magazine, our own conferences, and soon, our own Building Safety Regulator. We have always been culturally different and increasingly, we are administratively different.
I feel the RSAW need more autonomy. That was the single issue focus of my election manifesto and remains so as I enter my presidency. In addressing that, perhaps we can help create, at least for projects in Wales, a position more central to the delivery of a good piece of architecture, than is currently the case. The emerging Building Safety Act might provide that opportunity, if we are confident enough to grasp it.
What I hope to achieve during my two year term?
I have spent part of my time over the last 12 months visiting as many architects in Wales as I can, within their own practices and in some of the RSAW branches. Apologies if I have not got to everyone, but whilst it was always an impossible task, I have learnt a lot so far.
I will be talking to our colleagues across RIBA about how we might operate better (and the timing now is critical) because the feedback I have been given allows me to do so, alongside the extensive surveying of membership already carried out by the RSAW over the last few years.
Of course many architects living and working in Wales would not want to be limited in where they practice. I also recognise that, increasingly, architects based in England are operating across Wales. My aim is not for separation – it’s simply that we should work with RIBA as a sister organisation in exactly the same way as they do in Scotland and Northern Ireland. We are an independent nation, not just a region.
There are a myriad of other challenges in Wales. We seem to have little weight, even Chartered Practices, in the minds of some Local Authorities when commissioning new design. Is enough promotion given to our own practitioners? Local practices have all the skills necessary and usually a better understanding of local constraints and yet are often overlooked, and in some cases, simply avoided. We have no representation as a Statutory Consultee to Welsh Government and whilst there are complications in that, they need airing.
I suspect a lot of that might be easier to tackle with more autonomy.
