Philip has worked successfully across the private, public and third sectors as an architect and client. Latterly he has commissioned competitions and designs for buildings and city plans. He is especially interested in how very early decisions influence the quality of a design at the end of often long journeys in the creation of new places and buildings. He chaired the design review panel for several years at Birmingham City Council, which dealt with the analysis and advice on around 150 projects annually. He is proud of the fact that for eleven years he was on the BCIA judging panel that shortlisted projects for a series of awards that encompassed safety, design, client roles, sustainability and sheer bravado, so he has studied what successful places look and feel like. That same panel chose the Prime Minister’s Better Public Building each year.