The practice, which became employee-owned in July 2025, has promoted Grant Prescott and Jenna Johnston both to associate director level recognising their contribution and commitment to the business. Together they bring over 30 years’ experience and industry knowledge to Buttress’ leadership team. Grant, who celebrates 20 years at the practice this month, is a conservation architect who specialises in the sensitive restoration and redevelopment of historic and listed buildings. Jenna, who has been at Buttress over 11 years, leads the Heritage Consultancy team supporting clients to deliver projects with historic environment considerations.
In addition, the practice has also recently recruited a new marketing director, Toby Cope, who brings a wealth of marketing leadership across property and architecture. All three join Buttress’ leadership team.
The practice has also increased the number of AABC* accredited conservation professionals, with three more staff members recently qualifying – Samantha Knights, Jenny Wilkinson and Steve Kendall - taking Buttress’ total up to eight staff members.
Director of People and Culture, Sanj Dip-Matadeen said
"At Buttress, we believe that our people are at the heart of what makes the business successful. As an employee-owned practice, investing in people is part of who we are and the culture we want to continue building together.
“We want people to feel they can build long and rewarding careers here, with opportunities to learn, take on new challenges and continue developing over time. What matters is creating an environment where everyone can keep learning, keep developing and build a career that feels meaningful. As we continue to evolve as an employee-owned practice, that focus doesn’t change. Congratulations to Grant and Jenna for their recent promotions, and welcome to Toby who will now lead the marketing, communications and BD team.”
Neal Charlton, Buttress director who jointly leads the Arts, Heritage and Cultural team at the practice, commented:
“Congratulations also to our newly accredited conservation professionals. As a business, our strategy was to increase the resource of our conservation accredited staff over the last 18 months, which we have now achieved and are pleased to have such a rich internal talent pool to offer to our clients. We believe this ranks us within the top four organisations in the UK with this amount of AABC accredited staff."
Buttress has a strong regional presence in the Northwest and Yorkshire, with projects extending nationally, and is now ranked the 55th largest architecture practice in the UK according to the AJ100 league table. Produced annually by Architects’ Journal, the AJ100 is the definitive list of the UK’s top 100 practices, based on the number of qualified architects employed. Buttress now has a total of 49 qualified architects** and has a larger team which includes architects, technologists and heritage consultants.
Gavin Sorby, Managing Director, Buttress commented:
“We’re proud to be ranked 55th in the UK and continuing our upward trajectory. As the AJ100 reflects the size of our architectural team, this milestone is a clear marker of how the practice is growing year on year. This achievement is a testament to the incredible talent, hard work and dedication of our Buttress team.”
*An AABC accredited architect is a registered architect who has demonstrated specialist competence in the conservation, repair and adaptation of historic buildings. Accreditation recognises that the architect has the knowledge, judgement and practical experience needed to assess significance, understand historic fabric, develop appropriate conservation strategies, and lead or contribute responsibly to works affecting heritage assets. It provides clients, building owners, funders and statutory bodies with assurance that the architect is suitably experienced to work on sensitive historic buildings and places.