Leeds Architecture Practice Rebrands as Edward+Riley

Edward Architects becomes Edward+Riley as director Chris Riley joins founder Graham Edward as shareholder, with a 25% growth plan and a new North East office

A Leeds architecture practice best known for its work on the award-winning Holbeck Viaduct scheme is changing hands from within. Edward Architects, which has studios in Leeds and London, has made director Chris Riley a joint shareholder alongside founder Graham Edward, and will now trade as Edward+Riley Architects. The move formalises a long-planned succession and comes as the firm heads for its strongest year yet, with turnover expected to top £1m.

Why This Matters For Leeds

Succession is a big question for professional and creative firms. Founders build practices over decades and face a choice: sell to a national consolidator, possibly moving the firm out of the city, or handover the business to the people who helped build it.

Inside the Leeds Architecture Practice’s Transition

Chris Riley joined the RIBA-chartered firm in 2008 as a graduate architect, became a director in 2017 and has led its residential work, an 18-year climb that mirrors the practice’s promote-from-within philosophy. Founded in 2005, the business now employs 15 people and has built a strong client list, including house builders Gleeson, Lovell and Vistry, plus the Church Commissioners and Keyland. Its portfolio spans housing, masterplanning, accessible design and industrial and mixed-use schemes. The co-ownership formalises a succession designed to keep long-standing client relationships stable while giving staff a visible route to progress. Founder Graham Edward frames it as continuity rather than change.

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“We have always believed in training, mentoring and promoting people from within the practice.”

— Graham Edward, Founder, Edward+Riley Architects

From Holbeck Viaduct to a Bigger Footprint

The firm plans to grow headcount by around 25% over five years, open a North East satellite office and is weighing a Manchester base, while folding AI and new digital tools into how it works. Its reputation has been building on projects like the Holbeck Viaduct, the plan to turn a 1.6km disused Victorian viaduct into an elevated linear park linking the rail station, Holbeck and Elland Road, which won a 2026 Pineapple Award, the placemaking prizes sometimes dubbed the ‘Oscars of place’. Edward+Riley worked on that scheme. For a Leeds architecture practice competing with the big national names, that kind of civic profile is hard currency.