Derbyshire-based bi design architecture celebrates 25-year anniversary

Darryn Buttrill, practice director founded the company in 1998 to offer architectural design services for both commercial and residential projects. During those 25 years, the team at bi Design have worked on over 1700 projects, ranging from bespoke, luxury houses to landmark local attractions, such as Mercia Marina at Willington, Burton Rugby Football Club and working with East Staffordshire Borough Council to successfully win the Project D funding bid for the regeneration of the Burton riverside area.

Since its inception, bi Design has offered an innovative approach to residential and commercial architecture, forming strong working relationships with local planning authorities, with an extremely high success rate of achieving planning approval. The company currently employs 7 members of staff, with a combined 86 years of architectural experience.

Commenting on his 25 years in business, practice director Darryn Buttrill said: “Throughout our 25 years in business, one key thing has been constant and of which I’m particularly proud and that’s the quality of architecture produced, we never rest on our laurels, and we always strive to produce designs that delight our clients and which we take personal pride in. The size of our business has allowed us to remain agile and give a personal touch to our designs. Fundamentally we are driven by design and we love the collaborative process required to arrive at each architectural solution.”

He added: “This 25-year milestone is a testament to our exceptional employees and the great client partnerships we have developed.”

The team have won many awards over the years, most recently in 2022 winning the Burton Civic Society Design Award for ‘Best New Building’ for their bespoke design of Burton Rugby Football Club’s new home in Tatenhill.

In May 2016, bi Design also won ‘Best New Building’ awarded by Burton on Trent Civic Society for the 40-bedroom River Side Care Home in Stapenhill.

One significant project in the portfolio is Mercia Marina in Willington where the Boardwalk building won 3 awards in the Local Authority Building Control Awards 2015: ‘Best Regional Small Commercial Building’, the Chairman’s award for the ‘Best Building in the Region’ beating the King Richard the 3rd Visitor Centre in Leicester and the Velodrome in Derby and then went on to win the ‘Best Small Commercial Building’ in the UK, beating Zaha Hadid’s Serpentine Sackler Building in Westminster, London and the Battle of Britain Building in Bristol.

Since winning the awards for the Boardwalk building at Mercia Marina, bi Design have continued to design additional phases of the development - the Piazza building was shortlisted as a finalist in the ‘Best Large Commercial Building’ category of the East Midlands LABC Building Excellence Awards 2019.

A full list of awards can be found here.