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The EAA have received the following experience from an Architect, regarding practicing in Scotland.

As part of our pledge to be more informed about the real and profound impacts of racism within architecture in Scotland, we wish to share it with you.

“As a non-white Architect, I have experienced prejudice, unconscious bias and racism. When these incidents occurred, I’d jot them down in my day-book as a reminder. The racist experiences were mostly off the cuff remarks like – ‘people like you’, and my experiences of unconscious bias / prejudice relates to interviews and career progression.

As a student at the Mackintosh School of Architecture I cannot remember being taught about any non-white Architects, but we did learn about the Architecture of Egypt – The Pyramids of Giza, The Valley of the Kings etc. The class I studied with at the Mac was pretty mixed, with students from around the world, so I never felt any prejudice from any of the students or the lecturers / teachers. I can only remember one really difficult crit from a visiting Dutch lecturer / professor, otherwise it was a good experience.

After graduating in 2002 with a B’Arch (Hons) and Dip Arch I could not get a job in my field for two years, so to make ends meet I worked as a labourer at building sites and a CAD technician at a joinery in Glasgow. When I found work as an architectural assistant, it was difficult because my employers did not really support me regards to my Part 3 ambitions; I remember being made to complete a building warrant package the same week I sat my Part 3 written exam.

Throughout my career I always felt like I worked doubly-hard to get ahead. With experience I learned how to promote myself better, particularly when job hunting – I’m a naturalised Brit – so on my CV, early in my career, I noted my heritage but with experience I learned not to mention it because, from experience it got in the way of my progress, at interviews, interviewees would concentrate on it in lieu of my skill set and I’d get comments like your English is Excellent – Yes, I’m from a former British colony! At times when I did show up at an interview, I felt like they were expecting someone else, my surname is not common in the U.K, so they could not really tell exactly where I’m from in paper.

In Scotland, there are not many Architects from BAME backgrounds, and there is a lack of support for non-white Architects. Also, there are not many BAME Architects in Senior positions to look up to, relate to or talk to, so I gathered early on career progression would be difficult, and from experience, pay is not equal. I think there are invisible barriers such as workplace inertia and lifestyle / culture. The best way to progress up the ladder as a non-white Architect is to have your own start-up and grow from there, which is something I did for 2 years alongside my full-time job. It is one of the best decisions I made.

For support I joined The Society of Black Architects [SOBA] - a not for profit organisation founded in June 1990. It arose out of a need to integrate fully the contribution of ethnic minority professionals as providers and consumers of architectural and design services. It made representation where necessary on behalf of practices and those in education/training - SOBA allowed me it to air views / experiences as a non-white Architect and share non-white culture, architecture and discuss issues non-white Architects are experiencing because in nearly 20 years working in Scotland I had worked beside only two non-white Architects, therefore there not many opportunities to chat about these issues with colleagues within an office environment.

With regards to career progression, I feel like - as a non-white - you have to be at least twice as good to be considered on par with your white colleagues, or you have to be a bit special to be considered an equal.”