Chris Upson is a founding director of OGU Architects and an Expert Adviser to the Ministerial Advisory Group for Architecture and the Built Environment. Chris worked for many years in Dublin, London and Northern Ireland on various building and urban projects including court buildings, a major extension of a community Cancer Centre in North Belfast, concert halls and performance spaces, conservation (including the refurbishment of a listed public baths), the refurbishment of a church in South Belfast, the refurbishment and extension of Delamont House for the Education Authority on the banks of Strangford Lough, large scale housing and urban design work including post-Olympic development at Hackney Wick, London.

Chris set up OGU Architects with Rachel O’Grady in 2014. OGU primarily work with socially conscious clients and local communities to improve public places and buildings. They employ careful research, value material quality and prioritise meaningful collaboration with makers and manufacturers. OGU try to tease out the particularities of a project site in a way which resonates with people, often through an examination of the area’s history and development.

The majority of the practice’s recent projects are either for local authorities and public bodies or for high street business clusters, charities and community groups. OGU work at various scales from small scale temporary interventions, to public buildings, project feasibility/ business case development, as well as much larger scale urban strategic work investigating pieces of towns and cities.

Chris also teaches and lectures at University level.