Peter Drew MCIAT started his career in architecture at the beginning of 1987, working as a junior technician with W.D. Stirland Architects, a small practice in Nottingham. By 1992, Peter had completed both his ONC and HNC Certificates in Building Studies on a part-time basis at Nottingham Trent Polytechnic.
Following the retirement of his employer, and after a couple of takeovers, Peter finally ended up working for Stephen George and Partners, where he stayed until his departure to Canada in 2007, completing a succesful UK career in housing design.
In 2005, Peter and his family decided to relocate to Canada. Architectural Technologists appeared on the list of skilled workers required in Canada and therefore an application was made under the Skilled Workers Program. This type of application is a points-based system dependent on age, financial stability, language skills, work stability, family commitments and medical history. It is aimed to try and identify applicants that would be stable, and likely to remain in the country once they have relocated. The application took two years to process and after, Peter and his family were finally approved, receiving permanent residence status.
Peter moved to Canada at the end of 2007 and started work as a Lead Senior Architectural Technologist (referred to as Job Captains in Canada) with FWBA Architects in Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada, leading design teams from concept to completion on site. Peter's first project in Canada was the design of a new Fire Headquarters in Lethbridge, which went on to win the Fire Chief's Magazine 2012 Award for best designed integrated station style. With this first project, there was a steep learning curve to learn new codes, requirements and procedures, but the experience gained from working in the UK industry was more than enough to fit well into the working environment in Canada. Since moving to Canada, Peter has had the good fortune to work on many projects of various sizes and complexity in a range of sectors, but his main work is Government, local authority and commercial based.
In 2009, Peter continued with his training to qualify as a LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Accredited Professional in the sustainability field, and in 2013, Peter became a Chartered Member. Peter also became a Canadian Citizen with dual nationality status, and in 2014, Peter became an Associate at FWBA Architects.
Peter's role nowadays is more of a project manager and often plays a pivotable role in delivering project’s to meet the client’s design requirements. As one of the technical leaders at FWBA Architects, he is often tasked with working independently and cooperatively in conducting research, preparing drawings, developing architectural models, managing specifications and contracts, tendering the project, as well as supervising the construction project. His responsibilities form the link between the architect’s concept and the completed construction.