Graham Young

Head of Information and Design Systems

Graham Young is Head of Information and Design Systems at Foster + Partners. He has over 40 years experience in the design engineering and architecture arena within the construction industry. He began his career delivering civil and structural engineering projects and his experience includes the design and construction of river and sea works; commercial and industrial buildings; petrochemical engineering, oil and gas facilities, both onshore and offshore.

In 1986 he joined the Atkins Group as CAD Systems Manager, applying information technology to advance design and business processes. He applied mainframe-based CAD to complex multidiscipline projects, introduced PC-based CAD systems, and enabled the wide-scale adoption of technology for all projects. He introduced the initial business networks which led to automation in all areas of the business. The revolution he led at Atkins began the shift of his career towards design and information systems. He further advanced key projects by introducing rendering and animation for architecture and structural engineering. He explored 3D object-based technologies linking the same to databases in a manner that today is known as Building Information Modelling (BIM).

He has led numerous initiatives in advanced design technology and has deployed large-scale systems in the areas of finance, recruitment, human resources, payroll, corporate website and intranet, working in locations across the Middle East, Asia, the USA and Europe. Within Foster + Partners he provides strategic leadership in all areas of information and design technology and guides the practice’s approach to BIM. He has brought high levels of global standardisation, supported by in-house training while encouraging flexibility for innovation and creativity. A Chartered IT Professional, he joined the practice in 2007 as a Senior Partner.