Architecture / Design: business succession in the UK

Name: Architecture / Design business succession in the UK
Creator: ExitRadar
License: https://www.exitradar.co.uk/terms

9,564 UK architecture / design companies — 24.3% — have a director aged 60 or over.

8.2 points below the all-trades average of 32.5%.

Companies measured39,292

Director aged 60+9,564

Exposure rate24.3%

Companies House register·Measured base 3,475,770·Data as at 13 August 2026·Full methodology

39,292

Companies measured

9,564

With a director 60+

2,710

With a director 70+

24.3%

Exposure rate

Of the 9,564 with a director over 60, 526 score 50 or higher on business quality — an output of our own scoring model, not a Companies House figure. How we score it.

Architecture / Design by region

Region	Companies	60+	Rate
Scotland	1,877	564	30%
Wales	1,005	287	28.6%
West Midlands	2,257	638	28.3%
South East	6,029	1,661	27.6%
North East	831	226	27.2%
South West	3,398	919	27%
Northern Ireland	586	157	26.8%
East of England	3,039	807	26.6%
East Midlands	1,822	472	25.9%
North West	3,269	834	25.5%
Yorkshire & The Humber	2,338	547	23.4%
London	12,823	2,448	19.1%

Combinations with fewer than 250 measured companies are not listed separately. They are still counted in every total on this page.

Next step

This page counts director ages across the whole register. If you are looking to buy rather than to research, our Professional Services pages go further: we score each company on business quality and exit timing, and shortlist the ones worth approaching.

See UK Professional Services →

Part of the UK Business Succession Index.

Cite this page

These figures are free to quote and reproduce, including in commercial work, with attribution to ExitRadar and a link to this page.

ExitRadar, "Architecture / Design: business succession in the UK", UK Business Succession Index, 13 August 2026. https://www.exitradar.co.uk/succession/prof-architecture/

Need a cut that is not published here — a different trade grouping, a finer geography, or the underlying distribution? Get in touch and we will usually provide it. Methodology.

Method. Figures cover the 3,475,770 active UK companies where Companies House records an age bracket for at least one serving director — 93.8% of the 3,706,712 companies on the active register. A company counts as succession-exposed when its oldest serving director is 60 or over — not the board average, which would hide a 70-year-old founder sitting alongside younger co-directors. The business-quality figure covers only the subset our model assesses — see the methodology for why that is far smaller than the number with filed accounts. Data as at 13 August 2026; updated quarterly, next update October 2026. Full methodology.