In a dramatic fall from grace, an award-winning architect has been forcibly removed from the profession after a disciplinary hearing exposed a deeply unethical affair with his client's spouse.
Andrew Black, a director at the firm AR Design Studio in Winchester, was officially erased from the Architects Registration Board (ARB) register. The ruling follows a finding that he engaged in an 'inappropriate sexual relationship' with the wife of a client who had hired him to design a lavish £2 million home.
A Breach of Trust at the Highest Level
The tribunal heard how Black's professional relationship with the couple, referred to as Client A and Person B, began cordially in 2016. The project was a significant undertaking: a grand, new-build family home in the Hampshire countryside.
However, the dynamic shifted catastrophically when Black embarked on a secret affair with Person B. The tribunal concluded that this intimate relationship created a 'clear conflict of interest' and an 'abuse of the professional client/architect relationship'. His actions were deemed fundamentally dishonest and a severe breach of the ARB's code of conduct.
The Chilling Aftermath and Professional Repercussions
The fallout was immense. The cuckolded husband, Client A, discovered text messages that revealed the affair, leading to the immediate and acrimonious collapse of his marriage. The professional relationship also ruptured, causing significant stress, delays, and additional costs to the construction project.
In its judgment, the tribunal stated: "There was a clear conflict between his personal interests and his professional obligations to his client... His conduct was dishonest, lacked integrity, and would be considered deplorable by fellow professionals."
Despite Black's previously unblemished career and his firm's acclaimed reputation, the panel determined that erasure from the register was the only sufficient sanction to uphold public confidence in the profession.
A Career in Ruins
Andrew Black's erasure means he can no longer legally use the title 'architect' in the UK. This verdict effectively ends a prestigious career that had, until this point, been defined by success and recognition within the industry.
The case serves as a stark warning to all professionals about the severe consequences of blurring personal and professional boundaries, highlighting the paramount importance of maintaining trust and integrity.
