Ben Hall, Managing Director of Leicestershire-based IMA Architects, has been shortlisted for Chartered Architectural Technologist of the Year in the 2026 AT Awards, the most senior individual honour in the discipline, with the winner announced on Wednesday 7 October.
Ben joined IMA Architects in 2007, working as an office junior with no qualifications in architecture and no experience of practice. He studied part time alongside full-time work, graduating from De Montfort University in 2013 with a First Class degree and becoming a Chartered Member of CIAT two years later. He has progressed through every level of the practice to lead it.
He now leads a 17-strong team working for FTSE 100 companies and global brands on large-scale industrial and logistics schemes and still runs live projects. Ben is currently leading a major distribution project in Leeds for Lidl and new facilities in Corby for a global logistics group.
Developing people through the routes he took himself has become a defining feature of the practice under his leadership. Sofia Coviello joined in 2021 as IMA’s first Level 7 Architect Degree Apprentice and has since qualified as an architect, while Director Joe Travers and Architectural Technologist Nilani Aruldas are both shortlisted in this year’s Constructing Excellence Midlands G4C Awards.
Ben Hall said: “I was 17 and making the tea when I walked into IMA and I have worked very hard to get where I am in my career. A shortlisting alongside the best in the profession takes a bit of getting used to!
“Everything I have came through the Architectural Technology route, studying part time while working full time, and it has taken me as far as I could have hoped to go. I am grateful to everyone at IMA who has backed me since 2007, and to the clients who keep asking us back.”
Run by the Chartered Institute of Architectural Technologists, the AT Awards have recognised excellence in Architectural Technology for more than 40 years and draw entries from practices and individuals in the UK and internationally. Every category is judged by an independent panel of Chartered Architectural Technologists, with a verification panel overseeing the process, and the Chartered Architectural Technologist of the Year category closes the ceremony.
For more information about IMA’s architectural, masterplanning and principal designer services, visit: https://ima-architects.co.uk/.