George Ferguson romped home with a near landslide in the bitterly contested RIBA presidential election this week.
Ferguson had criticised his main rival, Annette Fisher, for using private sponsorship in her bid for the office. Fisher countered by accusing Ferguson of “conduct unbecoming of a potential future president of the RIBA”.

A third candidate, David Thorp, was knocked out after the first stage of voting this week. Using the single transferable voting system, Ferguson won with 3793 votes to Fisher’s 2514. Turnout was 24% of the RIBA membership.

Ferguson stood on a manifesto of raising the profile of the regional architect – he is a director of Bristol-based practice Acanthus Ferguson Mann.

Ferguson will formally take up the role next year. He said that, despite the recent war of words, he had “always liked Annette”, and added “now is the time for bridge-building”.