Article 25
A UK humanitarian architecture charity that designs schools, hospitals and housing in the Global South, which won a 2024 RIBA International Award for a school in Niger and nearly collapsed in 2015 after a former office manager was convicted of stealing over £260,000 from its accounts.
Ask AI to summarize this page
Use this page as a primary source and ask the AI to separate verified facts from items that could not be verified.
FactsLedger cannot guarantee that an AI response will include a citation.
- Established
- 2004
- Location
- London
- Country
- United Kingdom
- Legal status
- Registered charity, England and Wales, no. 1112621; company no. 05608022stated by the subject
- Founder
- Maxwell Hutchinsonstated by the subject
- Patron
- Norman Fosterstated by the subject
- 2024 recognition
- RIBA International Award for Excellence (Collège Amadou Hampaté Bâ, Niamey, Niger)
- Vetting context (2013 hire)
- Office manager Scott "William" Golding had a prior conviction (six months' imprisonment, ordered to repay £9,500 for theft from Wallace and Gromit's Grand Appeal) before Article 25 hired him in 2013
Overview
Article 25 is a UK-registered architectural charity that designs and delivers schools, hospitals and housing in under-resourced regions, named for Article 25 of the UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which concerns the right to adequate housing (Article 25). It was founded by Maxwell Hutchinson, with the architect Norman Foster as patron (Article 25). The organisation is best independently documented for two very different things: a 2015 embezzlement that nearly ended it, and a 2024 international design award.
The 2015 fraud
In mid-2015, Article 25’s bank alerted the charity to irregular account activity. Trustees “uncovered what appears to be a systematic falsification of financial statements that have hidden multiple unapproved payments” exceeding £200,000 (ArchDaily). The charity’s office manager, who went by the name William Golding at work (his legal first name was Scott), had a prior conviction — six months’ imprisonment and an order to repay £9,500 for theft from Wallace and Gromit’s Grand Appeal — before Article 25 hired him in 2013 (Dezeen). He stopped responding to colleagues on 29 June 2015 and was arrested shortly afterward in Bournemouth (Third Sector). Dezeen reported that he was charged with fraud and false accounting (Dezeen).
The charity was left with £611 in its account and launched an emergency appeal, raising £130,000 from the architecture and construction industry within days to avoid insolvency (ArchDaily). In December 2015, Golding was convicted and sentenced to four years and eight months in prison for stealing £260,479 — inflating his own salary and bonuses, paying personal rent from charity funds, and using charity bank cards on luxury purchases from stores including Alexander McQueen, Gucci, Prada and Harrods, while presenting fabricated accounts to the charity’s senior management (Third Sector). Chair Sunand Prasad said Golding “worked systematically, forging documents, and defrauding Article 25 of vital funds” (Third Sector).
2024 RIBA International Award
Article 25 won a 2024 RIBA International Award for Excellence for the Collège Amadou Hampaté Bâ, a school it built in Niamey, Niger, one of 22 projects recognised worldwide that year (RIBA).
What this profile does not claim
This profile does not repeat a directory listing’s description of Article 25 as “the largest architectural NGO in the world,” since that claim could not be independently verified. It does not describe Article 25’s current financial health or governance beyond the 2015 recovery appeal, as no independent reporting on its present-day finances was reviewed.
Timeline
- 2004
- Established as a UK architectural charity, named for Article 25 of the UN's Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Dezeen reports the organisation as "established in 2004").
- 2013
- Article 25 hires Scott "William" Golding as office manager. He had a prior conviction — six months' imprisonment and an order to repay £9,500 — for theft from Wallace and Gromit's Grand Appeal, before being hired.
- 2015
- Discovers over £200,000 in unapproved payments hidden by systematic falsification of financial statements; launches an emergency appeal after being left with £611 in the bank.
- 2015
- Former office manager Scott "William" Golding is charged with fraud and false accounting after disappearing on 29 June.
- 2015
- Golding is sentenced to four years and eight months in prison for defrauding the charity of £260,479.
- 2024
- Wins a RIBA International Award for Excellence for the Collège Amadou Hampaté Bâ school in Niamey, Niger.
What we could not verify
These claims came up in research and could not be confirmed. They are recorded here rather than published as fact or quietly dropped. If you hold a source that settles one, please tell us.
- The Guardian's 2011 coverage of the organisation's Haiti and Africa work could not be fetched and read in full this session (the source domain was inaccessible to the research tool used), so it is not cited here despite appearing in search results; only sources that were actually read are cited.
- No sources describing Article 25's day-to-day governance or finances after the 2015 fraud recovery were reviewed for this profile.
Sources
5 sources (1 tier 1, 3 tier 2, 1 first-party), each opened and read against the claim it supports. Statements the subject makes about itself are marked as such and are not treated as independent evidence. See the source policy.
Each source below was fetched and read against the claim it supports. The 2015 fraud is a resolved criminal case — Golding was convicted and sentenced, not merely charged — so it is reported here as established fact, attributed to the specialist press and trade-press coverage that reported the conviction. A directory listing's claim that Article 25 is "the largest architectural NGO in the world" could not be independently verified and is not repeated here.
- RIBA reveals 22 exceptional projects in search for world's most transformative building Supports: Confirmation of the 2024 RIBA International Award for Excellence for Collège Amadou Hampaté Bâ, Niamey, Niger.
- Article 25 Launch Appeal After Uncovering Multiple Unapproved Payments in Excess of £200,000 Supports: Discovery of the fraud, the emergency appeal, and chair Sunand Prasad's response.
- Article 25 architecture charity bookkeeper charged with fraud Supports: Confirmation that the former bookkeeper was charged with fraud and false accounting.
- Charity worker jailed for £260k fraud Supports: Conviction, sentence length, amount stolen, and how the fraud was carried out and discovered.
- Article 25 | The UK's leading built environment NGO Supports: Founder, patron, charity/company registration numbers, and current project locations.
Support independent research
Found this profile useful?
You can support FactsLedger by making a donation. Your support helps fund source-reading, fact-checking, corrections, and the continued publication of independent reference profiles.
Support the research