Richard Witt
Principal, Global Head of Housing

Richard believes in the power of iterative design to shape more responsible, resilient and compelling cities. His career has been driven by a desire to advance urban development through intensification, master planning, sustainable design, adaptive reuse and the thoughtful transformation of existing places. 

A Principal at BDP, Head of Global Housing and member of the BDP Board of Directors, Richard brings extensive national and international experience across mixed-use, mid- and high-rise housing, workplace and transit-oriented development. He leads design teams working at multiple scales, from the mass-timber Governor General’s Medal-winning 60_80 Atlantic, to sales adaptable DUKE Condos, accessibility-pioneering 100 Broadview Avenue, the sixty-storey DfMA-leveraged CG Tower and the large-scale mixed-use intensification of Eastgate Square. Across his work, Richard combines design ambition with a strong understanding of commercial objectives, helping clients unlock value while contributing positively to the evolution of cities. 

Richard is also an active voice in the architecture, development and urban design communities. He serves as Chair of the Canadian Chapter of the Council on Vertical Urbanism, is a member of ULI’s Canada Product Council and sits on the City of Markham Design Review Panel. He has also served on the Metrolinx Design Advisory Panel and as Vice-Chair of the City of Vaughan Design Review Panel. 

Recognized by his peers as a Fellow of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada, Richard has also served as Co-Chair of the Toronto Society of Architects and regularly contributes to industry discourse through speaking, teaching, juries and design review. As a qualified expert witness before the Ontario Land Tribunal, he brings an additional depth of planning and design expertise to complex urban projects, supporting clients through mediation and hearings while helping advance thoughtful city-building outcomes.