Celebrity architect sanctioned over Giffnock family home revamp gone wrong

Hannah Rodger & Jordan Shepherd
·3-min read
Danny Campbell, host of BBC show Scotland’s Home of The Year.
-Credit: (Image: Handout)


A celebrity architect has been found guilty of unacceptable professional conduct after a Giffnock home renovation went wrong.

Danny Campbell, host of BBC show Scotland’s Home of The Year, was found to have mishandled the project in 2021 by the Architects Registration Board (ARB).

The regulator sanctioned the 34-year-old after finding that he also failed to manage a conflict of interest when his firm, Hoko Design, was appointed contract administrator for the project and made his other company – Hoko Build – a contractor for the works with no compensation cover for delays.

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A source told the Sunday Mail: “The family were badly affected. They were supposed to be out of the house for four weeks maximum but that turned into a lot longer. The whole experience has caused them a lot of stress.”

During the ruling, it was heard that the family contacted Hoko Design in November 2020 and began talks on appointing a contractor. “The referrer was advised Hoko Design worked well with Hoko Build Ltd as they were ‘in-house’. The referrer did not understand the concept of a conflict of interest.”

The family questioned why the contractor had no compensation level set for delays. A Hoko Design employee “provided reassurance… these arrangements were usual”.

But at a meeting with Campbell in January 2022 the family “recognised he could not be acting in their best interests”. By March the relationship broke down and the contract was withdrawn, prompting a complaint.

The ARB found Campbell didn’t supervise staff properly and failed to manage the conflict of interest. Watchdogs said: “The failure to recognise the presence of a conflict of interest is a serious failure.”

Campbell has since shut Hoko Build. He became a judge on the BBC show last year with Banjo Beale and Anna Campbell Jones. Last week, the ARB issued a reprimand to Campbell, saying the mistakes were “not a wilful disregard of regulatory obligations but was an error from an architect at the start of his career.”

They said the blunders “arose through a mixture of naivety, inexperience and an absence of more experienced figures that might have curtailed [Campbell]’s obvious enthusiasm for the Hoko Build project and steered him in the correct direction.” The family declined to comment.

Campbell said: “While it was not a project I was involved in directly, I take full responsibility as the owner of the company. It is important to understand the oversight came within a growing organisation of 37 staff members managing multiple projects with numerous employed architects, during a period marked by the pandemic’s significant project backlog and challenges in securing tradespeople.

“HOKO Build ceased trading some years ago. We have scaled back our operations and HOKO design is now the sole entity of the business. We now fully outsource building on every project.”

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