Having obtained his first degree from Oxford University, Ian Salisbury worked for several years in the commodities market, also running a horticultural smallholding in the midlands, and occasionally designing and building for himself, his family and friends. He obtained his architectural qualifications in his early thirties, training and qualifying concurrently in law.
During the latter part of his professional training he was employed in local government, his last appointment before qualifying being the Head of Architecture at the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead.
In 1985 he opened an office in Oxford for the design practice of Maguire and Murray, then setting up and accepting the directorship of Maguire & Co and Maguire & Co International.
In 1990, with Paul Hyett and Adam Whiteley he founded Hyett Salisbury Whiteley in London and Oxford. In 2000, when that firm was bought up by a larger firm from the north-east, he opened his own consultancy practice in Oxford.
During his career as an architect Ian Salisbury has had responsibility as design project leader and contract administrator for a wide variety of building types, with particular experience in higher education, schools, commercial, ecclesiastical and residential buildings. He developed his interest in conservation practice over 10 years when he was the College Architect for Pembroke College, Oxford University. Then, from 2000 until 2023, he was the Cathedral Architect at Leicester where he has overseen several major repair schemes, the re-ordering of the cathedral following the re-interment of the remains of King Richard III, and the making of a new landscape for the precinct gardens.
Ian Salisbury’s parallel practice has been as a consultant advising on dispute avoidance and resolution, acting as a chartered arbitrator, mediator, expert witness and adjudicator. Significant public consultancy appointments have included Heathrow Terminal 5 and the London Olympics.
Ian Salisbury has contributed to his two professions by serving as the Honorary Secretary of the RIBA, as Trustee of the British Architectural Library, as Director of the Construction Industry Council, and as a member of the Architects Registration Board. He is a Past President of the Society of Construction Arbitrators and has served as the Honorary Treasurer of the Cathedral Architects Association. He is a senior member of Pembroke College, Oxford and is an occasional lecturer and examiner at Cambridge University.
Cosmology
This year (2025), intending chiefly to become fluent in the use of artificial intelligence, Ian found himself sidetracked into cosmology, the greatest architecture of all. The diversion proved productive. With steady assistance from an AI collaborator, he has developed a new theoretical framework now under peer review.
The theory, called the Time-Symmetric Parity Constraint (or “Twin-Time”), proposes that the universe did not begin with a singular bang but unfolded in two symmetric halves, one moving forward in time, the other in reverse. It suggests that the structure of the universe is shaped not by hidden forces or particles but by a simple geometric rule enforcing balance between past and future. This constraint modifies how gravity behaves on cosmic scales, offering a new explanation for dark energy and the arrow of time.
It is anticipated that the theory will be testable using data from current astronomical surveys. The concluding paper, written as an essay rather than a technical paper, may be found here. It includes links to the underlying research papers for those who wish to explore the detail.
Photo: building a house in a day, Ban Bong, Louangphabang, Laos: Ian Salisbury
