Stephen Hodder was educated at the School of Architecture, University of Manchester, where he gained a Distinction in the Bachelor of Architecture degree. Following University, he joined Building Design Partnership in 1981 and became a member of the Royal Institute of British Architects in 1982.He has been in practice since 1983 and in 1992 formed Hodder Associates which won the Royal Fine Art Commission/ Sunday Times Building of the Year Award for Colne Swimming Pool in Lancashire later that year. In 1996 Hodder Associates, now Hodder+Partners, received the most important award in British Architecture for a single building, the inaugural RIBA Stirling Prize for Architecture for the Centenary Building, University of Salford. The Practice has now won over sixty major awards including seventeen for the Welcome Building at the RHS Garden Bridgewater in Salford.He regularly acts as an assessor for architectural competitions and awards, most recently for the RAIC International Prize, and sits on the Design Review Panel for Places Matter! in the north west.He was awarded an MBE for services to architecture in the Queens Birthday Honours List, 1998.He received an honorary doctorate in 2006 from the Manchester Metropolitan University for his regional, national and international contribution to architecture and won the Roses Design Award of ‘Architect of the Year’ in the same year. Stephen received an honorary fellowship from the University of Central Lancashire in 2013.Stephen has written and lectured widely, has been a visiting examiner at a number of schools of architecture, including ‘Ion Mincu’ University of Architecture and Urbanism in Bucharest, and visiting Professor at the Birmingham School of Architecture, the Belfast School of Architecture and the University of Salford, School of the Built Environment.He is currently Professor of Architecture at the Manchester School of Architecture.Stephen was RIBA President 2013-15, having previously been Vice President Membership, Nations and Regions and was Chair of the Construction Industry Council (CIC) 2019-2021.In 2023 Stephen received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Manchester Society of Architects.