Richard Griffiths was born in 1954. He studied architecture at Cambridge University. In 1989 Richard Griffiths completed the Architectural Association Building Conservation Course, and in 1993 attended the Attingham Summer School for the Study of the English Country House. In 1994 he was awarded a Winston Churchill Travelling Fellowship to study contemporary developments in the conservation of historic buildings in the USA. He founded Richard Griffiths Architects in 1993 after working with some of the country’s leading conservation architects. The practice has established itself as one of the foremost practices in the conservation field, with a particular reputation for new design in historic contexts.
Richard Griffiths was a committee member of the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings from 1993 to 1999 and a Trustee of the Churches Conservation Trust from 1999 to 2005. He has lectured in Building Conservation at the IAAS, York University, at the RIBA in the National Trust Lecture Series and at courses run by the SPAB and the Georgian Group. He has also lectured extensively on the application of the Disability Discrimination Act to historic buildings. He has acted as consultant to English Heritage on grants casework, and as Expert Witness at Planning Inquiries. He is Cathedral Architect at Southwark Cathedral and St Albans Abbey, and has acted as consultant to other major architectural practices in connection with sensitive projects for the conversion of important historic buildings to new uses, including St Pancras Chambers and the In and Out  Club, both to hotel use.