Published21 August 2019Updated6 October 2026
Justin Smith Architects Is Now JSA Architects
We’ve always been JSA to our clients. Now we’re JSA on the letterhead too. Here’s why the practice is changing its name, and what it means for everyone who works with us.
We've always been JSA to our clients. Now we're JSA on the letterhead too. Here's why the practice is changing its name, and what it means for everyone who works with us.
Justin Smith Architects is rebranding as JSA Architects.
If you’ve worked with us before, the name will be familiar - it’s what most people have been calling us for years. Today we’re making it official.
Same practice. Same team. Same approach. Different name on the door.
Why Now?
The practice has grown steadily since 2002. The team has grown. The range of projects has grown. The geography has grown. And somewhere along the way, what had started as a practice built around one person’s name had quietly become something bigger than that - a team, a culture, a way of working that didn’t begin and end with a single individual.
That’s a good thing. It’s what any practice should be working toward. But it does raise a question: when the thing you’ve built is genuinely bigger than your own name, should your name still be on the front door?
For Justin, the answer was increasingly straightforward.
"The practice has never really been about me. It was built by a lot of people, and the clients we work with are loyal to the team as much as anything else. Keeping my name on the front of the practice was starting to feel like it was working against that. The rebrand gives the practice room to grow in ways that a name tied to one person simply can’t. It also makes succession — which is something any responsible practice owner has to plan for — a much more natural conversation.”
— Justin Smith, Founder, JSA Architects
If you’ve worked with us at any point over the past decade, you probably called us JSA. Emails arrive addressed to JSA. Site meetings get noted as JSA. Referrals come in as “that firm - JSA.”
There’s something clarifying about that. The abbreviation had done what abbreviations do - it stuck, travelled faster than the full name, and gradually became the thing itself. The full name was the formality. JSA was the reality.
Making the rebrand official isn’t reinvention. It’s recognition.
What the New Name Makes Possible
Naming a practice after its founder makes sense at the start. It’s clear, it’s accountable, and it puts a face to the work. But it also creates a ceiling.
A founder’s name signals that one person is the practice. JSA signals that the practice is the practice - the people, the methods, the track record. It’s a subtle shift on paper. In terms of what it opens up, it’s significant.
Growth. The ability to expand studios, add directors, take on a wider range of projects without every conversation circling back to whether the named individual is personally involved.
Succession. A practice named after its founder tends to raise uncomfortable questions the moment that founder steps back. JSA doesn’t raise those questions. It sidesteps them entirely.
Stability. Clients who’ve worked with us for years - and there are many, some going back over a decade - are hiring the team, the expertise, and the approach. The new name reflects that more honestly than the old one did.
What Doesn’t Change
Quite a lot, as it happens.
The practice was established in 2002. The team that has built it - the architects, the technologists, the support staff - are still here. The projects that define what we do are the same: residential extensions, new builds, commercial development, barn conversions, planning applications. The studios remain in Derby and Nottingham. The approach - direct, practical, no unnecessary drama - remains exactly as it was.
And Justin is still here. A rebrand isn’t a retirement. The practice will benefit from his experience and oversight for the foreseeable future. What changes is that the practice is no longer structured around his name — which means it’s structured, instead, around everything that actually makes it work.
For Our Clients
If you’re a current client: nothing changes in practical terms. Your contacts, your projects, your points of communication - all the same. You’ll notice the new name on correspondence and on the website, and that will probably be the extent of it.
If you’re considering working with us: you’re talking to a practice with over 700 projects delivered, a 97% planning approval rate, and a team that’s been working together - in various configurations - for the better part of two decades. The name has changed. The track record hasn’t.
A Practical Note
Our website is transitioning to jsa.design. Our email addresses and contact numbers remain the same. If you have existing correspondence from Justin Smith Architects, it’s valid - the practice is the same legal entity. If you have any questions about the transition, the team is happy to answer them.
Areas We Cover
JSA Architects Across the Midlands
We work with homeowners, developers, and landlords across the Midlands. Fees, planning authorities, and project types vary by location — find local insight and project examples for your area:
Architects in Derby → — Quarndon, Kirk Langley, Duffield, Allestree, Darley Abbey, Mickleover, Littleover
Architects in Nottingham → — The Park Estate, West Bridgford, Edwalton, Mapperley Park, Wollaton, Bramcote
Architects in Lichfield → — Shenstone, Little Aston, Four Oaks, Streetly, Aldridge, Walsall, Tamworth, Whittington
Architects in Solihull → — Knowle, Dorridge, Hampton in Arden, Shirley, Dickens Heath, Olton
Architects in Sutton Coldfield → — Four Oaks, Wylde Green, Boldmere, Mere Green, Streetly, Little Aston
faq's
Common Questions
Clients, consultants and the team had been calling the practice JSA for years already. The name change makes official what was already true in practice, and better reflects the team behind the work rather than a single founder's name.
No. Contacts, projects and points of communication stay the same. The only visible change is the name on correspondence and the website.
Yes. Existing correspondence from Justin Smith Architects remains valid; it's the same practice under a new name, not a different company.
The website is transitioning to jsa.design. Email addresses and contact numbers remain the same.
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