Jerene Irwin
Chartered Architect / Director at Chaplin Farrant BA (Hons) Dip Arch RIBA
Jerene specialises in community projects for the public sector and education, regeneration, and education projects. She is a people focussed architect and enjoys working with existing buildings, reshaping them alongside the communities they serve for the next generation.
Jerene is a Chartered Architect with two decades of experience in the construction industry. She is a Director at multidisciplinary practice, Chaplin Farrant, based in Norwich, Cambridge and York. After studying at in Leeds for her degree, she returned to Norfolk where she joined Chaplin Farrant and has been there ever since, starting as a trainee and developing skills that brought promotion, most recently in 2018 to Director.
She is working on several projects in Norfolk and Suffolk that involve the creative reuse of existing buildings, including conversion of a former department store into a public library and university centre. She is the design lead for Messums East, the regeneration of a former post office into a visual arts gallery and creative arts hub. Her projects focus on communities, improving social outcomes and regeneration of local high streets.
She is the Chair of RIBA East, representing architects and architecture across East Anglia, Treasurer, and a previous president of, RIBA Norfolk and sits on the Women in the Built Environment (WiBE) group in Norfolk. She is a founding Trustee of Construction East, formed in 2024, a local charity set up to bring more people into the construction industry, building visibility of the sector and encouraging diversity and opportunities.
