James Grey West

Born and trained in Cardiff, Wales, West joined the government Office of Works in 1904, eventually succeeding Sir Richard Allison as chief architect in 1934.

[2] He designed the hall of Royal Air Force College at Cranwell, Lincolnshire (1929–1933) in the seventeenth-century style of Sir Christopher Wren.

[3] West also worked on the Duveen Wing of the National Portrait Gallery (1933), with Allison,[4] and also provided designs for the Royal Courts of Justice, Belfast (1933).

[5] As chief architect, he oversaw the building of Thomas Tait's St. Andrew's House in Edinburgh (1935–39).

During the Second World War, West was appointed Director of Post-War Planning, as well as being chief architect of the reorganised Ministry of Works, until his retirement in 1945.