[citation needed] After his design of the Greyfriars United Presbyterian Church on North Albion Street, it began his public career in 1822.

He never participated in architectural competitions, calling them "a species of professional speculation - to use a mild epithet - which he consistently protested against to the last"[citation needed] and he managed to progress his career significantly.

Baird’s most important contribution to the city of Glasgow’s architecture was his spearheading use of the cast iron in his buildings’ constructions.

He worked with the design of George Smith from Edinburgh for the adjacent lands of South Woodside and this consequently increased the value of both of these properties.

[citation needed] Later in 1828, Baird was appointed by an organisation called the Merchants' House to work together with David Hamilton[4] in figuring out and devising the layout of the Necropolis which is Glasgow's finest cemetery, but their plans were put aside and he was, not long after that, relegated as an advisor in approving George Milne as its eventual designer.

In 1840, Baird designed generous business premises for Sir James Campbell on Buchanan Street, known as the Prince's Buildings.

Campbell then hired him to design his warehouse that sits on the corner of Ingram and Brunswick Streets and then the elevations were drawn up by the author of "Baronial and Ecclesiastical Antiquities of Scotland.

One of Baird's largest architecture projects would have been his Jacobean design for the new University of Glasgow building that was to be built on Woodlands Hill which is right by Kelvingrove Park.

Early in 1853 he was accounted for the design of the pink granite sarcophagus for James Ewing of Strathleven in the Necropolis, an eye capturing work of art, which featured four bronze relief panels by Mossman.