Dominic Richards LVO OAM Chair, The King’s Foundation Australia Founder, Our Place

Dominic Richards is a placemaking entrepreneur and long-time advocate for sustainable communities and traditional design. With over 25 years of experience, he has shaped environments that bring people together— fostering belonging, beauty, and wellbeing through regenerative development and heritage-led regeneration.

Educated at King's College at the University of Cambridge and The Prince of Wales’ Institute of Architecture, Dominic's work blends rigorous architectural thinking with a humancentred ethos. His early leadership role as Vice Chair and Director of The Prince’s Foundation (now The King’s Foundation) saw him champion traditional urbanism and community-focused design across the UK and internationally.

Dominic co-founded Our Place, a development organisation reimagining how neighbourhoods are built. The company specialises in walkable, mixed-use communities with strong local identity and long-term stewardship, designed to support health, connection, and sustainability.

He is also the founder of Retreat East, a sustainable rural escape on a 35-acre organic farm in Suffolk, blending luxury hospitality with eco-living and local food. In recognition of its environmental leadership, Retreat East won the Ethical, Sustainable & Responsible Tourism Award, highlighting its success in offering a modern antidote to fast-paced urban life by reconnecting guests with nature, simplicity, and themselves.

In 2024, Dominic was appointed inaugural Chair of The King’s Foundation Australia, leading the Foundation’s expansion into the southern hemisphere. The Foundation’s flagship Australian project is at Hillview, the former Vice Regal estate in Sutton Forest, New South Wales—where Dominic is spearheading a programme of heritage restoration, traditional skills training, and environmental education, inspired by the Dumfries House model in Scotland.

Dominic was awarded the Order of Australia Medal (OAM) in the late Queen's Birthday Honours for his services to architecture and community regeneration. He remains at the forefront of The King’s Foundation’s mission to revive traditional knowledge, foster youth opportunity, and create places that serve the common good.

In 2025, Dominic was further recognised with his appointment as a Lieutenant of the Royal Victorian Order (LVO) in The King's Birthday Honours, in acknowledgement of his distinguished personal service to the Crown