Derek John Walker was born in Ribchester, Yorkshire, England, on 15 June 1931 and studied at Leeds School of Architecture and Town Planning and at the University of Pennsylania (1951-57). He was then Assistant Architect with the Jackson-Burton Group and in 1957 renovated Sunnyfield House, a Georgian house in Guisborough, Yorkshire, and converted it into the Clothing Management Centre. He was a partner the architectural and planning practice Derek Walker & Partners, which had offices in London, Leeds and Liverpool from1958 to 1960, and a partner in the interior and graphic design firm Walker Wright Schofield from 1965 1970. He was Chief Architect and Planner for Milton Keynes Development Corporation (1970-76) and in 1976 co-founded the Milton Keynes-based architectural, planning and landscape architecture practice Derek Walker & Associates of which he has been Principal since 1976. He was also a partner in the London-based interior and graphic design firm Walker Wright Botschi.
Walker also worked as a furniture designer and sculptor, and was the author of several books and articles on architecture and planning. He was a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects(FRIBA) and was the recipient of several architectural awards.
Walker established a practice in Milton Keynes which was still in existence in 2005. He died on 11 May 2015
Architectural projects by Walker include Johnson House in North Rigton, Yorkshire (1964), Churnin House in Collingham, Yorkshire (1965), a holliday vill;age in Scarborough, Yorkshire (1965), the Cayton Bay Holiday Village in Yorkshire (1965), Gould House in Leeds, Yorkshire (1966), housing in Cheadle, Manchester (1966), the Hollies Old People’s Home in Leeds (1967), St. Benedict’s Church at Garford, near Leeds (1967), Serenson House in Liverpool (1967), the Sacred Heart Church in Leeds (1967), Heckmondwike School in Heckmondwike, Yorkshire (1967), Volkswagen showroom system for the UK (1968), housing in Shaw Lane, Leeds (1968), Pontefract Church in Pontefract, Yorkshire (1968), offices for Doyle Dane Bernbach Advertising Agency in London (1968), housing in Runcorn New Town, Cheshure (1968), accommodation at the Royal Earlswood Hospital near Redhill, Surrey (1969), the WASS car showroom and maintenance depot in Leeds (1969), numerous architectural and planning projects in the Milton Keynes area (1970-76), housing and schools in Jubail, Saudi Arabia (1978), a building system for Habitat in Milan (1978), the Volkswagen distribution depot in Grimsby, Lincolnshire (1978), alteration and additions to Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, with Norman Foster (1978), the Islamic Cultural Centre in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (1978), shop and production unit in Reddish, Lancashire (1983), and the Wonderworld amusement Park in Corby, Northamptonshire (1984).
Derek Walker Associates: the view from Great Linford. London: Academy Editions, 1995
Haworth, David. 'Derek Walker, 1929-2015'. RIBA journal vol. 122, no. 7, July 2015, p. 69.