Revision 02 / Published 25th May 2018 / Reviewed 31st March 2023
John Robertson Architects is committed to protecting your privacy and personal data. We do not sell, trade or rent your personal information to others. Your personal data will not be disclosed to any third party without your consent, unless required by law. It’s very important to us and we respect anyone’s concerns about what we have and how it is used. This statement tells you how and why we use your information when you visit our website; our offices; attend an event we’ve organised; or apply for a job as well as how we manage the personal data of other business contacts and third parties.
Any questions regarding this Policy and our privacy practices should be sent by email to the Practice Manager at GDPR@jra.co.uk
You can visit our website without providing any personal information, however we may automatically collect IP addresses, information about your visit and how you use our website.
You may provide us with information by corresponding with us by phone, email, or otherwise as indicated on our website.
This website uses Google Analytics to help analyse how you use this website. Google Analytics collects standard internet log information and details of visitor behaviour patterns so that we can see information such as the number of visitors to the various parts of the website.
Google Analytics uses ‘cookies’, which are text files placed on your computer, to collect this information. This information is processed in a way which does not identify anyone. If we did wish to collect personally identifiable information through the website, we would be clear about this and explain what we intend to do with it.
We use the following cookies on our website:
‘civicCookieControl’ – This is used to remember a user’s choice about cookie preferences and to remember that choice. This will be refreshed every 30 days.
‘Universal Analytics’ –
‘_ga’ – Tracks unique and returning visitors – expires after 2 years.
‘_gali’ – Tracks user sessions – expires after 24 hours.
‘_gat’ – Used to throttle request rate – expires after 1 minute.
‘_gat_{UID}’ – Tracks users across different websites – expires after 90 days
You can read about Google’s Privacy and Safeguarding policy in relation to Google Analytics here: https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/6004245
Most web browsers allow you to control cookies and this can be set in the browser’s settings.
You can find out how to opt out of being tracked by Google Analytics across all websites at this site: https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout
John Robertson Architects is not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of any other websites linked to this website. If you have followed a link from the website to another website you may be supplying information to a third party yourself. You can read more about our cookie policy here.
When you visit our studio, you will be asked to provide your name and the company you work for. Visitor records are held for 12 months.
The purpose of holding this information is to:
In addition to the above, CCTV is in operation in the reception area of our headquarters building. This is in place for the safety and security of our staff. The recordings from the CCTV are held for 58 days before deletion and are held on a hard drive in a locked area of the building. Review of recordings is only undertaken on the instruction of the Practice Manager.
When you are attending a JRA event you will be asked for your name and the company you work for and you may be provided with a name badge.
If you are visiting for an event which is being held in our studio you will be asked for your name and the company you work for. You may also be provided with a name badge, if appropriate for the event.
There is a high chance that there will be photographers at the event and if that is the case you will have been informed beforehand and your consent sought for your photograph to be taken. If this is the case, photography may subsequently be used on our social media sites and publications.
The personal information you provide may include your name, company address, e-mail address, phone number and other information about yourself to enable us to provide you with our services.
When we collect personal information from our clients and other members of the public, it will be used for the following purposes:
We are legally required to hold some types of information to fulfil our statutory obligations. We will hold your personal information on our systems for as long as is necessary for the relevant activity.
When you voluntarily give us your personal information we will only use it for the above purposes. If we intend to use your personal information for a purpose other than those above, we will seek your express consent.
We will not share your information with third parties for any reason other than those specified above.
You have the right to ask us not to process your personal information. You can exercise your right by contacting us.
Our website contains links to a number of websites that may offer useful information to our visitors. Please note, that if you follow the link to any of these websites this privacy statement does not apply and we do not accept responsibility or liability for their policies.
You also have the right to see and correct data that we hold about you. If your details change or any other information we hold is inaccurate or out of date, please let your direct contact at John Robertson Architects know or contact gdpr@jra.co.uk
John Robertson Architects will take reasonable technical and organisational precautions to ensure that your personal information is treated securely. We will store all personal information you provide on our secure servers.
We use a “least privilege access to data“ approach, restricting access to only those who need to so they can discharge their duties.
In addition, we have deployed a number of systems to ensure your data remains safe, these include:
John Robertson Architects offers visitors and staff access to a guest wifi, through Cisco Meraki wireless devices. For security reasons, the traffic on this network is actively monitored and filtered, with information retained for up to 9 months. As a guest you will be asked to logon to a secure portal that will grant you access to browse the internet only.
We do not collect any personally identifiable information from children aged 16 or under without prior verifiable consent from his parent/guardian.
If it becomes apparent that a potential data breach has occurred, the Company will endeavour to report this to the ICO within 72 hours of becoming aware of the data breach. This will be the case if the data breach is likely to result in damage to a person’s reputation, financial loss, loss of confidentiality, or major financial or social disadvantage. If the breach is likely to result in a high risk to the rights and freedoms of the data subject, the Company will also contact the data subject without undue delay.
Data breaches will be reported to the Information Commissioner Office (ICO)
As part of any recruitment process, the organisation collects and processes personal data relating to job applicants. The organisation is committed to being transparent about how it collects and uses that data and to meeting its data protection obligations.
The organisation collects a range of information about you. This includes:
The organisation collects this information in a variety of ways. For example, data might be contained in application forms, CVs or resumes, obtained from your passport or other identity documents, or collected through interviews or other forms of assessment.
The organisation will also collect personal data about you from third parties, such as references supplied by former employers, information from employment background check providers and information from criminal records checks. The organisation will seek information from third parties only once consent has been granted by you.
Data will be stored in a range of different places, including on your application record, in HR management systems and on other IT systems (including email).
The organisation needs to process data to take steps at your request prior to entering into a contract with you. It also needs to process your data to enter into a contract with you.
In some cases, the organisation needs to process data to ensure that it is complying with its legal obligations. For example, it is required to check a successful applicant’s eligibility to work in the UK before employment starts.
The organisation has a legitimate interest in processing personal data during the recruitment process and for keeping records of the process. Processing data from job applicants allows the organisation to manage the recruitment process, assess and confirm a candidate’s suitability for employment and decide to whom to offer a job. The organisation may also need to process data from job applicants to respond to and defend against legal claims.
Where the organisation relies on legitimate interests as a reason for processing data, it has considered whether or not those interests are overridden by the rights and freedoms of employees or workers and has concluded that they are not.
The organisation processes health information if it needs to make reasonable adjustments to the recruitment process for candidates who have a disability. This is to carry out its obligations and exercise specific rights in relation to employment.
Where the organisation processes other special categories of data, such as information about ethnic origin, sexual orientation, health or religion or belief, this is for equal opportunities monitoring purposes and your express consent will be requested.
If your application is unsuccessful, the organisation will keep your personal data on file for 12 months in case there are future employment opportunities for which you may be suited. If the organisation requires to keep your information for longer you will be asked for your consent. You are free to withdraw your consent at any time.
Your information will be shared internally for the purposes of the recruitment exercise. This includes members of the HR and recruitment team, interviewers involved in the recruitment process, managers in the business area with a vacancy and IT staff if access to the data is necessary for the performance of their roles.
The organisation will not share your data with third parties, unless your application for employment is successful and it makes you an offer of employment. The organisation will then share your data with [former employers to obtain references for you, employment background check providers to obtain necessary background checks.
The organisation will not transfer your data outside the European Economic Area.
The organisation takes the security of your data seriously. It has internal policies and controls in place to ensure that your data is not lost, accidentally destroyed, misused or disclosed, and is not accessed except by the relevant employees of the organisation in the proper performance of their duties.
Job applications received via email are held securely on our email server, and only made available to the appropriate employees to perform their duties, for example HR and/or the hiring manager.
Applications are moved from email to a secure location on the network and a link made available to hiring managers so that applications are not emailed unnecessarily. All data access is strictly controlled using the least access privilege approach.
If your application for employment is unsuccessful, the organisation will hold your data on file for twelve months after the end of the relevant recruitment process. At the end of that period [or once you withdraw your consent], your data is deleted or destroyed.
If your application for employment is successful, personal data gathered during the recruitment process will be transferred to your personnel file and retained during your employment. The periods for which your data will be held will be provided to you in a new privacy notice.
As a data subject, you have a number of rights. You can:
If you would like to exercise any of these rights, please contact us at gdpr@jra.co.uk
If you believe that we have not complied with your data protection rights, you should take this it up with the Practice Manager. If after investigation you feel that your rights are still compromised, you can escalate this to the HR Director.
If it becomes apparent that a potential data breach has occurred, the Company will endeavour to report this to the ICO within 72 hours of becoming aware of the data breach. This will be the case if the data breach is likely to result in damage to a person’s reputation, financial loss, loss of confidentiality, or major financial or social disadvantage. If the breach is likely to result in a high risk to the rights and freedoms of the data subject the Company will also contact the data subject without undue delay.
Data breaches will be reported to the Information Commissioner Office (ICO)
You are under no statutory or contractual obligation to provide data to the organisation during the recruitment process. However, if you do not provide the information, the organisation may not be able to process your application properly or at all.
Any updates or changes we make to our privacy policy will be posted on this webpage.
If you have any questions about this policy or you want to find out more about John Robertson Architects’ approach to data security and GDPR, please email gdpr@jra.co.uk