Colin Smart was born in Essex in 1935 and entered the Architectural Association Diploma Course in 1953 as a 1st Year student. As part of his final year’s studies, in 1957-58, Smart elected to join the AA’s six-month Department of Tropical Studies course. Upon graduation, he joined Architects Co-Partnership (ACP) and by the late 1960s appears to have been working in Jamaica, living in Kingston. In 1973 he is recorded as employed by the Jamaican Ministry of Education as the Project Architect for the second World Bank Education Project  - a  $13million scheme to finance the construction of 12 Junior Secondary Schools, 2 comprehensive schools, extensions to 26 Junior Secondary and High Schools, 2 teacher training colleges, 2 Trade Training Centres and a centre for Instructional Television, Educational Materials and Aids. By 1974 Smart had returned to the UK and was the co-founder of the St. Albans based practice of Penton and Smart, a firm specialising in social housing and design for the disabled. In the late 1980s the practice changed to ‘Panton, Smart and Grimwade’, continuing to function until the late 1990s.

Sources

• Architectural Association Student Register 1945-1972, AA Archives
• Architectural Association Diploma Roll, AA Archives
• Architectural Association Council Minutes Books, 24th February, 1958, p237. AA Archives
• Architectural Association Membership Register, 1961, 1974
• Report of the Commission of Enquiry Into The Award of Contracts, the Grant of Work Permits and Licences and Other Matters. Government of Jamaica, 1973, pp155, 156
• Jamaica - Second Education Project (English). Washington, DC: World Bank. Accessed 24th March, 2025: http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/241211468915037136
• ‘Penton and Smart: A Social Concern’, RIBA Journal, 1985, Vol. 92, p.7