Leighton Carr gained professional qualifications from Bristol University, The Bartlett School of Architecture and Planning, University College London, and Oxford School of Architecture, and has worked for a number of large multidisciplinary and international design practices in London, Bristol, and Frankfurt.

After six years with a major national contractor, and two years with a high profile fitting-out company in London, Leighton formed his own architecture and interior design practice. This practice grew to a design team of fifteen, with multi-million pound commissions in various sectors mostly in London.

3Z was set up in December 1999 to focus on projects that offered greater opportunities for adding value through design. Since focusing on design consultancy, the practice has completed projects in industrial, leisure, retail, and commercial sectors in areas as far afield as Liverpool, Ipswich, Coventry, and Bristol, as well as in London.

Leighton's skill is in creating alternative and often radical design-led solutions in response to a brief and thereby to produce elegant and appropriate buildings for his clients.