The present proceedings contain a collection of 330 papers on various aspects of analysis, design and construction of spatial structures such as gridshells, barrel vaults, domes, towers, retractable systems and tension structures. These papers were written by 763 authors, representing a total of 44 countries for presentation at the seventh International Conference on Spatial Structures. The International Conference on Spatial Structures has been organised and held on five previous occasions by the Spatial Structures Research Centre of the University of Surrey in 1966, 1975, 1984, 1993 and 2002, and in 2011 in collaboration with the International Association for Bridge and Structural Engineering (IABSE) and International Association for Shell and Spatial Structures (IASS). The seventh conference was hosted by the University of Surrey from the UK during 23rd – 27th August 2021; it was combined with the 2020 annual symposium of the IASS. The conference was named IASS 2020/21 – Surrey 7 and its strapline was “Inspiring the next generation”. The planning and delivery of the conference had a long history: beginning in January 2016, and latterly very heavily affected by the worldwide Covid 19 pandemic emerging during late 2019/early 2020. The original planned dates were 24th – 28th August 2020, but as the impact of the pandemic became more profound, the mode of delivery evolved from fully in-person, through hybrid in-person/virtual to eventually becoming fully virtual throughout the revised dates during 23rd – 27th August 2021. The Scientific Committee was formed in May 2018 and had a membership of a hundred and twenty one leading International Engineers and Architects, from both industry and academia; representing over thirty countries. After a worldwide call for abstracts, the Scientific Committee received 468 submissions involving 1061 authors and subsequently each abstract was reviewed at least twice by members of the Committee. Feedback on the abstracts was presented to almost all of the authors and afterwards, three hundred and thirty nine full papers were received. The full papers were, in turn, reviewed by members of the Scientific Committee, who generously gave their time to provide feedback to the corresponding authors. This proceedings include contributions submitted directly by the authors and the editors cannot accept responsibility for any inaccuracies, comments and opinions contained in the text. The editors would like to take the opportunity to thank all authors for submitting their contributions, the Scientific Committee for reviewing the abstracts and full papers and the Organising Committee for their countless effort in making the conference a success.