Skip to content

Panel Members

Our Design Review Panel Members are listed alphabetically by first name below. Click on a member for more information or filter the listing by occupation.

  • Martin Stockley (Chair) Engineer
    Chairman & Managing Director, Stockley

    Martin is heads Stockley, a Practice of Civil, Structural, Transport and Infrastructure Engineers with offices based in Manchester and London.  He has been involved in the North West since the early 1990's and has lived there since 1996.  The Practice has designed many award winning building structures and is an industry leader in the engineering of the public realm.

    Martin's primary interest is in the nature and quality of the public realm. He is looking for places that have a social/community hierarchy to the streets and where the streets are designed to allow people to behave within social norms rather than be controlled and directed.
     

  • Alistair Sunderland (Enabler) Architect / Urban Designer
    Partner, Austin-Smith:Lord

    Alistair is a Partner in the Liverpool  office of Austin-Smith:Lord where he has a non-specific role, with involvement in projects, marketing and external representation.

    His approach is informed by active involvement in a wide range of professional, cultural and social organisations at national, regional and local  levels.

    Alistair has assisted design review panels, juries and selection panels for over a decade and helped prepare the case for Design Review in the North West.

    Alistair is interested in the impact of good architecture and place making on the quality of peoples live

  • Amanda Wanner (Enabler) Landscape Architect
    Associate Senior Lecturer, Leeds Metropolitan University

    Amanda Wanner is an Architect and Interior Designer. She is an Associate Senior Lecturer at Leeds Metropolitan University and a Director of Studio Three Architects based in Liverpool. In addition to design practice and teaching, she was recently appointed as an Artists Mentor under the Arts Matrix Contemporary Crafts Fellowship Scheme supported by The Crafts Council and The Arts Council, and she was a Regional Representative on the RIBA Awards Judging Panel 2009.

  • Andrew Dainty Developer
    Managing Director, AGD Regeneration

    Andrew is a Chartered Planning and Development Surveyor with over 20 years experience working in urban regeneration based in the North West. His consultancy practice AGD Regeneration has been established for over 10 years and has advised on many regeneration projects large and small, always working with designers and seeking to marry commercial deliverability with good design practice. 

    For the past three years Andrew, as a Director of  Urbo Regeneration Ltd, has been directly involved in development.  Most recently Urbo has formed a major public-private partnership with Bradford MDC to regenerate a 150 acre area to the north of Bradford City Centre as a new sustainable community of some 1500 houses with a new local centre.

  • Andy Foster (Enabler) Architect
    Principal, Andy Foster Architects
  • Annie Coombs (Vice-Chair) Landscape Architect

    Annie Coombs is a chartered landscape architect, with a postgraduate planning qualification.  She held senior management roles in landscape and environmental consultancy organisations.  She spent 15 years in Asia, where she was managing director of an environmental practice and was responsible for a wide range of landscape implementation, masterplanning and policy work.  Annie is an independent consultant and as a CABESpace enabler, supported a number of local authorities on procurement and strategy production associated with open space strategies, public realm and international design competitions.  She represented CABESpace as well as the Landscape Institute on the selection panel for the 2012 Olympic Parkland landscape architects.  She undertakes consultancy work mainly in environmental regeneration and green infrastructure.  She is also a panel member for CABE’s national design review panel, and for Urban Vision North Staffordshire’s panel and is a registered commissioner for the IPC.  She sits on the Landscape Institute’s policy committee, advisory council and fellowship admissions board.

  • Anthony Benson (Enabler) Urban Designer
    Urban Designer,Planner, Allies and Morrison:Urban Practitioners

    Anthony is a planner and urban designer with over 15 years experience in both the public and private  sectors.  Anthony joined regeneration consultancy practice Urban Practitioners in 2004 from the London
    Borough of Lewisham.  In 2011 Urban Practitioners merged with Allies and Morrison architects to form a new urbanism team with offices in London and the north.  Anthony runs the northern office based in Liverpool.  Recent projects include masterplans for a number of Flintshire town centres, the Sedbergh Townscape Project and the preparation of district centre plans in south Manchester.  Anthony chairs the Places Matter! LDF Review sub-group.

  • Brian Gowthorpe Sustainable Redevelopment
    Associate, Arup

    Brian is a Chartered Surveyor with a background in commercial and residential property development, asset management, site acquisition and financial appraisal. Many of his projects have involved public private development partnerships to enable urban regeneration. Some of his key interests are sustainable development, low carbon retrofit to promote the resilience of existing buildings, energy strategy and Listed Buildings.

  • Carolyn Primett
    Blackpool Council

    Carolyn Primett has an MA in European Cultural Planning and has a particular interest and expertise in the role artists can play in ‘place-making’. She was one of the first local authority public art officers in the north-west region and has worked on national award winning schemes such as the TERN project on Morecambe seafront, St Anne’s Town Centre Regeneration and Panopticans. Carolyn worked with ReBlackpool, the Urban Regeneration Company, as a consultant on the international design competition for Blackpool’s seafront which includes the ‘Comedy Carpet’. She has lead Blackpool Council’s Arts Service for the past 5 years.

  • Charles Wilson (Enabler) Architect / Planner
    Member English Heritage Advisory Committee and Urban Panel,Member Church Commissioners Redundant Churches Committee,Design Council/CABE Enabler

    An Architect & Town Planner who has practiced in private & public sectors. Also member English Heritage Advisory Committee, chairman English Heritage Urban Panel, Design Council/CABE enabler, accredited Building for Life Assessor, DCMS nominee to Church Commissioners Closed Churches Committee.  Main interests relate to the regeneration of historic environments, the development process and ecclesiastical architecture.

  • Chris Carroll Planner
    Urban Design Planning Officer, Wigan Council

    Chris has worked as Wigan Council’s Urban Designer for a number of years and has worked on a variety of projects including education, healthcare, office, retail and residential developments. His work has also included responsibility for overseeing the design of key streets and spaces within Wigan and Leigh town centres.

    Chris is a member of the Royal Town Planning Institute and an accredited Building for Life Assessor. Recently, he was awarded PlacesMatter! 2011 Christmas Cracker Award for his contribution to design quality through NW Design Review and the NW Local Authority Building for Life Network.

    Having studied at Oxford Brookes and Leeds Metropolitan universities, he is a former winner of the ‘Barton Willmore’ Planning Partnership Prize for best implementation project and an RTPI Student Prize winner for ‘excellence in examinations.’

    He is a big believer in creating places where people want to rather than have to live, work and play.

  • CJ Lim Architect
    Professor of Architecture & Cultural Design, Studio 8 Architects

    CJ Lim is the founding director of Studio 8 Architects in UK – an energetic multi-disciplinary and international award-winning practice in architecture, landscape and urban design. In addition to practice, he is the Professor of Architecture and Cultural Design at the Bartlett UCL, and the Pro-Provost of University College London.

  • Colin Haylock Architect / Planner
    Director, Haylock Planning and Design
  • Dan Mitchell Planner
    Partner, Barton Willmore LLP

    Dan Mitchell is a Town Planning consultant and the lead Planner at Barton Willmore’s Manchester office.  He joined Barton Willmore in 2004 and became a Partner in 2008. Originally based in Leeds, Dan now heads up our Manchester team, steering projects across the North West on behalf of numerous residential and commercial clients. He has a wide range of planning experience across a full portfolio of planning projects including major housing, employment and retail developments on behalf of national house builders, property developers, public sector, government departments and landowners. He has appeared at numerous Examinations in Public and Local Development Framework Examinations, and provided Section 78 expert witness services. Current projects include the guiding of expansion plans at Chester Zoo alongside Barton Willmore’s Designers, as well as conducting strategic land promotion for new homes in Bury, Wigan and Salford.

  • David Roberts Sustainable Redevelopment
    Deputy Chief Executive, igloo Regeneration Ltd

    Chartered Surveyor with experience in project management, asset management, development management and the design of urban neighbourhoods. Likely to quote Jane Jacobs - “Great Cities are not monoliths, they are federations of neighbourhoods” – alongside John Cooper Clarke - “uneasy, cheesy, greasy, queasy… Beasley St”.

    Specialties
    Urban Regeneration, Real Estate, Sustainable Development, Urban Design, Development Agreements, Community Developments.
    Advisory Board Member, Sustainable Development Foundation.

    www.iglooregeneration.co.uk

  • Deborah Denner Architect / Urban Designer

    Deborah is an architect with over fifteen years construction industry experience, both in private practice and providing design advice on planning applications. She is currently working with Fortismere Associates planning consultancy to provide design and conservation services to local authorities. In addition she is a consultant to Crossrail’s Urban Integration team, commissioned to write a publication analysing the key issues influencing their station designs. She is also a member of her local design review panel in Haringey.

    Previously Deborah worked with the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE) as a Senior design review advisor, responsible for two special design review panels for Crossrail and LOCOG (London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games). She also has five years experience as a Design review advisor to CABE’s national panel, dealing with the full range of development types being commissioned across England. Prior to this she worked as an architect with John Miller + Partners, an award winning practice specialising in public buildings and architecture in historic contexts.

  • Erin Walsh (Enabler) Urban Designer
    Senior Urban Design Officer, Liverpool City Council

    Erin is an urban designer and planner.  She is committed to pursuing quality design in the built environment and currently works on a range of projects within the remit of urban design, planning and regeneration.

  • Geoff Alsop (Enabler) Architect
    Director, Buttress Fuller Alsop Williams

    Geoff has practised in Manchester since graduating from Manchester University School of Architecture. He is a Past President of the Manchester Society of Architects and currently the RIBA’s North West Regional Chair.

    Although his award-winning firm has established an international reputation for aquarium design and its work to historic buildings, it undertakes an extremely broad range of work throughout the United Kingdom and overseas. Geoff has particular expertise in the education, healthcare, housing and emergency services sectors and, as a consequence, has been appointed as Design Advisor to several such public sector organisations.

  • Heather Hilburn Other
    Chief Executive Officer, Shape East

    Heather has a background in architecture and has worked in commercial development and large scale regeneration in the UK and abroad for the last 15 years, primarily in the arts, culture and sports and leisure sectors, including the Tate Modern Arrivals in London and Yehudi Menuhin Hall in Surrey. For four years, Heather was a Project Sponsor and Principal Design Advisor for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.  Heather is currently the CEO of Shape East, the Architecture and Built Environment Centre for the East of England, and runs the social enterprise stream for Cambridge University Entrepreneurs. Heather is also on the advisory panel for RIBA Building Futures.

    Heather believes that positive action through local enterprise is at the heart of a community and that everyone can be inspired, take ownership and be a steward of great places.

  • Ian Beaumont Architect
    Director, MBLA

    Ian Beaumont is a practicing architect of 28 years experience. He is a founding director of MBLA Architects + Urbanists, where he is responsible for the design direction of many of the practice’s key projects. He has combined architectural practice with his work in the academic world with 15 years as a design tutor at the Manchester School of Architecture. Since 2000, Ian has been an examiner in professional practice in London and the North West. He is a past president of the Manchester Society of Architects and is currently a member of the RIBA National council and an academician with The academy of Urbanists.

  • Ian McChesney Architect
    Owner, McChesney Architects

    Ian McChesney has been working across a range of disciplines from architecture to the creation of large scale sculptures since the formation of his Studio in 2001. Commissions include rotating wind shelters for Blackpool’s promenade and a major atrium installation in the Angel Building in London and Avenham Park pavilion in Preston. His cross disciplinary approach reflects his varied education through an art school rather than architectural education system.

    He first took an Art Foundation course at Chesterfield College of Art, followed by a degree in Three Dimensional Design at Kingston, moving on to the Royal College of Art’s Interior Design and Architecture Course. He then worked for Architects John McAslan + Partners before starting his own studio in 2001. The studio has won a number of accolades including Finalist in the BD Young architect of the year 2008, and The Architects’ Journal 40 under 40, awards include Civic Trust Awards for its work in both Blackpool and Preston. Ian regularly contributes to a range of advisory panels including Southwark Design Review Panel and the Transport for London Design Review Panel.

  • Ian Parkinson (Enabler) Urban Designer
    Director, Parkinson Inc

    Ian has a broad range of experience relating to development and implementation of landscape, urban design and planning and an in depth understanding of public and private sector, having worked for a number of local authorities and private practices within the North West. Key areas of experience are in private sector consultancy and the development of strategic frameworks, neighbourhood plans, masterplans, design strategies and delivery frameworks.

    Initially working as a landscape architect, Ian focused upon implementing physical urban regeneration projects in Liverpool. Experience in town centre and rural regeneration strategies, and community based development and capacity building was gained whilst working as part of the Civic Trust Regeneration Unit. The development, design and implementation of large scale, city centre, public realm works, lighting strategies and town centre management was completed whist working at Chester City Council. At Cass Associates, Ian delivered masterplans and development projects as part of an architectural team. Creating large scale regeneration frameworks and masterplans, managing multi-disciplinary teams progressing regeneration projects, and facilitating visioning workshops and consultation events formed the core areas of work at EDAW.

    Ian has set up his own urban design practice: Parkinson Inc and is leading the development and delivery of large scale regeneration frameworks and masterplanning in Wirral and Cheshire, together with town neighbourhoods plans across the north west. He is also retained as Director of Urban Design at the design and engineering consultancy Stockley based in Manchester.
     

     

  • Jaimie Ferguson Urban Designer
    Urban Design Director, BDP

    Jaimie leads BDP’s Urban Design work across the North from their studio in Manchester. His expertise covers all aspects of Urban Design, from city-wide spatial strategies and area-based regeneration through to site specific design.

    Jaimie works collaboratively across disciplines within BDP to develop masterplanning solutions that are creative, clear and compelling. He has significant experience of large scale masterplanning commissions across the UK and internationally, including work in China and the Middle East.

    A former Design Director at EDAW/AECOM, Jaimie was a key part of the team that developed and grew their successful Manchester office. During that period he worked on a range of major masterplanning commissions in the North West and beyond, before moving to BDP in 2009.

    In recognition of the strong focus on place making in his work Jaimie was nominated to become a member of the Academy of Urbanism. His initial training however was in Engineering and he is also a full member Chartered Institute of Highways and Transportation.

  • James Arnold (Enabler) Architect / Planner
    Head of Planning & Environmental Health at Bolsover District Council, Sheffield City Council

    James is an architect-planner with 20 years experience in the public and private sectors. He is Head of Planning & Environmental Health at Bolsover District Council in the Sheffield City Region.  Previously, James worked for 10 years leading Urban Design and Conservation in Sheffield, a city that has built a national reputation for award-winning placemaking and design quality. 

    James has worked on many city centre regeneration projects including Sheffield’s Heart of the City and Park Hill, and has been extensively involved in housing and neighbourhood regeneration.  Previously he worked on the conservation and regeneration of Nottingham’s historic Lace Market.

    James is a strong advocate of design review, establishing Sheffield’s independent Urban Design Review Panel and is on the Yorkshire & Humber Region Design Review Panel and a CABE Enabler.

  • James McMillan Developer
    Assistant Director of Development, Great Places Housing Group

    James is Assistant Director of Development at Great Places Housing Group. He is a qualified Architect and Urban Designer who started his career in large commercial practices in Manchester and Paris before specialising in residential design.

    James is currently responsible for Design quality, Innovation, and standards at Great Places and is closely involved in issues such as Building for Life, sustainability and modern methods/lean construction techniques.

  • Jane McRobbie Planner
    Director, The Confab Lab Ltd

    Jane is a Director of The Confab Lab, which she runs with her business partner Val Chinn.  The Confab Lab offers learning experiences that help people to find new perspectives in order to develop more dynamic solutions to social and organisational problems. 

    The Confab Lab has grown out of Jane and Val’s shared professional experiences and passion for positive communication.  Through The Confab Lab they bring together their unique set of skills in order to; help communities have a voice in their own futures, develop cross sector partnerships which maximise the impact of public investment and drive out the mutual benefits that can come from enabling people to think and act differently. 

  • Jim Chapman (Enabler) Architect / Urban Designer
    Architect, R James Chapman Architect

    Jim Chapman is an architect/urban designer with experience in many sectors he is a vice chair of the CABE Design Review Panel and a CABE enabler for healthcare and regeneration projects.

  • John Adlen Housing & Regeneration Specialist
    Director of Regeneration, Staffordshire University

    John Adlen is an experienced regeneration and sustainability practitioner who has worked across the public, private, voluntary and education sectors. He is currently Director of the Regeneration Hub for Sustainable Futures at Staffordshire University where he leads the University's regeneration & sustainability activities and programmes including applied research, consultancy, project delivery and enterprise development, collaborating with other HEIs, public bodies and industry and securing external funding for future ventures.

    John has previously held the positions of Head of Strategic Development in the North of England for Savills, Director of Regeneration & Development at DTZ, Regeneration Partnership Manager at Enterprise plc and European Policy Officer for Voluntary Sector North West.

    John’s main area of expertise is in sustainable urban development, particularly sustainable neigbourhoods, eco-homes and retrofitting existing housing stock, local energy networks and public engagement in regeneration and sustainability. He is Member of the Academy of Urbanism.

  • John Lee (Enabler) Architect / Urban Designer
    Director, ARCA
  • John Stonard Urban Designer
    , Sheffield City Council

    John Stonard leads the Urban Design and Conservation Team within Sheffield City Council. 

    With a background in landscape architecture, planning and urban design, John has worked for a number of architectural practices and public sector agencies across the north of England.  Before joining Sheffield City Council he spent several years with CABE promoting design quality through advocacy, skills development, enabling and design review.  Prior to this John led a national beacon project for English Heritage.    

    John is a Building for Life assessor and a CABE enabler.

  • Jonathan Ellis-Miller Architect
    Partner, EllisMiller Architects

    Jonathan is Partner of EllisMiller. Trained at the Liverpool School of Architecture where he won the Sikorski Prize, Jonathan began his career working in North London with the respected modernist architect John Winter.

    Jonathan established EllisMiller in 1991, winning the first of seven RIBA awards for the internationally acclaimed office building at 83-85 Mansell Street in the City of London. He has continued to design a range of award-winning schemes, from one-off houses through to large multi-stakeholder projects.

    Jonathan is an RIBA Chartered Architect, Client Design Advisor and a CABE Enabler. He is a member of the CABE Schools, Inspire East, Hackney and Cambridge Design Review Panels and is a chair of the RIBA Awards Panel. Jonathan has taught and lectured in schools of architecture throughout the UK and has served as a member of the RIBA/ARB Validation Board.

  • Julian Gitsham Architect
    Managing Partner, Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios

    Julian is an architect and urban designer who joined Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios’ London office in 1999 with a background in award winning design led practices across the public and private sector. Julian was made a partner at Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios in 2003, became Managing Partner for the London office in 2007 and also leads Studio 26. He is also a member of the practice's Partnership Board responsible for the leadership of the practice.

    He has extensive experience in many sectors, particularly in Masterplanning, Public and Private Housing, Cultural Buildings and Museums of international significance. He is currently working on projects across the world and leading significant UK projects for the practice.

    Award winning projects include the Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics at Manchester University, the National Cold War Building at RAF Museum Cosford, the Milestones of Flight building at RAF Museum Hendon, a CABE Gold Standard Building for a Housing Development for the Peabody Trust, a new Campus for Leeds Metropolitan University which included Faculties for Architecture, Art, Media, Graphics, and Student Housing, and a wide range of major masterplanning projects spanning from Salford to North Oxfordshire and London including the BBC Oxford Road project in Manchester.

  • Kate Bailey Planner / Landscape Architect

    Kate Bailey is a chartered landscape architect and chartered planner. For over 35 years she has worked for a range of public, private and voluntary sector organisations in the North-west and Yorkshire, East Midlands and London, including a 4 year period as a government Planning Inspector. 

    Kate has been an independent consultant for over 10 years, promoting a high standard of sustainable development and “place-making”.  She has been involved in managing projects as diverse as the preparation of local authority strategy and policy documents, sustainability appraisals, green infrastructure and landscape frameworks, conservation and environmental regeneration schemes relating to the restoration and reuse of listed buildings, historic gardens, derelict industrial sites and former hospital buildings and their grounds. 

    Kate has been a Planning Aid volunteer for many years, reflecting her strong commitment to collaborative working with local communities to make places better for people.  She has considerable experience of engaging with groups and individuals who are affected by the development process, and of organising and facilitating community planning events.  She has recently become a member of the Landscape Institute's Policy Committee.

  • Kerri Farnsworth Freelance Advisor
    Director, Maze/Long Kesh

    Kerri has almost 20 years' hands-on experience in major urban development projects/programmes in the UK and beyond from both private and public sector perspectives.  North-West born & bred, Kerri originally trained as a surveyor, but has subsequently developed in-depth skills in project strategy & delivery, urban design, planning and strategic real estate, working on projects of up to £100m in value which have won acclaim from the likes of CABE and RTPI.  She is passionate about using the wide range of skills she has gained to create deliverable places & spaces that positively transform human experiences, and has particular expertise in delivering complex and/or challenging public realm-focused schemes.

    Kerri is an active member of the Academy of Urbanism, and European and global expert networks including CABERNET and INTA.  At present she is working with Strategic Investment Board Ltd as Director of Development on the 360-acre Maze/Long Kesh site in Northern Ireland, but also works on a freelance basis to provide expert support at all stages of the project lifecycle.

  • Kevin Logan Architect / Urban Designer
    Associate, Maccreanor Lavington

    Kevin has experience of mixed-use projects, large-scale masterplans, and urban regeneration projects and has a particular interest in the dynamics of contemporary urban and rural conditions in cultural, social, political, and economic terms. Underpinning his approach is the development of a rigorous, unbiased view of conditions, coupled with the use of realistic and rational assessment methodologies, which form the basis of any decision making processes.

  • Liz Ellis Planner
    Principal Planning & Regeneration Officer, Birmingham City Council

    Liz is a Chartered Town Planner with over 20 years experience working in urban and rural development in the North West and the West Midlands.

    For the past five years Liz has worked on a number of major development projects including Eastside Birmingham, one of the largest sustainable regeneration projects in the UK, comprising 170 hectares of land, £6 billion of development investment, 12,000 jobs and the location for the High Speed 2 terminus for Birmingham to London.

    Liz has also been the planning case officer for development schemes including the first Birmingham City Park for 125 years, Curzon Park mixed use development including offices, residential, hotel and retail (£350m investment), Eastside Locks 140,000 sqm mixed use development including technology, office, residential and  hotel (£453m investment), Birmingham City University’s new city centre campus, Birmingham Magistrates Court, Ormiston Arts Academy, Aston Engineering Academy and the Birmingham Institute of Art and Design.

  • Lyn Fenton Housing & Regeneration Specialist
    Regeneration Consultant, Hawksview Limited

    Over 30 years experience in development and regeneration in both the public and private sectors.

    Worked for a Development Corporation; Lancashire Enterprises Ltd (a local authority regeneration company), Lovell Urban Renewal Ltd, Amec Developments Ltd, Ancoats Urban Village Company and New East Manchester Ltd.  Freelance Regeneration Consultant since 2007

    During her career Lyn has been involved in several major regeneration projects such as Hulme City Challenge, Manchester’s bid to host the 2000 Olympics and latterly, 2 major urban regeneration projects – Ancoats Urban Village and the New Islington Millennium Community, both in east Manchester.

    Since going freelance, Lyn has continued her involvement with Ancoats through commissions with NEM, NWDA and HCA as well as undertaking wok for other local authorities including a stint working on Olympic legacy for the LDA.

    In a voluntary capacity Lyn has been a founder member of 2 local Housing Associations (HA’S) including the main board of the Regenda Housing Group, comprising 5 HA’s from the North West.  Lyn was also a Trustee of the Ancoats Buildings Preservation Trust (now Heritage Works).

  • Marilyn Taylor Planner
    , Marilyn Taylor Associates Ltd

    Marilyn runs her own consultancy promoting collaborative approaches between people and place professionals and specialises in tackling the problems of disadvantaged urban communities.  She has extensive experience in delivering effective resident involvement and in planning for appropriate social infrastructure to support communities in new settlements.

  • Matt Brook (Vice-Chair) Architect
    Director, Broadway Malyan

    Matt Brook, as a board Director at Broadway Malyan, has led the design effort of many of the practice’s award-winning schemes in the Northwest including; Vicus Apartments in the Castlefield conservation area of Manchester and Islington Wharf, a recently completed prestigious mixed-use development at the gateway to New Islington Village.

    He opened and heads the Liverpool Studio for Broadway Malyan where he is responsible for some of the most exciting regeneration projects in the city, such as the design and implementation of Mann Island, the prestigious and striking £120m mixed-use waterfront on behalf of Neptune Developments and Countryside Properties.

    Matt’s optimistic, people-orientated approach and passion for design has helped the practice to gain its increasing reputation for sensitive high-quality architecture. Matt Brook graduated from Liverpool John Moores University’s School of Architecture with a distinction and was nominated for the RIBA President’s Silver Medal. Matt is also a guest critic for Liverpool John Moores University student’s final year degree projects. 

  • Mike Hayes Town Planner
    Director, Mike Hayes Consulting

    Mike Hayes is a chartered town planner and an independent consultant advising clients in the public and private sectors on spatial planning, regeneration, design, development, neighbourhood planning and consultation.

    From 1985 to 1993 he was Liverpool City Planning Officer and in addition has undertaken a number of other senior public sector roles in Sefton MB, the City of Glasgow, LB Lambeth and Watford BC. From 2005 to 2008 he was Chief Executive of the West Northamptonshire Development Corporation. In 2004 he served as President of the Royal Town Planning Institute.

    Currently his clients include the National Planning Forum, Design Council CABE, Glass-House Community-led Design and private developers and architectural practices. He is a Registered Commissioner with the Infrastructure Planning Commission, helps plan the RTPI Planning Convention and is involved in a major church regeneration project in South London.

  • Nigel McGurk Planner
    Founder, Erimax Ltd

    Nigel McGurk (BSc(Hons) MCD MBA MRTPI) began his career as a labourer for Blackburn Council and trained as a town planner with Lancashire County Council.  He established & was a Director of Countryside Properties' Strategic Land business in the north (1999-2005); he established & was Managing Director of Wilson Bowden plc's Strategic Land business (David Wilson Estates) in the Midlands, North & Scotland, prior to sale to Barratt plc for £2.2bn (2005-2007); he created, established & was Managing Director/shareholder of Ainscough Strategic Land (2007-2011).

    He  has been a Member of the Commission for Architecture & the Built Environment (CABE, now Design Council CABE) National Panel since 2006.  He is Strategic Advisor to, and Board Member of, Altrincham Forward, and has chaired and been a Board member of a number of public-private partnerships. Nigel holds a current statutory planning role for the Government and is the founder of Erimax Ltd, a land, planning and public-private advisory business.

  • Peter Swift Landscape Architect
    Owner, Planit-IE Ltd
  • Phil Summers Developer
    Co-owner, r-gen developments ltd

    Phil is a very experienced development professional, and balances his role as a co-owner of a bespoke ethical development company based in Manchester, with his duties as Chair of City South Manchester Housing Trust.

    He has particular interest in the design of ’green’ and low energy buildings by applying the PassivHaus Methodology of energy retention. He is also passionate about empowering communities to develop a sense of ownership about their environment, and believes very strongly, that good urban design can operate as a dynamic catalyst for developing that sense of place which acts as a precursor to integrating civic pride. He is also very keen on linking public and/or community arts projects within the design process, and believes that this is a powerful mechanism for engaging wider communities in the architectural aesthetics of an area.

  • Rob Burns Urban Designer
    Urban Designer, Liverpool City Council

    Rob has 30 years experience of working with the built environment, ranging from the archaeology of buildings to city centre masterplanning. He is particularly interested in contextual design issues and place making that evolves from local distinctiveness. Formerly an advisor with English Heritage, Rob has worked extensively throughout the north-west, in urban and rural areas.

  • Sally Medlyn (Enabler) Art Consultant
    Director, Independent Cultural Consultants

    Sally Medlyn established Independent Cultural Consultants in 2004. ICC draws on a network of core consultants to create specialist teams appropriate to particular consultancy opportunities.

    ICC has in depth knowledge of and experience of urban regeneration policy and socially engaged artistic practices. ICC has worked for or negotiated with organisations such as Regional Development Agencies, Government Office North West, Culture North West, Arts Council England, Heritage Lottery Fund, CABE and numerous local authorities in London, north west and south west England as well as having ‘hands on’ experience of community engagement projects and public commissions designed to engage and entertain people in everyday places.

  • Stephen Hodder Architect
    , Hodder & Partners

    Stephen has been in practice since 1983 and in 1992 formed Hodder Associates which won the Royal Fine Art Commission/Sunday Times Building of the Year Award for Colne Swimming Pool in Lancashire later that year.  Shortly afterwards he won a limited competition to extend Arne Jacobsen's Grade I Listed St Catherine's College in Oxford and established a client relationship which has now extended for some 16 years. He was selected as one of six architects to represent the emerging generation of British Architects in an exhibition at the Architectural Institute of Japan in Tokyo in October 1994 and has exhibited at the Biennalle at San Paulo in Brazil.  In 1995 he was awarded the Grand Prize at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition for the panels presented as part of the submission for the Manchester City Art Gallery competition. In 1996 Hodder Associates received the most important award in British Architecture for a single building, the inaugural RIBA/Sunday Times 'Building of the Year Award', the Stirling Prize for Architecture for the Centenary Building, University of Salford.  The practice has now won over 30 awards, the most recent being an RIBA Award for St Catherine’s College Phase II  in 2006.  Professionally he has been President of the Manchester Society of Architects, RIBA North West Region Chairman, a member if the RIBA Awards committee, and RFAC Design Review Panel. He currently chairs the Professional Advisory Board at the Manchester School of Architecture. In 2008 he became a National ember of the RIBA Council, and was appointed to CABE’s National Review Panel.

    Stephen was awarded an MBE for services to architecture in the Queen's Birthday Honours List, 1998. He received an honorary doctorate in 2006 from the Manchester Metropolitan University for his regional, national and international contribution to architecture, and was named the Roses ‘Architect if the Year’ later that year. In 2008 the Practice incorporated, becoming Hodder + Partners, Stephen becoming its Chairman and Design Director.

  • Stephen Parry Developer
    Managing Director, Neptune Developments Limited

    Stephen Parry has a wide range of experience in delivering complex mixed-use regeneration schemes, particularly working with the Public Sector.

    He has been instrumental in the activities of Neptune Developments since its inception over Nineteen years ago and has delivered a broad range of building types of the highest quality and established many partnerships with the Public Sector.

    Stephen has worked very closely with bodies such as Liverpool City Council Liverpool Vision, North West Development Agency, Wolverhampton City Council Denbighshire County Council and Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council and has formed strategic partnerships with all of these organisations to successfully deliver projects.

  • Tom Lonsdale (Enabler) Landscape Architect
    Landscape Architect, Placecraft

    Tom Lonsdale has 35 years experience at management level, including 14 years as Chief Landscape Architect with Manchester City Council and, latterly, as Director of renowned landscape and urban design practice Camlin Lonsdale.  He specialises in analysis of ‘place’ and developing strategic and logistic aspects of its enhancement and conservation.

    In 2008 he set up PLACECRAFT to work in a freelance capacity and is one of the most active Enablers for CABE, CABE Space and Transform South Yorkshire. Having served the full five year term on the national CABE Design Review Panel, he is much in demand for regional and local design review, including chairing the Humber Panel and as Vice-Chair of the Yorkshire Panel, as well as extensive conference speaking and competition judging etc. in UK and abroad.  As a CABE Inspirer he also has experience of working with schools and is a regular facilitator with community groups.

  • Tony Skipper Architect
    Director, John McAslan & Partners
  • Tony Wyatt (Enabler) Urban Designer
    Associate Director, _space architecture

    Tony has over 30 years public and private sector urban design and historic environment practitioner experience. He is Associate Director at _space group http://www.spacegroup.co.uk/ where he leads the Environment team providing an integrated urban design, masterplanning and landscape design service.

    Previously Tony was urban design director at Ryder Architecture and prior to that was the Urban Design and Conservation Group Manager at Newcastle City Council winning a CABE Festive Five Public Sector Award in 2005.

    Tony has been an Executive Member of the national Historic Towns Forum since 2006 and is currently Vice Chair. He is also an urban design advisor on the Design Council (former CABE) and Home Office national design review panels. He is Vice Chair of the Integreat Yorkshire Design Panel and a member of the North East design panel.

     

  • Walter Menzies (Enabler) Sustainable Development
    Independent Sustainable Development Advocate, Walter Menzies Ltd

    Walter is an independent sustainable development advocate following on from his period as Chief Executive of the Mersey Basin Campaign. He is a Visiting Professor at Liverpool University, a non-executive with Stockley and a trustee of The Land Trust.
     

    Walter has worked in the Northwest for 25 years – prior to joining the Campaign as Chief Executive of Sustainability Northwest and before that with Groundwork (finally as Regional Director for the Northwest) following Special Projects Manager position with Riverside Housing Association in Liverpool. Educated as an architect and urban designer in Edinburgh and Oxford, his early career was in private practices in London. He has written, spoken and advised extensively on sustainable development, regeneration, environment and partnership management. He is an enthusiastic photographer.
     

  • Xanthe Quayle (Enabler) Landscape Architect
    Director, Camlin Lonsdale

    Xanthe has almost 15 years experience working within the profession across strategic, masterplanning, public realm, housing and education projects within the southeast (and now more recently) the northwest and northeast. Following the completion of her studies Xanthe gained a wide breath of experience in many areas of the profession whilst working for Lovejoys London and LDA Design, Oxford.  Since joining Camlin Lonsdale recent project work has focused on regeneration and public realm design, including leading teams for the challenging regeneration projects for Little London (Leeds) Oldham Gateways and Barnsley Markets projects. However her expertise and interests also extend to the fields of visioning/strategic landscape planning and the design of play environments. Her passion for creative thinking and collaborative working is reflected in her role as Visiting Practioner to Huddersfield University (Architecture Department), conference speaking and involvement in numerous winning design competition entries, most recently for Chimney Park at the Grand Quay in Dublin.