Design Council appoints new Director of Architecture and the Built Environment

Design Council Chief Executive, Sarah Weir OBE, has today announced the appointment of Sue Morgan to be the organisation’s new Director of Architecture and the Built Environment.

Commenting on the appointment, Sarah Weir OBE said:

“The country faces a huge challenge to build the homes we need.  The quality and design of what we build is rightly in the public spotlight, but we must consider a home’s overall design, not just one aspect of it. 

“Great housing design starts from the inside and is about meeting the needs of those who live there.  We also must look at how the homes we build fit into their communities and how we create healthy places that are inclusive to all and allow people to live healthy independent lives, staying active for longer. Design puts people and their needs at the heart of the homes we build and the places we create. 

“I’m delighted that Sue is joining Design Council at such an important time.  She brings considerable experience, particularly on the role of public realm and green infrastructure in creating attractive and enjoyable places for people to live.”

Sue Morgan said:

“I am really pleased and excited to be joining Design Council at a key stage in the delivery of its new integrated service offer.  I know from my 25 years’ experience, including 16 years as one of Design Council’s Built Environment Experts, the importance of placemaking, green infrastructure and the built environment. I also know first-hand the huge benefits that a design-approach and the work of our Design Review panels brings to delivering improved quality in what we build, and in how developers and planners consider the needs of an area and the people who live there.

“I look forward to developing the Architecture and Built Environment team at Design Council, shaping our service offer, identifying new business opportunities and embedding excellent design in the work of key partners and stakeholders.

“The recent launch of Design Council’s Inclusive Environments CPD, funded by MHCLG, is a really important opportunity to kickstart the debate, and raise standards in the built environment professions, about how we ensure homes and places are inclusive to all. I look forward to bringing this issue to the debate and conversations with built environment colleagues at MIPIM next month.”

MHCLG Better Design for Better Places Conference

Sarah Weir OBE will be chairing the panel discussion 'Beauty, what does this mean?' at MHCLG’s Better Design for Better Places Conference in Birmingham on Thursday, 14 February.

Sue Morgan – biography

Sue Morgan – BA Hons, Dip Hons, PGCE – Former Director Around the Block Ltd and Chief Executive of Wandle Valley Regional Park Trust

Sue is the founder and Director of Around the Block Ltd, a consultancy that is passionate about Place and helps clients reimagine public space. She was until joining Design Council the part time CEO of the Wandle Valley Regional Park Trust.

A landscape architect, and FE lecturer by training, Sue has over 25 years’ experience of public realm and green infrastructure consultancy, strategic management and project delivery.

Starting her career as one of the last apprentice gardeners for the Greater London Council, Sue has held senior positions with London Borough of Southwark, Better Bankside Business Improvement District, Groundwork London, Building Services Research Information Association (BSRIA) and London Urban Study Centres. Working across the public, private and voluntary sectors in London and the South.

Sue is the Vice Chair for the Park Alliance, a member of MCHLG, Park Action Group, a Built Environment Expert for Design Council, a Civic Trust Buildings & Landscape Awards Assessor and Heritage Lottery Fund Mentor. She was until recently a long-standing Trustee for the Bankside Open Spaces Trust, which she founded in 1997.

Recent consultancy work on the celebrated brutalist Grade 2* listed Alexandra and Ainsworth Estate in Camden by Janet Jack and Neave Brown, with J & L Gibbons and Erect Architecture, has attracted a Camden Design award and a BALI award.