I am co-Chair of the Places Matter and Chair of its Advisory Board. 

I’m a Design Council Ambassador where I chair design panels.  I was one of two deputy chairs of the HS2 independent design panel and I remain a panel member.  I sat on CABE’s national design panel and I was a CABE enabler, writing the landscape briefs for the Olympic, Queen Elizabeth Park and the canoe slalom course for the Olympic Development Agency.

I’m a landscape architect, with a master’s degree in planning.  I am an appointable person as Examining Inspector for the Planning Inspectorate for nationally significant infrastructure projects.  Previously I was a Commissioner of the Infrastructure Planning Commission.

My career started in the public sector in Liverpool and London.  Then I worked in the private sector in Asia for 16 years.  My main Hong Kong project work was for large scale infrastructure, multi-disciplinary design teams.  I was managing director for offices in Hong Kong, Singapore and Kuala Lumpur.  

I wrote the community engagement chapter in the ‘Handbook on Green Infrastructure’.  I’ve been active in community planning and volunteer on policy matters for the Landscape Institute.

I am the founder and leader of Matt BrookArchitects, an award-winning practice based in Manchester with a range of projects across the UK. My placemaking-led and people-focused approach underpins all of the work undertaken by the practice and informs the development of projects at all stages.

Recent projects include the award-winning Phoenix Works in Manchester, Sauchiehall Street in Glasgow - a sensitive and prominent site within a city centre conservation area - and at Regent Park, where my masterplan will deliver a new park for Salford as part of a transformational regeneration of a strategically important site at a key gateway with Manchester City Centre.

I have been a long-time advocate for the positive impact that great design can have on people and place, acting as current co-Chair of PlacesMatter, the independent Design Review Panel for the North-West. I’m a past Chair of the RIBA North-West region and have served on the RIBA National Council andwas a previous owner director and global head of design at the international practice Broadway Malyan.

The rigorous approach that underpins my work demonstrates my commitment to people-focused, placemaking-led design and has resulted in a diverse portfolio of award-winning projects. This portfolio includes Mann Island, a RIBA Award-winning project that I designed and delivered at a highly significant and complex site on Liverpool’s Waterfront. Historic England highlighted the design of Mann Island as an exemplar response to this unique context of Listed Buildings. I went on to design and deliver RIBA North within the Mann Island complex; RIBA’s national architecture centre containing its largest museum-standard Gallery, providing an award-winning visitor experience for guests as a visitor hub for the historic waterfront.

As Associate Director in Urban Design, I lead the Northwest Place Team at SLR Consulting, drawing on 20+ years of experience across architecture, urban design, and landscape practices.

My background includes leading major regeneration projects and masterplans across the UK. I specialise in shaping masterplans for complex and challenging sites, such as the Northern Gateway masterplan (PfE), former Jackson’s Brickworks masterplan and New Eastern Villages near Swindon. I sensitively integrate heritage assets within masterplans, including the historic Woolwich Royal Artillery Barracks in Greenwich and Green Walk, Standish.

I’ve authored frameworks and guidance, notably Sheffield City Centre Priority Framework, Residential Capacity Studies for Sheffield and Leicester, Northwich Development Framework, Ashton Public Realm Strategy, Radcliffe SRF and Warrington Growth Ambition, collaborating with partners, bringing together diverse voices and disciplines. I’ve delivered several design codes and supported Design Code Training for local authorities.

I’m committed to inclusive design and implement engagement with diverse stakeholder groups, ensuring all voices genuinely shape places. My passion lies in creating healthy, sustainable places with a strong sense of identity, memorable and people-focused places, rooted in their context. My goal is to raise design quality and create places that make everyday life better.

I am a specialist urban design and historic environment advisor and practitioner working in the urban design, masterplanning, planning, conservation and regeneration sectors since 1979.

I co-founded Plus Urban Design Ltd in 2011 having previously been Urban Design Director at Space Group and Ryder Architecture; and Urban Design & Conservation Group Manager at Newcastle City Council.

I am also Co-Chair of both the affiliated Designe North East and Design Yorkshire Design Review & Enabling Services; and a Design Network Building for a Healthy Life Evaluator.

I am an Academician at the Academy of Urbanism; a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and a Trustee of the Tyne & Wear Building Preservation Trust.

I was previously a CABE panellist; Design Council BEE; and past Chair of the national Historic Towns & Villages Forum.

I have had a career long commitment and expertise in local placemaking and creating healthy neighbourhoods working with local communities notably in Byker & the Ouseburn Valley in Newcastle; Worsley, Salford; and in Central Northampton.

I am also an urban design and BfHL trainer at events run by Design Network partners including Places Matter.

I am a Director at Levitt Bernstein, passionate about creating high quality, inspirational places where people can thrive while building a sustainable legacy for future generations. I am particularly excited by the reimagining and transformative potential of thought-provoking sites that hold untapped opportunity.

My 25+ years of experience has garnered expertise across the education, residential, and arts sectors and has taught me that the most rewarding architecture often emerges from embracing complex challenges and finding ways to turn constraints into catalysts for exceptional design.

Since establishing and leading our Manchester Studio in 2013, I have wherever possible, advocated the innovative reuse of buildings and deep retrofit measures, seeing them as both an environmental obligation and a source of creative opportunity. I especially enjoy the process of unlocking the potential within heritage buildings and settings, working through the technical and logistical challenges of adaptation to meet contemporary needs, while honouring their inherent character and history.

This appreciation was first informed during my early career working on Manchester's Royal Exchange Theatre following the 1996 bomb damage. Being part of the core team on that two-year refurbishment project enforced how inspired reuse can create something truly special and that the most perplexing sites often hold the greatest potential.

My role on the Places Matter review panel since 2017 allows me to advocate for design excellence that, from macro-scale masterplanning to bespoke transformations, always puts people and place at its heart.

I am a founding director of Manchester based design practice MBLA Architects + Urbanists (formerly Mills Beaumont Leavey) and former director at Buttress Architects. I combined private practice with 15 years as a visiting tutor and assessor at the Manchester School of Architecture and an examiner in professional practice at The Bartlett, London and RIBA N.W.

I am a past president of The Manchester Society of Architects and recipient of the 2017 Lifetime Achievement Award for significant contribution to architecture.

I am an assessor for Building for a Healthy Life with over 15 years as a member of Places Matter design review panel, most recently as supporting chair and a member of the Advisory Board.

I have enjoyed involvement in all project sectors with particular specialism in residential, regeneration and masterplanning. Highlighted projects include Sir William Siemens House, Homes for Change, Unity Theatre, Woods End, Design House, Icon 25, Atelier and Timekeepers Square. Selected masterplanning projects include Hulme regeneration, New Broughton, Collyhurst, Smithfield and Ancoats /New Islington.

I have valued creative collaboration in all my work, enjoying the success of multiple awards and references in published works on design excellence.

I lead an independent design practice based in the NW and have approaching 30 years’ experience working within the landscape profession across the UK, sector areas and client groups having worked for Capita (London) LDA Design (Oxford) and Camlin Lonsdale (Huddersfield) prior to it rebranding to XQLA in 2018. 

As a chartered landscape architect with a joint degree in plant science my capability has evolved through involvement in a broad range of challenging schemes ‘end to end’. This includes regional level green infrastructure projects, regeneration strategies, landscape character assessments and public realm design guides as well as area based visioning and landscape-led masterplanning.  Notable built projects include Holland House South Terrace & Café, London, Market Square, Stafford and Eton Olympic Rowing Lake.

I relish collaborative working in the interest of raising awareness of the power of good landscape design to transform people’s everyday lives as well as enabling sustainable futures. Consequently, I also sit on the North East and Yorkshire Design Review Panels.  At a national level I have sat on the HS2 independent design panel since 2018 (deputy chair for three years) and have recently been appointed to provide landscape advice for Historic England’s Historic Places Panel. I am also a regular judge for the AJ Awards and a board member of Lancaster Arts.