Edinburgh Galleries Judges, EDI Design Contest Jury members, Scottish architectural news

Princes Street Galleries : Architecture

Jury: Barbara Kelly, Rab Bennetts, David Mackay, Ton Meijer, Lezley Cameron

Architectural Competition

Princes Street Galleries Jury

Judges’ Biographies

Chair: Dr Barbara Kelly, CBE DL

Barbara Kelly has held a number of senior public positions throughout her career, with primary interests focusing on rural and environmental issues and consumer affairs.

In 1985, she was appointed Chair of the Scottish Consumer Council; a post she held for five years. This was followed, in 1991, by an invitation to become Equal Opportunities Commissioner for Scotland, where she remained until 1995. Further achievements include membership of the Scottish Board of BP plc and the Scottish Post Office, along with her role as the first and only female Non-Executive Director of Clydesdale Bank Plc, from 1994 to 1999. More recently, Barbara’s key roles have included her term as Chair of the Architects’ Registration Board and Convenor of the Millennium Forest for Scotland Trust. Her current activities in the latter field have helped to secure a multi-million pound contract from the Millennium Commission for re-establishing the native woodlands right in Scotland.

Barbara is also an active partner in her family’s farming enterprise in Dumfries & Galloway.

Rab Bennetts

Rab Bennetts has received several awards and accolades for his contribution to architecture which spans 25 years. His practice, Bennetts Associates, has offices in Edinburgh and London. Previously he worked with international firm Arup Associates.

During the past 15 years, Bennetts Associates has won several competitions – including Heathrow’s Visitor Centre and BT’s headquarters. His other achievements include board membership of M4i, the movement for innovation, and Chair of the DETR Sustainability Working Group. In 2001, Rab was voted Scottish Architect of the Year.

David Mackay

Sussex-born, David Mackay has worked as an architect over 50 years, accumulating a wide range of international experience. After graduating from Northern Polytechnic architectural department in London, David moved to Barcelona. In 1962, he was a founding partner of Martorell, Bohigas, Mackay (MBM). Today, it is acknowledged as Spain’s best-known architectural practice.

In recent years, David has been guest professor at the School of Architecture of the University of Wisconsin and, in 1996, was invited by John Prescott to become a member of the English Partnership’s Core Advisor Panel. In addition to these achievements, he has published six architectural text books and is widely recognised as one of the experts in his field.

MBM Arquitectes worked on the refurbishemnt of Buchanan Street in Glasgow

Ton Meijer

Ton joined the family firm Bouwbedrijf B. Meijer in the Netherlands in 1961, after military service, before starting his own firm MAB Groep B.V. in 1970, of which he is now President of the Board of Directors. The firm was established in the Netherlands, and has since expanded to France, Germany, England and Belgium.

The core business of the company is the development of large-scale urban projects, such as Les Halles in Paris; the Babylon building and the Resident building in The Hague; and the centres of Le Havre, Aix-en-Provence, Fontainebleau, Zoetermeer, Amstelveen and Almere. MAB has received various professional awards, including four-times winner of the ICSC award (International Council of Shopping Centres), as well as the NRW award (Netherlands Council of Shopping Centres), also four times.

Ton is a Board Member of the Netherlands Architecture Institute and also the Berlage Institute. He speaks Dutch, English, French and German, and has been awarded the Knight in the Order of Orange Nassau.

Lezley Cameron

A graduate of Glasgow, Strathclyde and Napier universities Lezley worked in financial services before embarking on a career in local government, working in Policy Development, Personnel and Public Relations in the former Moray District and Banff and Buchan District Councils.

In January 1996 Lezley moved to Edinburgh to start her own successful consultancy business, specialising in corporate events and conferences. She then returned to local government in May 1999 as an elected Councillor for The City of Edinburgh Council, where she has been responsible for Economic Development.

Through membership of the Local Economic Forum and directorship of the Edinburgh & Lothians Tourist Board and the City Centre Partnership, Lezley has an important input to the development of the City’s economic, retail and tourism strategies and plays a particularly important role in the development of business tourism through her chairmanship of the EICC The Exchange.

Under Lezley’s direction, a number of city-wide access to employment initiatives have been introduced including the Edinburgh Retail Academy. Lezley also chairs Waterfront Edinburgh Limited, The EDI Group and New Edinburgh Limited, companies that deliver key development projects across the City.

Edinburgh Galleries Jury information received on 8 Aug 2002

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