Our Board

Divisional Director, Stride Treglown

Cora is a chartered architect with over 20 years’ international experience & is Divisional Director & Sector Lead for Universities at Stride Treglown. Core is also a RIBA Client Adviser with focus on strategic advice, briefing & user experience. With her strong design background & as multi-disciplinary design team leader, Cora has been responsible for high-value & award-winning, change inspiring projects, including masterplanning, higher education & workplace schemes.

Cora has demonstrated championing design excellence as a thought-leader through co-chairing the Bristol Design Review Panel at Design West & the Design Commission for Wales (DCfW). She further supports this aim as Board Trustee & Commissioner for DCfW.

Head of Capability & Capacity, Planning Directorate Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities

David was previously Head of Local Economic Contingencies in the joint BEIS/MHCLG Cities & Local Growth Unit. During the pandemic David led on Covid Business Support Grants as well as wider economic shock & contingency planning. A chartered town planner, David was Head of Infrastructure with responsibility for the MHCLG programme for High Speed 2, joint working with DfT & wider work infrastructure led regeneration. From Jan 2017 to October 2018 he led on multiple chapters of the new National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) including design, density, new settlements & small & medium sites. David spent nearly five years as Assistant Director of Design Council Cabe overseeing the merger of the organisation & developing the Cabe business unit into a self financing organisation, working with cities & authorities across England. He is a regular speaker at planning policy & regeneration events across the country, a Board Member of Smart Transport, & on the Advisory Group of the Thames Estuary Cultural Commission & a founding member of the International Garden Cities Institute.

Principal Participation Officer, London Borough of Camden

Over the past 40 years Dom has worked locally regionally & nationally on community-led solutions to major social & economic challenges such as homelessness, poverty & inequality.

Dom has worked at a senior level in the charitable & social economy sector, as well as local & central government in the south west of England & in North London. Up until this year Dom led Creating Excellence (the regional centre for regeneration skills in the south west). In April 2022, Creating Excellence merged with The Architecture Centre to establish Design West & Dom now serves as a member of its board, with a remit to develop regional working & leadership.

Founder & CEO, Forwardspace

Gavin is the Founder & CEO of Forward Space a managed workspace company providing shared workspace to start-up & scale-up businesses. He is also the Founder & CEO of Coherent a software business which has developed software for managing workspace. A former investment banker (Merrill Lynch & UBS) & successful entrepreneur, Gavin is passionate about supporting local businesses that contribute social & environmental value. Gavin has a strong interest in design & placemaking & is well known as the founder of the Frome Independent Market.

Researcher, Quality of Life Foundation

Hani is a researcher sitting at the edge of a long list of disciplines & practices, starting with architecture progressing all the way over to systems & infrastructure. Hani is interested in understanding wider contexts to social & cultural phenomena & is currently doing this through his work in design education at the University of West of England & Birmingham City University. Outside of education, Hani also curates debates & public events in partnership with Dutch platform DeDependance, in Rotterdam. Hani began his relationship with Design West through our Shape My City talent development progamme & continues to support on the development of our Education work.

Pro Vice-chancellor & Head of College of Arts, Technology & Environment at the University of the West of England (UWE)

Elena is internationally recognised as a strategic & transformational leader, known for her continued commitment to student success, empowering her teams & to equity for all. She takes a particular interest in the advancement of women, of Black, Asian global majority groups across STEAM subjects & in strategic responses to climate change. Elena’s career spans industry & academia, beginning at FCB Studios before transitioning to research & learning. She was highly commended in the 2021 RIBA President’s Research Awards & was Head of Architecture & the Built Environment from 2014 – 2022. Elena was elected Architect Board Member at the ARB in 2019 & in 2021 was awarded a National Teaching Fellowship for her impact & transformational contribution to climate-change teaching practices in HE. Elena also serves on the RWA Board & internationally is part of the Architectural Research European Network Association (ARENA)

Planning & Development Director, YTL

Having trained in both Architecture & Planning, Seb has spent a career at some of the property industry’s most innovative developers. Having started out at Urban Splash, he worked for Skanska & Studio Hive before joining YTL Developments in 2017. He now leads the team responsible for one of the most exciting regeneration projects in the country: transforming the historic former Filton Airfield into a thriving new neighbourhood for Bristol, known as Brabazon.

Director, City Global Futures

Stephen Hilton is a company Founder & Director. He set up City Global Futures Ltd in 2016, following a distinguished career in Local Government, including the role of Bristol City Council’s first Director of Futures. He is currently on sabbatical (until Summer 2023) studying for an MA in Regenerative Economics at the renowned Schumacher College in Dartington.

Stephen has degrees from the University of Surrey & the University of Leeds. In 2019, he became the first Honorary Fellow of the University of Bristol Digital Futures Institute, focusing on “Sociology-Tech” – the intersection between Smart technologies & Society. Stephen holds voluntary roles as a Trustee of Design West – reflecting his interest in placemaking & is a Board Member of the Bristol Sight Loss Council, reflecting his lived experience of being visually impaired.

Director, Childs Sulzmann Architects

Nick was founding partner of Childs Sulzmann Architects in 1994. The award-winning practice is particularly recognised for regeneration projects in Bristol such as Arnolfini, Watershed, Engine Shed & the Royal West of England Academy. Nick is passionate about furthering architectural excellence & good urban design. He was a founder member of the Academy of Urbanism.
Nick has held a number of other significant positions including Chair of the Harbourside Design Forum, Member of the National RIBA Council RIBA & Board Member RIBA Journal. He was also the Inaugural Chair of Bristol Urban Design Forum & a Teaching Fellow at the University of Bath

Director, Emmett Russell Architects

Tom Russell is founder & practice Director for Emmett Russell Architects. Tom has extensive experience in the design of housing, public & community buildings & in masterplanning. Tom has been instrumental in a number of national & international competition winning housing & urban design schemes. As well as his work in practice Tom has considerable experience of teaching architecture & urban design at Cardiff University, Bath University & UWE in Bristol. He has lectured extensively & has held external examiner posts at Plymouth & De Montfort Universities. Tom has brought his experience to the Design West review panels (formerly Bristol Urban Design Forum) & is an academician at the RWA.