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Architecture and Design Scotland
22/01/2010
Fiona Hyslop, Minister for Culture and External Affairs, today announced the appointment of the new Chair of Architecture and Design Scotland.
The new Chair is:
Karen Anderson - an architect and a founding partner of Anderson, Bell Christie Architects, Glasgow. She graduated from Glasgow's Mackintosh School of Architecture in 1984 and has been in practice as an architect since then. Karen has significant experience in social housing and community involvement in re-development, working on masterplanning and, urban and rural design guidance in areas as diverse as Raploch, Stirling; the Isle of Gigha; Argyll and Bute; and North Lanarkshire. She is a former Commissioner of the Royal Fine Art Commission for Scotland and is currently a Board member of Architecture and Design Scotland. She has been a part-time lecturer in Architecture at the University of Strathclyde and was until recently Convenor of the Saltire Housing Design Awards Panel.
Anderson Bell Christie was established in 1991 and has since built up a strong reputation for high quality design across the housing, regeneration, health and education sectors. The practice was recently shortlisted in four categories of Building Design magazine's Architect of the Year awards: masterplanning, residential (Private), residential (Public) and education. Significant projects completed by the practice in recent years include Auchterarder Community School; Erskine Mains Care Home; a private residential development at Queen Elizabeth Square, Glasgow; and the Scottish National Epilepsy Centre.
This appointment will be for four years and will run from April 1, 2010 to March 31, 2014.
This post is part-time and attracts a remuneration of £200 per day for a time commitment of up to 4 days per month.
Karen Anderson holds no other Ministerial appointment, with the exception of her current term of office as a Board member of Architecture and Design Scotland, which will be completed when she becomes Chair of the organisation.
Architecture and Design Scotland was established by Scottish Ministers in April 2005 as the national champion for good architecture, design and planning in the built environment. The principal aim of the body is to inspire better quality in design and architecture so that Scotland's built environment contributes in a positive way to Ministers strategic objectives and the National Outcomes. Architecture and Design Scotland operates as a Company Limited by Guarantee funded directly by the Scottish Government.
A Policy and Financial Management Review of Architecture and Design Scotland published in April 2009 recommended that the body focuses on the practical promotion of good design by means that can be seen to lead to better outcomes, and continues to develop an approach which focuses efforts on a limited number of core priority areas and themes. To help deliver this new direction, a new governance structure is being put in place, which will be led by Karen Anderson as Chair of the organisation. A new board with up to nine members, which will replace the current two-board structure, is in the process of being appointed.
This Ministerial public appointment was made in accordance with the Commissioner for Public Appointments in Scotland's Code of Practice.
All appointments are made on merit and political activity plays no part in the selection process. However, in accordance with the original Nolan recommendations, there is a requirement for appointees' political activity within the last five years (if there is any to be declared) to be made public. Karen Anderson has not declared any political activity in the past five years.