About

The Solent Centre operates primarily in the Solent area (Hampshire and the Isle of Wight) but has begun to seek out programme opportunities in Dorset, West Sussex, Surrey and the Thames Valley. 

We aim to advocate the value of design excellence with decision makers, industry, professionals and the community, and to provide strong leadership on design issues.  We also aim to improve the understanding of the importance of good design of the built and designed environment at the local level and the role people can have in shaping it.  To achieve our aims we facilitate inspirational workshops, exhibitions, participatory programmes and other initiatives intended to increase the public's awareness of design excellence and the part they can play in shaping the built and designed environment. The Solent Centre is an independent not for profit company limited by guarantee.  Overall strategic direction and governance is given by a Board of Directors with a subsidiary Finance Committee, both of which meet quarterly.

One of 20 Architecture Centres currently operating or being developed in the UK, the Solent Centre for Architecture + Design is a member of the Architecture Centre Network.  The ACN supports and advances the work of architecture and built environment centres seeking to secure greater knowledge, access, participation and influence at all levels, in the creation of an excellent built environment for all.

For further information on Solent Centre's programmes you may wish to take a look through our Annual Review 2010 below.  You can expand the document to full screen and flick through the pages.

Open publication - Free publishing - More solent centre

Board Members

Rupert Cook ( Chair )

Rupert is a Director of architecture plb, he has a broad range of experience across a range of projects including; university, housing, mixed-use, arts and cultural buildings. He trained at Kingston University and University of North London, then worked in London for ABK and was an associate at Robert Barnes Architects.

Rupert is joint convenor of the RIBA’s Higher Education Design Quality Forum, having been a member for five years. He represents the practice as a founder member of Winchester Action on Climate Change (WinACC), cited by Act on CO2 as an exemplary sustainability action group. He has taught full time and is a visiting design tutor and critic for various schools of Architecture. He has presented lectures on broad architectural issues and specific buildings.

Previously he has built carbon/ kevlar racing boats and has also worked in design studios for production and advertising companies. Privately he recently designed a near zero carbon house.

Anthony Blackstock
Anthony Blackstock is a Chartered Accountant who has spent his career in the cultural sector. He has served as Finance Director of the Arts Council, the National Theatre and the British Museum.

Since 2000 he has been in practice and has served clients in the cultural and higher education sectors, including ACE, RSC, ENO, South Bank Centre, Tate, Chichester Festival Theatre and Trinity Laban. Over the past decade he has worked on major construction projects.

Simon Eden - Chief Executive - Winchester City Council
Simon is the Chief Executive of Winchester City Council, a post he has held since May 2003. Prior to that, he was Executive Director for Sustainability and Development at Southampton City Council, having previously worked in various policy roles in the Civil Service for 12 years. Before he began his career in public administration, Simon was a Zoologist.  Following graduation from Sheffield University he studied for a PhD in Animal Behaviour, and then worked as a Post Doctoral Research Fellow at Cambridge University.
 
Simon is a member of the SEERA Chief Executive’s Advisory Group, a Governor of the University of Winchester, Board Member of the Solent Centre for Architecture and Design Board, and leads for PUSH on the topic of ‘Creating Quality Places’, which includes a broad range of work on culture and creating PUSH’s ‘identity’.

Tod Wakefield - Head of School of Architecture - University of Portsmouth
An architect in practice in London for 20 years, Tod Wakefield became Head of the Portsmouth School of Architecture in 2001.  He continues to enjoy studio teaching and lecturing in the areas of representation and history of modern architecture and has recently led student study trips to Lisbon, Oporto and Helsinki.
 
His research interests include New Settlement and Urban Housing and Architectural Education and the 'virtual studio'.  Tod is a member of the Standing Conference for Heads of Schools of Architecture (SCHOSA). He is also a member of the Board of the Solent Centre for Architecture and Design (SCA+D) and a member of the Advisory Board of the Urban Renaissance Institute (Uri).

Andrea Smith -  Director of Development and New Business - Radian
Andrea is the Director of Development and New Business for Radian, a housing group comprising Swaythling Housing Society, Drum Housing Association, Windsor Housing Association and Turnstone Support. Andrea has held the post at Radian since December 2006, prior to which she held similar roles at Swaythling Housing Society in Southampton and Circle 33 Housing Trust in London. Andrea is a chartered architect and spent her early career in private practices in London and West Cumbria. She is a member of the National Housing Federation’s S.E Executive Committee and sits on the S.E. Development Forum Steering Group.

Andrea is passionate about design and sustainability and, through the procurement of over 600 new home completions each year, is able to use her architectural skills to influence the quality of the built environment across Hampshire, Dorset, Wiltshire, Berkshire, Buckingham and Surrey.

Neil Williamson
Following a first degree in psychology & physiology, Neil gained an MA in landscape architecture at Sheffield University and embarked on a career as a landscape architect in local government. He is currently head of environmental design at New Forest District Council, an authority known for its strong commitment to design excellence.
 
He has worked extensively with the police and others over the past decade on environmental design and crime prevention, and is a founding member of the UK Designing Out Crime Association (http://www.doca.org.uk/intro.asp), so the psychology did come in handy eventually.

Neil was elected President of the Landscape Institute in July 2008, and is currently guiding the organisation through a period of significant change. He is keen to strengthen the links between landscape architecture and the other built environment professions.

 
Colin Wilkins MRICS
Colin heads the Development Consultancy team at Savills Southampton Office. He joined Savills in 1994 and has a comprehensive knowledge of development issues advising private, public and corporate clients. He qualified as a Chartered Surveyor in 1992.

Colin’s expertise includes development appraisal, viability and valuation; negotiation of third party rights; land assembly and consortia agreements; land equalisation agreements; negotiation of planning agreements, legal, highway and drainage agreements; option agreements, joint venture agreements; marketing; sales and acquisitions.

Chris Higgins

Chris retired in November 2009 after some 40 years in architecture and the built environment. 4 years with the Ove Arup Partnership in the late 60’s was influential in instilling the values of architecture in Chris as he qualified to become a chartered quantity surveyor. He subsequently broadened his career path, “going native” to become a facilitator of good design, advocating that value for money was best recognised in buildings that would stand the test of time; long term investments rather than short term expediency.

He was a partner of architects, Plincke Leaman & Browning ( now architecture plb ) where for 11 years he was business manager as the practice grew through the 70’s and 80’s. In 1994 Chris accepted a new challenge as Director of Estates at what was then King Alfred’s College; where he devised a master plan for the growth as a rather old fashioned teacher training college grew to become The University of Winchester. He acquired and developed a new campus at West Downs and commissioned a number of award winning buildings in collaboration with Feilden Clegg Bradley and Design Engine amongst other leading architects.

Just as he was planning his retirement, Chris was approached by The London School of Economics to become their Director of Estates, where he stayed for 2 years, restructuring the department and drafting a new estates strategy for an exceptional campus on the edge of Lincolns Inn Fields. During this time the LSE made a major investment in public art as well as their commitment to environmental awareness & climate change.