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The Civic Voice Design Awards benefits from an eminent panel of judges which is chaired by Max Farrell, Project Leader for the Farrell Review of Architecture and the Built Environment (2014) and includes: Rob Cowan (Urban Design Skills), Russ Hamilton (Farrells); Tracy Meller (Rogers Stirk Harbour and Partners); Sophia de Sousa (The Glass-House Community Led Design) and; John Walker (The Canterbury Society)

Max Farrell,

Chair of the Civic Voice Design Awards

Max is a Partner at Farrells, the award-winning architect-planners, with offices in London, Hong Kong and Shanghai. Max was Project Leader for the Farrell Review of Architecture and the Built Environment, commissioned by Culture Minister Ed Vaizey in 2013 and published in 2014 after extensive consultation with government, institutions, industry and the public.

Rob Cowan

Rob is director of the consultancy Urban Design Skills and editor of Context, the journal of the Institute of Historic Building Conservation. His many publications include the government’s first urban design guidance, By Design, and The Dictionary of Urbanism.

Sophia de Sousa

Chief executive at The Glass-House Community Led Design, Sophia is committed to the charity’s mission to raise the standard of placemaking through public participation and leadership in the design of buildings, spaces, housing and neighbourhoods. Sophia promotes and supports collaborative placemaking as a valuable means of informing good design that benefits local people and leads to the long-term improvement of neighbourhoods.

Russ Hamilton

Russ is a Design Partner at Farrells and is the lead designer on high profile public and cultural buildings. He has extensive experience of working with heritage buildings and mixed use schemes. Key projects include the Grade I listed Royal Institution of Great Britain, the Great North Museum, Alexandra Palace, the Pantechnicon Building, the London Clinic and the Embassy Gardens development at Nine Elms.

Louise Palomba

Louise is an Associate Partner at Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners.

John Walker

As former Deputy Chairman of Civic Voice, John lead on a number of projects, in particular; the Collaborative Planning campaign and the Civic Voice Design Awards. Currently Chair of The Ramsgate Society, where he lives, and the Kent Federation of Amenity Societies, John has a strong interest in the quality of the public realm and the importance of good design in the built environment. 

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