Iain is an ARB registered Architect with 24 years of experience of practice in the UK and Asia. Previous practices include Sir Norman Foster & Partners where Iain worked principally on the new Hong Kong Airport at Chek Lap Kok. He has been a design tutor at Edinburgh College of Art and ESALA since 1996 and was Director of the Master of Architecture at ESALA from 2011-14.
He is presently Edinburgh Director of Draw Architects. Draw is a new model of architectural practice which works in partnership both nationally and internationally with collaborative design partners. Draw has collaborative partners in Europe, the Middle East, Asian and China. Previous collaborators include Aedas and Arups. Founding Director of Draw, Mark Bingham works with Iain in teaching, practice and research and both run a shared Masters Design studio in ESALA.
Iain is also a researcher within ESALA, working on projects funded by joint research council initiatives. He is presently part of an interdisciplinary research team including academics from University of Edinburgh, Kings College, London and the University of York, which is investigating the relationship between older people and the built environment, with fieldwork and user participation in the cities of Manchester, London and Copenhagen and also the remote Scottish Island of Orkney. The project has received £1.5 million funding from Research Councils UK and is entitled 'Mobility, Mood and Place'. (MMP). In February 2017, the project entered a new phase, in which findings and key messages are being shared with audiences in policy, practice, communities, and the not-for-profit sector to drive forward change in age-friendly approaches to place. These year-long activities are funded by an Impact Acceleration Award from the Economic and Social Research Council.
