TheUrbanGlow Design & Heritage Ltd was founded by Director Andy Graham BA(hons) MAued IHBC. Andy is a well respected and well seasoned Urban Design and Heritage professional with over 22 years experience within both the public and private sectors. His grounding is in Architecture and Planning with a healthy amount of work experience as an Archaeologist working on several excavations around the country. His first role was with the private sector before he gained invaluable experience on the 'front line' of Planning within the ancient city of York. Following this Andy funded his continuing studies in Urban, Environmental Design and his ethos has always been to base future change upon a thorough understanding of the historic context of a building or place.
Andy then became a core part of the Sustainable Development Unit at Leeds City Council where he specialised in the fusion of Urban Design and Heritage Conservation within a very talented team of Urban Designer, Landscape Architects, Building Conservation Officers and Sustainability experts. This was further developed in his roles in Australia where he championed placemaking and heritage conservation within the State of Victoria. After other contact roles in North Yorkshire and with Historic England and WSP Andy now focusses on developing and growing TheUrbanGlow into a well respected boutique SME consultancy whose approach is honest. We will not compromise on our beliefs, and we will not justify development simply for the sake of it. We work on behalf of both the buildings and places we love and the customers who we value and respect.
Andy is also passionate about the lessons learnt from our historic environment and the clues they can give us to understand our sustainable future. In this regard he has published several papers on the sustainability of the historic environment. Andy is a full member of the Institute of Historic Building Conservation (IHBC) and the Urban Design Group, he is a Design Council Built Environment Expert and sits on the Fabric Advisory Committee for York Minster and Ripon Cathedral. He is also the published author of York in 50 Buildings by Amberley Publishing.
His specialities include new development within sensitive historic areas, Urban Design and Heritage Site Appraisals, Area Masterplanning, Liaison with Development Management Planners and Developers and as expert witness at Appeals. He is passionate about helping areas manage their heritage in a creative way that protects what is important and enables places to thrive and maintain their truly unique attributes.
(PS - He secretly hates this photograph!)
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Andy then became a core part of the Sustainable Development Unit at Leeds City Council where he specialised in the fusion of Urban Design and Heritage Conservation within a very talented team of Urban Designer, Landscape Architects, Building Conservation Officers and Sustainability experts. This was further developed in his roles in Australia where he championed placemaking and heritage conservation within the State of Victoria. After other contact roles in North Yorkshire and with Historic England and WSP Andy now focusses on developing and growing TheUrbanGlow into a well respected boutique SME consultancy whose approach is honest. We will not compromise on our beliefs, and we will not justify development simply for the sake of it. We work on behalf of both the buildings and places we love and the customers who we value and respect.
Andy is also passionate about the lessons learnt from our historic environment and the clues they can give us to understand our sustainable future. In this regard he has published several papers on the sustainability of the historic environment. Andy is a full member of the Institute of Historic Building Conservation (IHBC) and the Urban Design Group, he is a Design Council Built Environment Expert and sits on the Fabric Advisory Committee for York Minster and Ripon Cathedral. He is also the published author of York in 50 Buildings by Amberley Publishing.
His specialities include new development within sensitive historic areas, Urban Design and Heritage Site Appraisals, Area Masterplanning, Liaison with Development Management Planners and Developers and as expert witness at Appeals. He is passionate about helping areas manage their heritage in a creative way that protects what is important and enables places to thrive and maintain their truly unique attributes.
(PS - He secretly hates this photograph!)
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Esther is a talented Historian ands Associate of TheUrbanGlow. She is thorough in her historic research and meticulous in ensuring her research is second to none. She has recently completed her MA in Buildings Archaeology and Conservation at the University of York and assists with several of our projects from Heritage Statements, historic research and, most recently, our assessment of Non Designated Heritage Assets for various settlements.