A chartered planner and urban designer with a background in geography, Heather has over 14 years of experience working in the public sector. At Glasgow City Council, Heather has shaped place policy and facilitated urban regeneration.

In 2019, Heather was seconded to Architecture and Design Scotland for 20 months to work with a small team to develop a new ‘carbon conscious places’ project, working with the Scottish Government and local authorities in rural, islands and urban settings.

Jim MacDonald, chief executive of Architecture and Design Scotland, said: “We are delighted to be joined by Heather in this key role. We know, having worked with her in the past, that her skills and experience will help us to deliver our strategy to make collaboration central to how we plan, develop and sustain our places in Scotland.”

Heather Claridge, director of design at Architecture and Design Scotland, said: “I am very happy to join Architecture and Design Scotland. I have had first-hand experience of the excellent work the organisation delivers to support positive change in how Scotland’s places are created, adapted and sustained.

“I am grateful for the opportunity to champion the role of design in improving people’s lives and supporting joined-up approaches to effectively tackle Scotland’s climate, inequality, health and wellbeing challenges. I look forward to working with the staff, board and partners.”

In her role at Glasgow City Council, Heather Claridge supported local and creative partnerships within Glasgow’s Canal Corridor and helped grow the internationally recognised Stalled Space initiative, activating vacant and underused land. She played a leading role in delivering Glasgow’s greener legacy projects for the 2014 Commonwealth Games. She has contributed to multiple complex green and blue infrastructure projects in the east end of the city. Heather has played a key role in Glasgow City Council’s involvement in the international Lighting Urban Community International Association and has supported creative lighting projects locally.

Heather is passionate about people-centred design and addressing social and environmental inequalities through collaborative working. She is a non-executive director of the board for the Academy of Urbanism, a charity trustee of the Green Action Trust, an affiliate of the UN Habitat’s Planners for Climate Action, former Royal Town Planning Institute UK Young Planner of the Year and titled in the top 50 women of Influence for 2019 and 2020 in ‘the Planner’.

Heather Claridge took up the position of director of design on 7 November 2022.