Shirley Hamill

Ms Hamill will drive the growth of Rio’s Scotland office. From her base in Edinburgh, she is already managing several large high-rise projects in London’s Canary Wharf and Leeds city centre.

Joining Rio in 2005, Ms Hamill has considerable experience working closely with developers on complex sites, particularly within the residential sector.

Meanwhile, Chris Taylor, Ffion Elin Lanchbury and Kate White - all based in Cardiff - will join Richard Roberts, Andrew Baker and Mike Dacey as directors of the practice.

Dan Lewis and Claire Broad in Cardiff have also been promoted to associate director, while Lauren Williams and Richard Davies have been promoted to associate. Andrew Joss has become Rio’s digital construction lead and Sian Evans has been promoted to office manager/document controller.

Richard Roberts, founder of Rio Architects, said: “We have always had an incredibly talented and dedicated team at Rio and these strategic changes will help provide the catalyst for taking the practice to the next level, allowing us to expand our current offers whilst exploring new, emerging markets.

“Significantly, all promotions are from within, reinforcing Rio’s culture and brand and at the same time illustrating the company’s core philosophy for career development. It is an absolute pleasure working with such an extraordinary team and I’m looking forward to seeing how the business develops over the years to come.”