SPAB - Key Persons

Catharine Bull

Job Titles:

Member of the Education & Training Team
Building Surveyor
Scholarship Officer

Catharine writes about her first paid role as a surveyor, how the SPAB Scholarship led her to a career in building conservation and offers her advice to someone wanting to start working in the heritage sector.

Catherine Cullis

Catherine is the past churches and cathedrals officer for the SPAB and her career has concentrated on the care of historic ecclesiastical buildings

Catherine Peacock

Job Titles:

Member of the Technical & Research Team
Technical Administrator

Catherine Rose

Job Titles:

Member of the Education & Training Team
Training Officer

Chi-Wei Clifford-Frith

Job Titles:

Director & Projects Team Assistant

Chris Wheaton - Treasurer

Job Titles:

Treasurer

Chris has been a financial analyst for over twenty years but his most fulfilling roles have been voluntary ones. His most recent volunteer work was as a trustee of a sizeable multi-school charitable trust with annual income of over £30m and nearly 500 employees. Chris has been a SPAB member for at least 10-15 years and has loved old buildings for as long as he can remember.

Christina Emerson

Job Titles:

Head of Casework

Christina joined the SPAB in March 2019, heading up a team that deals with over 2000 formal and informal requests for advice a year. Christina has a background in listed buildings casework and campaigning for buildings at risk, as well as marketing and strategy development.

David John

Job Titles:

Member of the Technical & Research Team
Technical Advisor

Deirdre Keeley

Job Titles:

Officer

Douglas Kent

Job Titles:

Head of Technical & Research

Douglas Kent BSc(Hons), BSc, MSc, MRICS joined the staff in 2000. He has held surveying roles in the private and public sectors, including the military. Douglas publishes and lectures regularly on building conservation and has contributed to various radio and television programmes.

Duncan McCallum

Duncan has over 35 years of experience in the sector. He studied planning and building conservation at Newcastle and York Universities and undertook a variety of heritage roles across England in local authorities. He joined English Heritage in 1996, later moving to Historic England. His final role there was as Strategy and Listing Director. He left in 2022 to devote his time to various heritage-related causes.

Elaine Byrne

Job Titles:

Head of Education & Training

Elaine joined the SPAB in 2005 and has held a range of roles in that time, including Casework Officer and SPAB Ireland Officer. Her team's work includes the delivery of all training courses and educational events, the Scholarship and Fellowship programmes and the archive.

Elgan Jones

Job Titles:

Member of the Casework Team
Casework Officer

Felicity Martin

Job Titles:

Communications Officer

Felicity, the communications officer at the SPAB, writes about her route into building conservation, the local development campaign that got her interested in the sector and the best careers advice she was given.

Georgina Nayler

Until 2020, Georgina was Director of The Pilgrim Trust, and has worked in grant giving throughout her career.

Hazel Morris

Hazel is a chartered surveyor and values commercial property across the UK. She is the chair of the Kent and Surrey Regional Group.

James Crick

Job Titles:

Senior Architect
Senior Architect at Ferguson Mann Architects

James is a senior architect at Ferguson Mann Architects, based in Bristol. He writes about his most challenging moment in his career, the most useful piece of advice he was given, and what first led him to building conservation.

Joanne Needham

Job Titles:

Member of the Casework Team
Casework Officer

Jonathan Garlick

Job Titles:

Special Operations Manager

Kate Streeter

Job Titles:

Head of Development & Communications

Kate joined SPAB in 2013 heading up a team to deliver the Maintenance Co-operatives Project. She took the new position of Marketing & Development Manager in 2017 and became Head of Development & Communications in 2022. Before joining the SPAB she was Director of Burgh House & Hampstead Museum.

Kimberley Gordon

Job Titles:

Grants Officer
Member of the Development & Communications Team

Lauren Wilson

Job Titles:

Member of the Development & Communications Team
Digital Communications Officer

Louise Simson

Job Titles:

Member of the Development & Communications Team
Property List Officer

Lucy Jacob

Job Titles:

Membership Officer

Lucy Stewart

Job Titles:

Officer

Margaret Daly

Job Titles:

Member of the Operations Team
Office Manager

Mary Henn

Job Titles:

Member of the Technical & Research Team
Technical Officer

Matthew Slocombe

Job Titles:

Director

Matthew Slocombe MA FSA IHBC was previously the SPAB's Head of Casework. He is Secretary of the Joint Committee of the National Amenity Societies and a member of the Conservation Committee of the Churches Conservation Trust. Published works include the Shire Library's Traditional Building Materials.

Merlin Lewis

Job Titles:

Member of the Casework Team
Casework Support Officer

Michael Nelles

Job Titles:

Member of the Development & Communications Team
Membership Manager

Mildred Cookson

Mildred joined the SPAB in 1976 and has been a Mills Section committee member for many years also serving as Chairman for three years.

Neil Faulkes

Job Titles:

Member of the Operations Team
IT Advisor

Philip Webb

Job Titles:

Architect

Pip Soodeen

Job Titles:

Member of the Education & Training Team
Fellowship Officer

Rachel Broomfield

Job Titles:

Member of the Casework Team
Casework Officer

Rachel is a caseworker at the SPAB and also works at Plymouth City Council. She writes about initial qualifications needed to pursue a job in conservation and how her volunteering experience shaped her career.