New faces at the AoU
A new chapter at the Academy as we welcome a new Managing Director and three new Board Directors
Christine Smallwood, Managing Director
We are delighted to welcome Christine Smallwood to the AoU Staff as Managing Director. A French graduate, Christine has lived and worked in Paris and London for corporates and professional consultancies. She has written four books, including three on the places and food of different Italian regions. Christine brings experience of membership organisations and the not-for-profit sector.
New Board Directors
Andrew Bailie joined the Academy as a Young Urbanist, having started his career in housing, tech-for-good and venture capital. Most recently, he has been supporting Crisis to invest in start-ups that can accelerate the end of homelessness. Andrew is also pursuing an MSc in Sustainable Urban Development at the University of Oxford, with a particular interest in the role of food markets in cities. In the coming months, he will be working on a research project in conjunction with The Churchill Fellowship, whilst learning as much as possible about the Academy and its members.
Heather Claridge is an Urban Planner, Designer and Geographer with 13 years public sector experience. At Glasgow City Council, Heather has helped shape place policy, supported creative partnerships within Glasgow’s Canal Corridor, led temporary urbanism initiatives, developed green and blue infrastructure and fostered social lighting projects. In 2019, she was seconded to Architecture & Design Scotland to develop a new ‘carbon conscious places’ service, working with the Scottish Government and local authorities across Scotland.
She is an AoU Academician, co-chair of the Scottish AoU advisory group, an affiliate of the UN Habitat’s Planners for Climate Action, RTPI Urban Design Champion for Scotland and former RTPI UK Young Planner of the Year.
Shane Quinn works on policy, engagement, and events across civic and cultural placemaking projects. He is Development Director at Belfast Buildings Trust. Core to Shane’s work is a passion that good places develop from good stories. He believes in using and reusing a place’s touchable and untouchable assets to tell its story and shape meaningful experiences for people. He leads BBT’s community and stakeholder engagement on issues across capital redevelopment, high street regeneration, heritage communications, and outcomes impact. His project, ‘Successful Belfast’, works creatively to involve new voices in the city’s development.
Shane is a Fellow of the RSA and explored civic and cultural regeneration in the US and Colombia as a Churchill Fellow in 2017. He is a Trustee of the RUC George Cross Foundation and a Northern Ireland Committee Member for the Heritage Trust Network. He helped secure Belfast’s designation as a UNESCO City of Music in 2021. Shane was awarded a BEM in 2014.