Annie Pollock - Inclusive Design Consultant

Annie studied architecture, graduating with a first-class honours degree in Architecture, which she followed up with a diploma in Landscape Architecture.

Later in her working life she specialised in designing outdoor spaces for older people and those with a dementia – and 1999, she designed the ‘Forgetmenot’ show garden for the Royal Horticultural Show, Strathclyde Country Park, which was awarded a silver medal.

In 2009, she attended a course in Chicago on ‘Healthcare Garden Design’.

She has acted as a consultant for the Dementia Services Development Centre at Stirling University and Hammond Care Dementia Centre – and has written several books and design guides on design for dementia.

Now retired, as a volunteer since 2019, she is secretary of the Edinburgh Access Panel, which liaises with Council partners and local businesses to improve accessibility in the built environment for people with a physical or sensory disability. In 2022 she contributed to the RIAS Workshop on Inclusive Design.

Dr Martin Quirke - Lecturer in Ageing and Dementia Design, University of Stirling

Dr Martin Quirke is a registered architect and Lecturer in Dementia, Ageing and Design at the University of Stirling, where he also works as a Senior Architect with the Dementia Services Development Centre (DSDC). His work focuses on how buildings, neighbourhoods, and everyday environments can better support people living with dementia and other age-related impairments.

Martin’s research and consultancy combine architecture, environmental psychology, co-design, and evidence-based design approaches. He has contributed to a wide range of projects relating to housing, care environments, neighbourhoods, environmental assessment, and inclusive design policy, working with local authorities, housing providers, NHS organisations, and international collaborators.

He is currently leading the ADEPT (Architecture for Dementia in Education, Practice and Training) study, an international survey exploring how dementia-inclusive design is understood and taught across professional and educational contexts. His wider interests include environmental assessment tools, participatory design methods, and the use of immersive and digital technologies to support inclusive engagement in design processes.

Richard Dougherty - Executive Director of Architecture and Facilities, Gallaudet University

Biography to be added shortly…

Kirsty Watt – Architect, GRAS

Kirsty is a queer, disabled Architect, working for GRAS in Edinburgh following graduation with a dual-accredited multi-disciplinary Masters in Architecture with Urban Planning from University of Dundee in 2020. Alongside her professional practice she is undertaking a Professional Doctorate at Leeds Beckett University. Their research investigates the feasibility of inclusivity in historic buildings, with a focus on lived experience and tangible design explorations to challenge the current discourse around accessibility in heritage. Kirsty has recently written an RIAS Practice Note (SC262), outlining some of the findings from their research and practice, to aid Architects in contributing to historic urban landscapes that are welcome to everyone.

Sarah Jane Storrie – Architect, Studio SJM

Co-founded by Sarah Jane Storrie in 2019, Studio SJM Architects delivers conservation-led projects across a diverse range of sectors. The practice reflects Sarah Jane’s longstanding passion for the repair and adaptive reuse of historic buildings as catalysts for community regeneration. With more than twenty years’ experience and RIAS Conservation Accreditation, held since 2013, gained through work with some of Scotland’s most respected conservation practices, she has a particular interest in how both tangible and intangible heritage can be harnessed for the wider social benefit of communities across generations and socioeconomic backgrounds.

Graham Shaw – Director, Adnitt Acoustics

Graham Shaw is a Director at Adnitt Acoustics and manages the company’s Scottish office.  Since 2012 he has worked in acoustic consultancy, advising architects, developers, planners and contractors across building, environmental and architectural acoustics. His experience includes acoustic design, modelling, commissioning, regulatory compliance testing, and noise and vibration assessment across residential, education, hotel, commercial, healthcare and retrofit projects.

Graham is a Member of the Institute of Acoustics and the Institute of Physics and holds an MSc with Distinction in Environmental and Architectural Acoustics from London South Bank University and a BSc(Hons) in Physics with Music from the University of Edinburgh. He was awarded the Robert Bradford Newman Student Medal for Merit in Architectural Acoustics in 2012.

Karen Clement – Senior Architect, HTA Architects

Karen Clement is a Senior Architect specialising in large-scale residential modular schemes. Alongside her practice, she is currently pursuing postgraduate studies in Dementia and Ageing at the University of Stirling. Karen’s research reflects on inclusive placemaking and cognitive accessibility, exploring how housing could evolve with an ageing population.

Steven Lees - Specification Consultant, Altro

Biography to be added shortly…

Alison Benzimra – Head of Research and Influence, United St Saviour’s Charity

Alison Benzimra is Head of Research and Influence at United St Saviour's Charity (UStSC), a Southwark-based organisation committed to demonstrating how thoughtful design, resident support and community integration can create living environments that benefit people of all ages.

A defining moment in Alison's career was her involvement in the Appleby Blue Almshouse project, which was awarded the prestigious RIBA Stirling Prize — architecture's highest honour. The project exemplifies her belief that high quality design should be available to all, irrespective of age or socioeconomic status.

Alison's academic background reflects her commitment to equity in ageing. Her Master's in Inclusive Innovation was driven by a desire to develop services and products for healthy ageing that are accessible and affordable, and that actively work against entrenching health inequalities. She is currently completing an Executive MBA at King's College London, underpinned by her conviction that meaningful, lasting change in housing and care requires genuine partnership across the public, private and third sectors.

At UStSC, Alison is helping to build the evidence base for a model of housing that places resident wellbeing and community at its heart. The charity has an ambitious target of growing its housing provision to 500 homes by 2045 — a goal that demands both innovative thinking and cross-sector collaboration.

Alison is passionate about ensuring that inclusive design shapes not just individual buildings, but the broader systems that determine how and where people age.

Lesley Palmer - Professor of Ageing and Dementia Design, University of Stirling/ Director, INCH Architecture

Lesley Palmer is an experienced UK based architect, member of the Royal Incorporation of Architects Scotland, Royal Institute of British Architects, Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences, and Fellow of the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust. She has a Master of Science for Urban Design and a Batchelor of Science with Honours in Architectural Studies. Her career to date includes architectural practice, academic teaching, knowledge exchange and research.

Lesley’s substantive post is as Professor of Ageing and Dementia Design within the Centre for Environments, Dementia and Ageing Research group at the University of Stirling, Scotland. She works globally Teaching, researching and supporting commercial clients in Japan, India, Australia, America, and Europe, advising on the adoption of evidence-based design principles of ageing and dementia-friendly design into capital development projects.

Lesley is the also the co-founder and Director of INCH Architecture & Design Ltd, an award winning social-enterprise architecture practice based in Glasgow.  Additionally, Lesley is a co-founder and shareholder in Iridis Digital Ltd, a joint venture with the University of Stirling and Space Group (Europe) Ltd. The objective of the company is to develop novel products within the ageing sector.

Lesley’s field of research and expertise is in the design of the built environment for ageing and dementia. This is a niche area of environmental design which includes research into building performance, sensing technologies, virtual and augmented reality, dementia design of products, architecture, and urban design. Her interests also extend to housing policy and investigating future models of sustainable housing design, procurement, and construction with an intergenerational focus.