Name Donald Insall | Role Architect | |
Books Living Buildings: Architectural Conservation : Philosophy, Principles and Practice | ||
Clandon Park International Design Competition – Donald Insall Associates Video Proposal
Sir Donald William Insall CBE (born 1926) is a British architect, conservationist and author, who has been described as "one of the leading conservation architects of his generation". He is the founder of the architectural, conservation and architectural consultancy practice, Donald Insall Associates.
Contents
- Clandon Park International Design Competition Donald Insall Associates Video Proposal
- Early life
- Career
- Honours
- Personal life
- Publications
- Selected projects
- References
Early life
Insall was born in 1926 in Bristol, where he attended Bristol Grammar School. He served in the Coldstream Guards during the Second World War and qualified in architecture at the Royal West of England Academy School of Architecture, now part of the University of Bristol. He then studied at the Royal Academy and the School of Planning.
Career
Insall worked with the London architects, Phillimore and Jenkins. During 1957 Insall published his report The Care of Old Buildings, marking the 80th anniversary of the founding by William Morris of the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings. During 1958 he founded architectural conservation practice Donald Insall Associates, and was joined shortly after by Peter Locke (1929–2013), both men having been Lethaby Scholars of the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings in 1950.
Insall was appointed the City of Chester's consultation consultant in 1960, a post he held until 1978.
Donald Insall Associates continues its specialist work in conservation, historic consultancy, adaptive re-use and new buildings in sensitive sites. Insall ran the practice until his retirement in 1998.
Honours
In the 1995 New Year Honours Insall was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for services to conservation. Subsequently, he was appointed a Knight Bachelor in the Queen's 2010 Birthday Honours.
In recognition of his conservation work in Chester, Insall received the honorary freedom of the City of Chester in 1999. He has also received Europa Nostra's Medal of Honour.
He was awarded the honorary degrees of Doctor of Laws from the University of Bristol in 2004 and Doctor of Architecture from the University of Chester in 2012.
Personal life
Insall lives on Kew Green in Kew, south west London. He and his wife Libby have three children.