Peter Rees to join The Bartlett

Peter Rees is to join The Bartlett in April after 29 years as the City of London Corporation’s City Planning Officer.



Peter, who studied Architecture at The Bartlett, will become Professor of Places and City Planning as part of a three-year professorship – with the first year sponsored by the City Corporation.

Peter joined the City Corporation in 1985 and was City Planning Officer during a period of substantial regeneration and change. Over this time, 78% of the City’s office floor-space has been renewed with many of its streets and open spaces remodelled. There has also been the development of the City’s Eastern cluster of towers and the introduction of retail, nightlife and hotels. 



His previous jobs include periods with the Historic Buildings Division of the Greater London Council and in private practice with Gordon Cullen. While at the Department of the Environment, Peter advised local authorities across England on the conservation and planning of historic towns, and as Assistant Chief Planning Officer to the London Borough of Lambeth in the early 1980s, he led the production of the borough’s conservation strategy and the regeneration of Brixton and Vauxhall.



Peter Rees said: “I am delighted to be returning to The Bartlett after almost three decades at the City. My professorship will enable me to continue my love affair with London and my involvement in the capital’s evolution. The Square Mile will always be a special place for me and I have enjoyed having a hand in its transformation since 1985. Having played in the premier league for one of the world’s most successful cities I am thrilled to be joining the team at one of the world’s finest universities. My time as City Planning Officer for the City of London has demonstrated what can be achieved when you are in the right place, at the right time with the right team. None of it would have been possible without the skilled and dedicated colleagues in whose safe hands I leave the regeneration of the City.”



Commenting on the appointment, Professor Alan Penn, Dean of The Bartlett said: “I am delighted that Peter is to join us. There are very few people in the world who can be said to have shaped the skyline of a world city, but Peter is one of them. His knowledge of London, its history and planning, is exhaustive. He knows the people and firms involved in helping ensure that London has become the world’s leading financial capital, and so can put flesh on the bones of that history.

"One of the main reasons that students travel from around the globe to come to UCL is to live in and experience London. Peter will undoubtedly communicate the central importance of architectural design to the way that places and cities are created, to the lives of citizens and to the creation of economies. More importantly he brings together a number of the strands that distinguish The Bartlett in the world. He is an architect and a planner, but has been intimately involved in the world of major contraction projects and real estate development. All of this in London, our home city."