Paul Morrell
Paul Morrell is a chartered quantity surveyor, and was formerly senior partner of Davis Langdon, where he worked since graduating in 1971 until retiring in 2007. He now practises as an independent consultant on matters relating to construction economics and procurement; and is a regular conference speaker on the same subjects.
He is also a non-executive director of strategic and design consultancy DEGW.
He has extensive experience ofmajor construction projects in both the public and private sectors, with a particular emphasis on arts projects, hotels and commercial development, and has a special interest in the value that can be created through good design.
He was a founder member of the British Council for Offices, serving as president in 2004/5.
He is a fellow of the RICS, an honorary fellow of the RIBA, and served as a commissioner on CABE from to 2000 to 2008, finishing as deputy chairman.
He received the Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Construction Industry at the 2007 Building Awards; the President's Award from the British Council for Offices in the same year; and an OBE for services to architecture and the built environment in the 2008 New Year Honours list.
Away from the office, enthusiasms include sailing, theatre, opera and contemporary dance; and Paul is on the board of the Royal Shakespeare Company, and chairs the Siobhan Davies Dance Company.
OpinionThe drawing board versus the digger
With contractors increasingly in the driving seat, architects must work harder to prioritise good design
- Opinion
Do you have a better mousetrap?
Recession can be a good time to launch a business, but don’t bother if you’re offering nothing new.
OpinionBright new talent from tough times
The downturn is shaking up the natural order to architecture’s benefit
OpinionSecret of success is in the sequence
Another look at the Plan of Work could help enhance the role of designers
OpinionTime to put an end to all the arguing
Newly redundant lawyers will have more time to contemplate their usefulness
OpinionThis PFI critique has a vested interest
Unison isn’t offering us a workable alternative procurement method
OpinionCreating value is the road to reward
Nostalgia and protectionism are distractions from the reality of how to make a living
OpinionAbsolution ain’t a modern solution
Consultants can no longer rely on papal mercy when projects bust their budgets big time
OpinionDon’t just wait for good times to return
It will be the final misery of these times if all we emerge with is downsized businesses and nastier buildings
OpinionWhat's so rewarding about bonuses?
Target-based payments can in fact motivate against professionalism
OpinionLearn – and teach – lessons of history
The government is taking money from BSF and giving it to the car industry. Be very afraid
OpinionLet’s fix the roof before the next storm
We need to align policy around the idea that our homes are not a suitable subject for speculation
OpinionWant to save lives? Dump the CDM regs
Procedures don’t work as well as real people with experience, skill and judgement
OpinionWhat now – the bunker or the bike?
Never mind weeping and wailing — how are you going to get through the meltdown?
OpinionWe need a starting point to get better
Cabe sets a standard for good school design, and one response from the architectural community — there is no such thing, of course, but it will do as a shorthand — is that the procurement process has to be sorted out before a quality standard can be adopted.
OpinionIs losing the bid now a better option?
Convoluted EU procurement rules are a circle of hell. Let’s junk them and start again
OpinionThings to ponder on the sun lounger
HMSO can offer some different holiday reading, but its plot lines and endings will let you down
OpinionKeep the whip hand on 2012 spending
As the mayor’s man on the Olympic project, does David Ross hold a poisoned chalice?
OpinionWe must break out of this prison cycle
Prisons don’t work — it’s been shown time and again. So why do we keep building them?