[2] "It is important that uses should be found for redundant listed buildings [in Britain], but the growth of modern legislation relating to safety and welfare has created its own Frankensteins in the gaunt spectres of uninhabitable and unlettable listed buildings, particularly in our urban areas.
"[3] During the Second World War he spent a brief period as a firefighter in the London Blitz before joining the Royal Navy and serving on HMS Douglas.
After the war, he studied architecture at the Northern Polytechnic Institute in London, and worked briefly for two county council departments before going into private practice.
In 1968 he succeeded Frederick Francis Charles Curtis as chief architect to the British Railways Board[4] and in 1977 their Director of Environment until he retired in 1982.
During his time at British Rail he persuaded the company to invest £3m to save the roof of St Pancras railway station which was in danger of collapse.