Prof David Mosey and Indy Johar also among those recognised
The founder of Scottish construction firm Robertson Group has received a knighthood in the New Year Honours List.
Bill Robertson, who remains executive chairman of the £600m turnover business he set up more than five decades ago, was recognised for his services to industry and to charity in Scotland.
He said he was “thrilled but deeply humbled and honoured” to be included in the honours.
“This recognition is beyond anything I could have imagined when I founded what has become Robertson Group in my home town of Elgin in 1966,” he said.
“I am proud that we retain a strong presence there and continue to play an active role in the local business community.”
Honours this year also included an MBE for services to architecture for Indy Johar, an advisor to the Mayor of London on good growth and a co-founder of Dark Matter Laboratories, which is focused on building institutional infrastructure for towns and cities.
Professor David Mosey, former director of construction law and dispute resolution at King’s College London, was handed a CBE for services to the construction industry.
Last year, the former Trowers & Hamlins partner’s review of public sector – ‘Constructing the Gold Standard’ – was approved and adopted in its entirety by government.
“I am very grateful to the construction industry and its clients for supporting my research into the collaborative delivery of improved value, reduced risks and net zero carbon,” said Professor Mosey.
“The construction sector makes enormous contributions to our society when its specialists share their knowledge through a strategic approach to procurement and contracting.”
Chief executive of Hill Group Andy Hill has also been awarded an OBE for services to affordable housing.
It bought a stake in a modular manufacturer to fulfil its 2019 “Foundation 200” pledge, to spend £12m donating homes to charities and local authorities to house homeless people.
Faithful + Gould’s Terence Stocks, one of the UK’s foremost experts on BIM, received an MBE for services to construction innovation, while Adam Matthews at the Centre for Digital Built Britain was given an OBE for services to export growth.
Robert Oliver, former chief executive of the Construction Equipment Association, also received an OBE, for services to the construction equipment manufacturing sector.
Scottish-Ghanaian architect Lesley Lokko, who is the founder and director of the Africa Futures Institute in Accra and is curating this year’s Venice Biennale, received an OBE for services to architecture and education.
Lokko was recognised for an “outstanding and sustained contribution to architecture and education”, which was said to have “radically changed the global conversation around race, identity, and architecture”.
Her book White Papers, Black Marks: Race Space and Architecture, published in 2000, was a highly influential work which pioneered the study of race within architecture.
Also recognised was Pamela Robertson, lately the curator of The Hunterian Art Gallery at the University of Glasgow, who was given an MBE for services to architecture, and Celia Sinclair Thornqvist, founder of The Willow Tea Rooms Trust, who was also handed an MBE.
The pair both worked on the Simpson & Brown-designed restoration of Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s category A-listed Willow Tea Rooms in Glasgow’s Sauchiehall Street, which was opened by King Charles and Queen-consort Camilla in 2018.
No comments yet