Basic Biographical Details

Name: Howard Liddell (Professor)
Designation:  
Born: 7 June 1945
Died: 23 February 2013
Bio Notes: Howard Liddell was born in Wensleydale, Yorkshire on 7 June 1945, the son of ****. He spent his early years in Newcastle-upon-Tyne but his family moved to Edinburgh in the late 1950s. He had a keen interest in sport and outdoor activity when he was a schoolboy and had planned to study linguistics. However he managed to obtain a place in the School of Architecture , Edinburgh University, despite not having the appropriate qualifications and graduated with a First Class Honours.

In 1971 he took a teaching post initially as senior lecturer and later as director of research at the School of Architecture in Hull. In all he stayed in Hull for ten years. He was the director of the university's Sustainable Technology Group from 1975-79. He also chaired the RIBA Architecture & Ecology Group from 1974-79.

His post in Hull was followed by a period as a guest lecturer in Building Technology in Oslo. With his Norwegian students Liddell went on to develop Gaia Architects (Green Association of Idealistic Architects) and after his return to Scotland set up Gaia (Scotland).

In 1978 he went to Aberfeldy and produced the Aberfeldy manifesto. Here he co-founded an action body for local regeneration, the Breadalbane Institute. His architectural work included designing the Aberfeldy recreation centre, and he became chairman of Aberfeldy community council, co-founder of a local newspaper – and even broke his leg in the first Aberfeldy raft race. He believed in the long-term collaboration with communities to improve the environment of an area and put this into practice at Achloa, near Aberfeldy.

In 1991 Liddell founded SEDA the Scottish Ecological Design Association which aimed to share knowledge skill and experience of ecological design. He remained active in this throughout his career.

In 1996 he moved to Edinburgh to form the interdisciplinary Gaia Group, combining architecture, engineering, planning and research.

As a person he was very energetic and a great orator, sweeping those who heard him along with his enthusiasm. He was 'fiercely inquisitive and he did not suffer fools gladly'. He never compromised his principles. The aim of his work as a teacher and as a practitioner was to demonstrate that the design of the building envelope would improve ventilation, solar gain air-tightness and insulation and render largely unnecessary micro-renewables such as solar panels, wind turbines and heat pumps in individual dwellings. He felt that the emphasis on ‘greenwash’ masked the lack of development in passive design techniques. He introduced to Britain many ideas from Germany and Scandinavia including low allergy housing using non-toxic materials and the Brettstapel system of ‘glueless’ timber construction whereby pieces of low grade timber are pinned together with load-bearing hardwood dowels which absorb moisture from the timber, expand and lock the elements together.

Liddell also ran many community-participation processes: an interactive workshop series with schoolchildren, the Children's Ecocity events in Scotland and Belfast from 1992 onwards which led to the creation in 1996 of the Children's Parliament in Edinburgh of which he was a Trustee. In 2009 he led a group of volunteers to Tanzania to build a workshop, a gardens store a well for agricultural use and one for drinking water for a charity which provides training and healthcare for children affected by poverty and AIDS.

He retired in 2011 and was appointed OBE for his services to ecological design and charity. Liddell married twice, first to Jenny from whom he was divorced in 1981 and second to Professor Sandy Halliday, an engineer, whom he married in 1995 and who was also his professional partner. He died on 23 February 2013, survived by his wife, three daughters and a son by his first marriage and eight grandchildren.

Publications:
Eco-minimalism: the Antidote to Eco-bling (2008)

Employment and Training

Employers

The following individuals or organisations employed or trained this (click on an item to view details):
 NameDate fromDate toPositionNotes
Item 1 of 1Gaia Architects  Architect 

Buildings and Designs

This was involved with the following buildings or structures from the date specified (click on an item to view details):
 Date startedBuilding nameTown, district or villageIslandCity or countyCountryNotes
Item 1 of 6 Plummerswood   Scotland 
Item 2 of 6Before 1993Tressour WoodWeem, Aberfeldy PerthshireScotland 
Item 3 of 62000Congregational ChurchAberfeldy PerthshireScotlandConversion to community hall
Item 4 of 62002Glencoe Visitor CentreGlencoe ArgyllScotland 
Item 5 of 62003Fairfield Housing Co-operativePerth PerthshireScotland 
Item 6 of 62004Primary schoolAcharacle ArgyllScotland 

References

Periodical References

The following periodicals contain references to this :
 Periodical NameDateEditionPublisherNotes
Item 1 of 5Building Design23 August 2002  p13-14
Item 2 of 5RIAS Quarterly201313Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland (RIAS)Spring
Item 3 of 5Scotsman6 March 2013   
Item 4 of 5The Guardian15 March 2013   
Item 5 of 5The Times20 March 2013  Obituary

Archive References

The following archives hold material relating to this :
 SourceArchive NameSource Catalogue No.Notes
Item 1 of 1RIAS, Rutland SquareRecords of membership