RTPI Ireland has
inaugurated Marion Chalmers and Dr Berna Grist as Chair and Vice
Chair respectively for 2013. With a membership of 23,000
professional planners, the RTPI is Europe's leading planning body
for spatial, sustainable and inclusive planning. The RTPI provides
an authoritative voice for members to promote professional
standards.
New Chair, Marion Chalmers set as her objective for the year the
promotion of the role professional planners can and should have in
planning for economic recovery. On her inauguration, Marion said:
"I don't underestimate the challenge that the Government or the
planning profession faces. The economy remains vulnerable and
planners, politicians, communities and the development sector all
need to continue to be realistic about what can be achieved with
less. In practical terms, a critical objective must be that
planners need to ensure that development projects are viable.
A key initiative of RTPI Ireland over the coming year will be to
promote the framework for this to be achieved."
This emphasis reflects the thrust of Marion's professional
experience from her work in research, local government and
consultancy in Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland, England and
Wales. Although a multidisciplinary consultant, she has become best
known as one of the leading retail planners in Ireland. Marion was
founding Managing Director of DTZ Pieda Consulting Ireland and
Strategy Director in Declan Brassil and Company Limited before
establishing her own company in Dublin, MRC Planning &
Economics Limited.
The Vice Chair, Dr Grist, is a Senior Lecturer in Planning &
Environmental Policy at University College Dublin and is also on
the Board of the National Transport Authority. She is both a
barrister and Chartered Town Planner and a former Board Member of
An Bord Pleanála and the Dublin Docklands Development
Authority.
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