Bristol City Council has completed the restructure of its top management team with the appointment of Barra Mac Ruairí as its fourth strategic director.
Currently strategic director for regeneration at Bradford City Council, Barra, pictured, will join Bristol City Council as strategic director for place, responsible for major projects, economic and cultural development, regeneration, transport, highways, planning and property.
It is anticipated he will take up the post by the end of March 2014.
Mayor of Bristol George Ferguson said: “Barra Mac Ruairí comes to Bristol with an outstanding reputation for delivering good quality urban regeneration projects in a tough environment. He is someone who, with his architectural and planning background, understands what make a good place to live, with projects ranging from major buildings and infrastructure to the more mundane but equally important things that keep the city working.
“His appointment rounds off a top quality management team which will work closely with city director Nicola Yates and myself to take Bristol from strength to strength. I very much look forward to working with him on some of the bold initiatives that are so essential to our success, including the Temple Quarter Enterprise Zone, Metro West and the new arena, to name but a few.”
Barra’s six years at Bradford Council has included working on its city park, its urban village joint venture company, the Leeds city region City Deal, a property programme which has rationalised the council’s estate and its centre growth zone.
On the cultural side of the role he has also worked behind the scenes to help keep the National Media Museum in Bradford and helped the city gain Unesco city of film status as well as staging a unique programme of festivals and activities.
A visiting professor at the University of Sheffield’s School of Architecture and a member of the Royal Institute of British Architects, Barra is also a founding member of the Academy or Urbanism. He has studied management, economics, architecture and technology.
He said: “I am delighted to have the opportunity to serve the people of Bristol and do my part towards delivering some great economic and cultural regeneration projects for the city whilst also building a stronger council.
“It feels like a perfect fit for my experience and interests, so I am really looking forward to getting started, living in the city and shaping its success. Bristol has a great tradition of being a creative, ambitious city. I hope to help it achieve even more of its ambitions whilst also tackling some of its long-standing challenges such as traffic congestion and the gap between the city’s richest and poorest areas.”
The council’s new management team now includes strategic directors for people (John Readman), place (Barra Mac Ruairí), neighbourhoods (Alison Comley ) and business change (Max Wide). They have been recruited following a very thorough selection process involving the mayor, assistant mayors, party group leaders and external advisors.
