Tim Williams

I have been Cities Practice Lead for international architects Grimshaw since 2021. In November 2020, I stepped down after 3 years as Cities Leader for Arup Australasia, having been from 2011-2017 CEO of Committee for Sydney(CFS). At Grimshaw I have helped develop the analysis of urban trends and changing real estate markets in the wake of Covid as new agendas around maximising social and environmental benefit prevail. I provide advisory services to clients in areas such as 'density done well' housing, land use and transport integration, economic development and strategies to maximise outcomes from infrastructure - such as the work I have been doing advising on the Olympic legacy in Queensland. My niche is I know theory but also how you actually get stuff done.

I took the Committee for Sydney from fewer than 20 active members to one with 130, $1.6m in reserves and a lot of influence over urban policy in Sydney but also at national level.

Before moving to Australia in 2010, I was recognised as a UK thought-leader in urban regeneration where having advised UK governments and helped to develop East and southeast London as CEO of the Thames Gateway London Partnership.

From 2005 to 2010 I was special /specialist advisor on urban development, governance and housing/planning to 5 successive UK ministers. I advised the Mayor of London on his housing design guide in 2009 and Lend Lease's UK CEO on strategy vis a vis Olympics 2012. I also advised Olympic Host Boroughs on their legacy strategy for the 2012 Games.

As CEO of CFSI advised on the design of the Greater Sydney Commission, having helped negotiate new powers for the London mayor in 2005 to 2006. I was a founding member of the Federal Cities Reference Group in Australia and am part of a new Federal government urban policy network of urbanists offering advice on Australian cities. I have been a business rep on the NSW Architects Registration Board since 2019, retiring in November.

I have written on public policy, housing +urban issues in the Sydney Morning Herald, the Daily Telegraph and the Fifth Estate and often appear on radio and TV. Since 2000 I've had a column in the UK’s main urban regeneration journal and was a weekly columnist in The Scotsman paper 1998-2000. I’m an Adjunct Prof (and Hon.Doc) at Western Sydney Uni. I was educated at Bryncelynnog Comp, Peterhouse, Merton, University College Cardiff, Glamorgan Poly and Inns of Court School of Law. I had a great schooling in a disputatious Welsh mining community whose lessons and values resonate with me still. My faults are my own.