World Heritage UK is delighted to announce its new Chair and Trustee, Paul Simons.
Previous Chair Prof. Teresa Anderson has had to stand down due to personal circumstances. Teresa will remain a Trustee of WHUK and the Board would like to thank her for leadership for the past six months and her continued support for the charity.
Paul studied architecture in London and after training was awarded a ‘Lethaby Scholarship’ by SPAB (Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings). He did not go into practise but established and became the first Director of the Chiltern Open Air Museum. Subsequently he was Project Director at Arkwright’s Cromford Mills and Brunel’s Bristol Old Station. For 40 years he was a Director of McCurdy & Co., which specialises in the conservation of historic timber structures, and built the replica of Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre and the Jacobean Playhouse in Southwark, London.
He has been Director of Tourism in Bristol, Norwich and Bath. In 1998 he established a project team to regenerate the historic spa in Bath which had been closed since 1974 now known as “Thermae Bath Spa”.
Since 2003 Paul has worked as a consultant specialising in historic spas, World Heritage and sustainable tourism projects. He is a member of ICOMOS UK. He was a founding member of the European Spas Association (ESPA) and the European Historic Thermal Towns Association where he was President of its Scientific Committee.
In 2013 he was appointed Secretary General of the ‘Great Spa Towns of Europe UNESCO project’. This is a serial transnational World Heritage Site covering seven State Parties and representing eleven of the most important spa towns in Europe. The Great Spa Towns of Europe were inscribed on the World Heritage List in July 2021. Other current World Heritage projects include work in St. Kitts and Nevis, Galicia Spain and Romania. Paul is a member of the Advisory Panel of the Railway Heritage Trust and was Chair of the National Heritage Training Group (2005-2015).
Paul is Chair of Trustees of the Cleveland Pools Trust in Bath which has just received a 2023 Europa Nostra award for Conservation and Adaptive Re-use. He is also a Trustee of the Oxford Literary Festival and the Dance Scholarship Trust and was previously a Trustee of Cleveden Pier, the Vivat Trust and the Brunel E.C. Trust, Bristol.
WHUK’s Board and staff look forward to working with Paul.