Carlos Finlay

Carlos Finlay

MA (Hons) MSt

Professional

Carlos has worked on an ever-evolving portfolio of projects, from townhouses, to larger sites, infrastructure, and urban environments.

He has experience advising major institutions, having provided heritage advice for: the RIBA’s Grade II* listed Headquarters at 66 Portland Place (from 1934, where he also co-authored a Conservation Plan); UCL’s Grade II* listed Institute of Education (1976); the Cavendish Campus at the University of Westminster (1970); and the Grade II listed Gun Wharf offices in Chatham, Kent (1978).

He has produced successive reports for York’s Museum Gardens site, a Grade II listed Registered Park and Garden with a complex and layered history ranging from the Roman occupation of York to the present day. This work culminated in Carlos authoring the Conservation Management Plan for the site. He also provided detailed advice in response to the proposed listing of Stansted Airport (1990), working on behalf of Greater Anglia Railways; advised SCS Railways/HS2 Ltd with regards to heritage assets along the HS2 route; and assessed buildings at one of London’s largest hospitals.

is projects often take a visual focus with bespoke illustrations to help rationalise the complex phasing of historic buildings and landscapes. This has included major galleries and cultural institutions; conservation area appraisals; the Shopfront Design Guide for Ramsgate, Kent; and York Racecourse.

Carlos is an active volunteer for the Twentieth Century Society; he has written book reviews and features for C20 Magazine, secured the listing of several buildings, and leads walking tours both for the Society’s membership and beyond. He has written entries for two upcoming publications, 100 Sports and Leisure Buildings and 100 21st Century Buildings (Batsford Books, 2025) and has sat on the panel for the Architectural Heritage Society of Scotland. Carlos has also provided heritage advice for developments in Madrid, Spain, and speaks three languages.

Carlos holds an MSt in Building History from the University of Cambridge with a distinction in his research into interwar flat construction.