William Filmer-Sankey
William Filmer-Sankey
MA DPhil FSA MCIfA
Director and Trustee
William is an architectural historian and archaeologist with a particular interest in using an understanding of the past to create great places for the present and future. He read history as an Undergraduate at New College, Oxford and then completed his DPhil at the Institute of Archaeology/New College.
From 1992-2000 he was the Director of the Victorian Society where he sought to introduce a more pro-active engagement with building owners and architects while maintaining the Society’s role as the advocate of 19th century design.
He is now a Strategic Director and Trustee at Alan Baxter, leading our respected conservation and urban design groups. This requires a robust approach to researching and understanding how buildings have developed, as a basis for development of proposals which build on their historic strengths and put right their historic weaknesses. On occasions, this can involve significant levels of intervention as, for example, at the Stirling Prize-winning Newport Street Gallery in London, where a row of part-listed former theatre scenery painting workshops were converted to contemporary gallery use.
William’s projects reflect the diversity of our conservation and urbanism work. Historic railway infrastructure is a particular area of interest, with major electrification and station upgrade projects from Bristol Temple Meads to Edinburgh Waverley for Network Rail and HS1, and support to Crossrail and HS2 on the impacts of tunnelling on the historic environment.
His work on major cultural and educational institutions includes the Barbican Arts Centre, the Royal Albert Hall, Yorkshire Museum and the Bristol Beacon, as well as Oxford colleges, UCL and Birmingham University. His team has prepared Conservation Plans for the National Trust and four English cathedrals, and Conservation Area Appraisals for the historic cores of York and Oxford. He has also appeared as an Expert Witness at a number of important Public Inquiries.