KNOWN for her shocking pink lipstick as much as her work in London-based Brady Mallalieu Architects, Dublin-born Angela Brady is bidding to become president of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) – with a ringing endorsement from Lord (Richard) Rogers.
She also has the backing of other luminaries such as former RIBA president Sunand Prassad and Sir Terry Farrell, who believes that Brady’s “purposeful, energetic, communicative and happy and comfortable” persona makes her “a natural for the job”.
Brady is well-used to the public stage, having starred in the Channel 4 television series The Home Show.
“If elected, I will be the champion of all of our RIBA members. I will not be out ‘cutting ribbons of new supermarkets but out fighting our corner,” she says in her manifesto.
“I have campaigned all of my professional life – on environment issues, saving loved buildings, increasing diversity and women in our profession, standing up for better design locally and nationally, and promoting sustainability to the public and in schools.”
RIBA members have five weeks to make up their minds between her and two other candidates, Richard Parnaby and Roger Shrimplin.
If Brady wins, she’ll join another Irish-born women at the top of the architectural profession: Gerrie Doyle chairs the Ontario Association of Architects’ Canadian International Relations Committee, while Selma Harrington, from Bosnia, and who lives here, represents Ireland as president of Architects Council of Europe.
