Richard Heggie is Director of Urban Animation and personally leads all project work. He is a Member of the RTPI and has a BSC (Hons) in Town Planning and a Diploma in Urban Design. He is Scotland’s only recipient of the Royal Town Planning Institute’s Planning Consultant of the Year Award. Richard founded Urban Animation in 1995 and has over 30 years experience within the public and private sectors, including 9 years at Livingston Development Corporation during a period of unprecedented new town expansion.
Richard acted as an advisor to the Scottish Government’s Land Reform Review Group which reported in 2014 and was a co-author of the SRUC’s Rural Scotland In Focus, 2014 report. He advises Reforesting Scotland’s 1000 Huts campaign on planning matters and was a member of the RTPI’s Scottish Executive Committee in 2016 and 2017. He currently sits on the Board of Rural Housing Scotland.
Richard has previously participated in the Business Mentoring Scotland programme operated by Scottish Enterprise and participates in Heriot Watt University’s mentoring scheme for students on planning courses. He is a shareholder with Dig In, a community-owned and operated greengrocer in Bruntsfield, Edinburgh.