Ryan Walker MRTPI has been named as the inaugural winner of the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) Northern Ireland Young Planner of the Year.
The announcement was made by RTPI Northern Ireland Chair Angus Kerr MRTPI earlier today as part of Northern Ireland Planner Live, a week-long series of online events looking at the role of planners in a post-pandemic world.
Ryan is a Chartered Planning Consultant at The Paul Hogarth Company in Belfast and is also chair of RTPI Northern Ireland Young Planners and Vice Chair of the RTPI’s national Young Planners network.
Angus Kerr said:
“Ryan is an outstanding champion not only for his passion for planning in Northern Ireland and beyond, but also for his drive and commitment to the work of the RTPI and the wider profession.
Above: RTPI Northern Ireland Young Planner of the Year 2020 Ryan Walker
“He has achieved so much in his short career to date, having worked in both public and private sectors, having showed great tenacity and innovation in the way he promotes planning, and having nominated himself to sit on the RTPI’s General Assembly."
Angus also congratulated Ryan for organising a successful online writing competition during lockdown using the hashtag #LockdownUplift, encouraging students and young planners to share their perspectives of a post-Covid world.
Ryan will now go through to the Young Planner of the Year category at the RTPI’s national Awards for Planning Excellence, which will be staged as an online ceremony in April 2021.
The judges of the Northern Ireland Young Planner of the Year competition also commended Erin Donaldson MRTPI, a planner at Turley in Belfast and a founding member of Women in Planning in Northern Ireland.
