Iain is an ARB registered Architect with 28 years of experience of practice in the UK and Asia. Previous practices include Sir Norman Foster & Partners. He has experience in the design, procurement and construction of a rich diversity of building projects from both new-build and refurbishment housing to industrial and commercial buildings for clients such as Bank of Scotland, The Post Office and Canon UK. He presently works on selected individual projects.

He has been a design tutor at Edinburgh College of Art and ESALA since 1996. He is also a Visiting Professor at Harbin Institute of Technology in China, where he has previously run summer school studios with lectures to students and staff at a series of Chinese universities.

Iain is also an experienced researcher within ESALA. Previous projects include ‘Mobility, Mood and Place’. A cross disciplinary research project investigating the relationship between older people and the built environment, which included academics from University of Edinburgh, Kings College, London and the University of York. Iain worked with students from the MA, MArch and MLA programmes engaged in fieldwork and user participation workshops in the cities of Manchester, London and Copenhagen and also the remote Scottish Island of Orkney. MMP generated a rich series of outputs in different forms from academic papers, exhibitions and conference contributions. For a full list visit Research Explorer.

More recent projects includethe Wheatley Group Innovation in Housing Project and the ‘Present Voices, Future Lives’ Exhibition & Workshop Project awarded by the Scottish Government and Architecture & Design Scotland. The project was commissioned to engage people from across Scotland on the draft vision and principles for a new policy for housing in Scotland (Housing to 2040). A report on the project was published by the Scottish Government in 2021 as part of the suite of HT2040 policy documents.

Iain is interested in a compelling and fundamental relationship between his teaching and research to the extent that the boundaries between the two disciplines become indistinct. His design studios at ESALA are interdisciplinary, engaging students of Architecture and Landscape Architecture in diagnosing problems and identifying design solutions which add to the knowledge canon in particular subject domains and geographical places. Students become 'active researchers' working with interdisciplinary research teams and particular user groups, employing innovative research methods and co-design practices in the pursuit of original design solutions. Students from previous design units have been awarded RIAS student prizes in sustainability and urban design. Iain’s most recent ESALA Studio vehicles and emerging research strand have looked closely at the problem of Scotland’s town centres, with a vehicle titled ‘Transforming Scotland’s Towns: Re-Thinking the High Street’ located in firstly in Falkirk, Central Scotland. The 2021-22 studio called 'Constructing Atmospheres: The Gathering Place' has been sited in Dalkeith, Midlothian, investigating the 21st century relationship between a town and it's surrounding productive landscape. This work on towns forms part of a new collaboration called ‘Nations of Towns’ investigating the potential for collaboration into research around the subject of Towns in Scotland and Ireland between U of E Futures Institute and University College Dublin. A series of events have been held in 2021-22 with invited academics, figures from local government and industry partners to develop this relationship.

A third strand of Iain's academic work is Architectural Management, which he has delivered at both UG & PG level in ESALA, engaging students in subjects of practice management, building procurement and statutory regulation. 

Iain supervises students for MSc by Research, or PhD, acting as 1^st, 2^nd and co-supervisor to a number of students.