Paul Finch is deputy chair of the Design Council. He went into journalism in 1972, working in various capacities on Building Design (BD) and its sister paper Estates Times (now Property Week).
He edited BD from 1983 to 1994, and the Architects' Journal from 1994 to 1999. He also edited the Architectural Review from 2005 to 2009, launching the World Festival of Architecture in 2008. Paul is currently editorial director of both titles, and director of the festival.
From 1999 he served for seven years as a commissioner at CABE. He chaired the design review panel for five years and the regional panel for three. From 2005 he chaired CABE's Olympic design review panel, and also served on separate panels reviewing the Olympic Village and the Westfield shopping centre at Stratford. From December 2009 to April 2011 he chaired CABE.
Paul was made an honorary fellow of RIBA in 1994 and an honorary member of the Royal Society of Architects in Wales in 1996. In 2002 he was made OBE for services to architecture.
In 2004 he was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Westminster and in 2006 became an honorary fellow of University College London.