Nahid Majid OBE is to be the new Director of Design Council Cabe, the Design Council announced today. Nahid Majid has worked for over twenty years in urban regeneration as a professional urban designer. Initially trained as an urban planner and designer, she has led project management of high profile urban regeneration projects including the creation of the cultural quarter around Brick Lane in London. She became Urban Renaissance Manager for The Prince of Wales Foundation for The Built Environment before joining the private sector as Associate Director of Regeneration at Turner and Townsend Construction Management. She also won and ran the project to create the Stephen Lawrence Centre in Deptford, appointing architect David Adjaye.
More recently, Nahid was a Senior Civil Servant in government, leading on Area Initiatives and Communities and The City Strategy, Localism and Partnership agendas. In 2010, she was appointed Director of Programme Development at The Mayors Fund for London, developing evidenced based programmes to combat poverty, aligning funding and commissioning joint services.
"We're delighted to appoint Nahid to head up Design Council Cabe," commented David Kester Chief Executive of the Design Council. "Her excellent track record of running complex programmes in the public and private sector - securing investment, attracting clients and working with leading architects - will be invaluable as Design Council Cabe evolves its services to local authorities, developers and communities."
Nahid has a long-standing commitment to tackling challenging urban problems such as poverty and social exclusion. She chaired the Government 's London Places Poverty Group in 2011, the Mayor of London's Public Questions on Young Londoners in 2010 and the Regional Strategies group on Preventing Extremism following the July 2005 bombs. Nahid was also previously a Trustee of Planning Aid for London.
"I am very excited to join Design Council Cabe at an important moment in the organisation's development and at a time of major changes in planning and the built environment," Nahid said. "I look forward to working closely with the Design Council Cabe team and with government, developers and communities to ensure good design is at the heart of these changes."
Nahid advises a number of voluntary sector charities, is a Trustee of Concern Worldwide an international NGO and is an active Mentor. She was awarded an OBE in the Queen's Honours List in 2006.