David is a planner by trade and started his career with Manchester City Council with responsibility for the early stages of the redevelopment of Hulme. He joined URBED in 1990 to manage the BURA award-winning Little Germany Action project in Bradford. Since then he has managed a range of high profile consultancy projects including the Oldham Beyond Vision and the Selby Renaissance Charter for Yorkshire Forward. He has also been responsible for private sector masterplans such as Temple Quay 2 in Bristol, The New England Quarter in Brighton and the 4,500 home Southall Gasworks masterplan in West London.

David is the author of a number of research reports including '21st Century Homes' for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, 'Tomorrow a peaceful path to urban reform' for Friends of the Earth and 'But would you live there?' for the Urban Task Force. He is also Chair of Beam in Wakefield, joint Chair of the Sheffield Design Panel and a founder Academician of the Academy for Urbanism.

David recently won the 2014 Wolfson Economic Prize, answering the question 'How would you deliver a new garden city which is visionary, economically viable, and popular?’