Until April 2015 Charles was the Head of Planning & Urban Advice at English Heritage. Chartered Town Planner and member of the Institute of Historic Buildings Conservation. Studied Civil Engineering, then Building Conservation with the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings and Architectural History. Charles had a varied career at EH: carrying out the listed building resurvey, doing listed building casework in London, and historic areas casework in the Midlands and East Anglia. Returned to London in 1999 to develop public realm policy and practice and produced ‘Streets for All’ Streetscape Manuals. Moving into the Policy side in 2005, he worked on the EH/CABE guidance on tall buildings, Heritage Works – guidance for developers on dealing with heritage on their sites and Enabling Development Guidance. Worked on the Thames Gateway, when seconded to the Homes & Communities Agency in 2009 as Strategic Historic Environment Adviser. Returned in 2011, assisted with EH’s input into the NPPF and its guidance, developed EH’s guidance on Neighbourhood Planning and Localism, its farm building’s assessment tool and microgeneration advice. Charles now runs his own consultancy and has a part time role in another. He is a SPAB Guardian and CABE BEE, President of the Association for Studies in the Conservation of Historic Buildings, sits on the Haringey Quality Review Panel, Hammersmith Design Review and Residents’ Panel and West London Amenity and Neighbourhood Planning Groups.