This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
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Commissioner appointed to RCAHMS
06/06/2003
Civil engineer Gordon Masterton has been appointed as a
Commissioner of the Royal Commission on the Ancient and
Historical Monuments of Scotland.
Mr Masterton (48) is Managing Director, Environment at
the Babtie Group, an independent engineering and management
consultancy based in Glasgow. He is a civil and structural
engineer with extensive experience in the design of bridges
and building structures and of the historic built
environment.
Her Majesty The Queen, on the recommendation of the
First Minister, Jack McConnell, made the appointment to the
RCAHMS, the body responsible for identifying, recording and
assessing Scotland's historic monuments and buildings.
It also has the role of compiler and curator of the
national collection for drawings, models, photographs and
other records of the built heritage.
Mr Masterton has a particular interest in engineering
heritage and is a Trustee of the Forth Bridges Visitor
Centre Trust and of the Scottish Lime Centre. He is
currently a Vice President of The Institution of Civil
Engineers, an honorary lecturer at Strathclyde University
and Visiting Professor at the University of Paisley.
The appointment, which is part time and unpaid, will run
from 20 March 2003 to 31 October 2007. Mr Masterton holds
no other Ministerial public appointments and declared no
political activity in the past 5 years.
This Ministerial Public Appointment was made in
accordance with the Code of Practice issued by the Office
of the Commissioner for Public Appointments. An Independent
Assessor was involved in the selection process.
The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical
Monuments of Scotland (RCAHMS) was created in 1908 by Royal
Prerogative and operates under the terms of a Royal
Warrant. The Commission is an executive Non Departmental
Public Body (NDPB) sponsored by the Scottish Executive
Education Department and is funded directly from the
Scottish Executive.
The Chairman of the Royal Commission is Mrs Kathleen
Dalyell, property manager at the National Trust for
Scotland property, House of The Binns, near Linlithgow.
Other members of the Commission are Dr Barbara Crawford, Dr
Angus Macdonald, Dr Margaret Mackay, Professor Christopher
Morris, Dr Jane Murray, Dr Stana Nenadic, Anne Riches and
James Simpson. The Chairman and members are unpaid but are
reimbursed for relevant travel and other expenses.
The vacancy on the Commission follows the completion of
a second term as a Commissioner on 31 October 2002 of
Professor Roland Paxton, who is Honorary Professor of the
History of Civil Engineering at Heriot-Watt University.
Professor Paxton was a civil engineer with Lothian Region
until he retired in 1990 and had valuable experience as a
practising civil engineer as well as an academic.