Paul was born in London in 1957 and grew up in the suburban borough of Enfield before studying architecture in Cambridge and Glasgow, where he has lived since 1980.
Architecture emerged as one of Paul's early interests along with music, drawing and the natural environment. These interests were stimulated at home and at school, from exploring East Anglian churches with his grandfather and moderately adventurous family excursions around inner London to recurrent field trips to an old slate-mining village in North Wales and a tour of the USA and Canada with an award-winning school choir.
Paul went to St John's College Cambridge in 1976 to study architecture, graduating with honours in 1979. After a year out working in the London practice of Shankland Cox Partnership he fulfilled a much earlier desire to experience life in an environment further removed both physically and culturally from his native London and moved to Glasgow to complete his studies.
The move to Glasgow marked a significant turning point in Paul's life. During his time at the Mackintosh School of Architecture Paul also met his wife to be, the artist Jan NImmo, who helped him to make the decision to continue to make his life in Scotland.
In 1983, having completed his post-graduate diploma course, Paul began working at the Boys Jarvis Partnership in Glasgow, gaining experience of general and special needs housing and conservation projects across the west of Scotland before completing his professional qualifications in 1985. Paul then went on to work as an Associate at John Boys Architects, Cuthbertson Architects and John Gilbert Architects before founding Barham Glen Architects in 2011 with fellow architect Alison Glen.
1986 saw the beginning of an interest in Spanish and Latin-American art, language and culture, which led to Paul gaining a Certificate in Advanced Spanish Studies at Glasgow University and his becoming fluent in Spanish. Paul has travelled widely in Spain, Mexico and Central America and has assisted on his wife's filmmaking projects in Costa Rica and southern Spain. Paul, with his wife, has gained an intimate knowlege of the land and the buildings of the Sierra de Huelva, travelling long distances on horseback.
Paul's interest in the natural world has led to his involvement in various voluntary organisations. At present Paul is past-Chair of Hamiltonhill Allotment Association in north Glasgow and is a Director of environmental education charity Talamh Life Centre in South Lanarkshire. Between 1998 and 2005 he was also a member of the Board of Management of Friends of the Earth Scotland.
Paul's wider professional development has seen his completion of the 5 day basic training course for working with refugees run by the disaster relief organisation REDR as well hands-on building conservation and sustainable design courses. Paul is a director and past Chair of the Scottish Ecological Design Association (SEDA).
All of this means that Paul does not find much time for musical activities these days, although he does try to keep in practice with his old instrument, the bassoon.
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