Malcolm Fraser

Alexander Malcolm Fraser was born on 21 July 1959 to Margaret (née Watters) and William Fraser (Structural engineer, with Blyth and Blyth, for many of Edinburgh's best post-war buildings). He attended George Watson's College, going on to study architecture at the University of Edinburgh, graduating with an MA Hons, DipArch in 1985. Following University he worked as a community architect in Wester Hailes in Edinburgh; with architect and theorist Christopher Alexander in Berkeley, California; conservation practices in Edinburgh; and with poet and artist Ian Hamilton Finlay at his garden, Little Sparta, near Edinburgh. He founded his architectural practice, Malcolm Fraser Architects, in 1993. It first made its name developing bars and restaurants for clients such as Pizza Express, and with lottery-funded arts projects. The practice's work encompassed conservation and new build, often in historic contexts such as Edinburgh's World Heritage Site, based on respect for the historic built context and the need to build within it in a rooted, confident, contemporary way. Its Edinburgh Climate Change Institute, for the University of Edinburgh, became the first listed building to achieve BREEAM "Outstanding" award. The practice won eight RIBA awards and also completed masterplanning and construction work for volume housebuilders that won for them, for the first time in Scotland, major awards - for The Drum, Bo'ness, West Lothian and Princess Gate, Fairmilehead, Edinburgh. The practice ceased trading in 2015, after 22 years of work, but Fraser/Livingstone Architects continue its work of cultural regeneration, community empowerment and an enlarged view of sustainability that encompasses heritage, retrofit and regeneration – social closening, in all its forms. Fraser married architect Helen Lucas in 1988 and has one son and two daughters.

The practice, between 1999 and 2009, won the Edinburgh Architectural Association (EAA) Building of the Year/Silver Medal six times, the Conservation award twice plus other EAA Awards and Commendations. Using this as a platform Fraser has campaigned about built environment issues in Edinburgh, including initiatives for Princes Street, the Grassmarket and the redevelopment of Boroughmuir High School.

In 2002, Fraser was appointed as the inaugural Deputy-Chair of Architecture and Design Scotland – a non-departmental public body (or quango) which acts as the Scottish Government's advisor on the built environment. He resigned in 2004 over the organisation's unwillingness to examine whether the UK Government's use of Public-Private Partnerships for public buildings such as schools represented value-for-money. Fraser was appointed visiting professor at the University of the West of England in 2003 and Geddes Honorary Professorial Fellow at the Edinburgh School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture, part of the University of Edinburgh, in 2009. He has also lectured in Europe, China and North America. Fraser sits on the board of the Common Weal, a Scottish think tank, campaigning and advocacy organisation. During the run-up to the 2014 Scottish Independence Referendum Fraser acted as spokesman for the group 'Architects for Yes'.

During his time as a columnist for the weekly architectural journal Building Design, in 2003, Fraser initiated a Flat VAT campaign to standardise Value Added Tax across new build (currently 0%) and repair (then 17.5%) that was taken up by Richard Rodgers and Debra Shipley MP but rejected by the then Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown MP.

Fraser acted as spokesman for the Merger Action Group of Scottish businessmen who took Her Majesty's Government to the Competition Appeal Tribunal over the Government's alleged "ripping-up" of legislation and failure to heed anti-competition warnings when it enabled the acquisition of HBOS by Lloyds TSB in 2008.

Fraser led and authored the Scottish Government's Town Centre Review "Community and Enterprise in Scotland's Town Centres", which looked to structural change to bring investment and footfall in towns. The Government's response included adopting the review's recommendation for a "Town Centre First" principle across all its activities.