{"id":802319,"date":"2026-10-14T12:40:15","date_gmt":"2026-10-14T12:40:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/802319\/"},"modified":"2026-10-14T12:40:15","modified_gmt":"2026-10-14T12:40:15","slug":"in-memoriam-sir-donald-insall-cbe-1926-2026-united-kingdom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/802319\/","title":{"rendered":"IN MEMORIAM:\u00a0Sir Donald Insall CBE (1926-2026, United Kingdom)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\tHome<\/a>
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\n\t\t\t\tIN MEMORIAM:\u00a0Sir Donald Insall CBE (1926-2026, United Kingdom)<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\tOctober 14, 2026 | Posted in Awards\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Europa Nostra has learned with sadness of the passing of our great friend, ally and advocate, Sir Donald Insall<\/a>, on 10 October 2026, at the age of 100 years and eight months. Donald Insall was a pioneering conservationist, architect, planning consultant, author and teacher; he founded Donald Insall Associates in 1958, one of Britain\u2019s leading conservation practices.<\/p>\n

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Photo source: Donald Insall Associates<\/p>\n

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He has been well known in our community since our foundation. Ours is a world demanding principled, inspired leadership. It has been cruelly and unfairly said that good designers design, but those who don\u2019t, conserve. Sir Donald broke that prejudice by being a trailblazer in every respect.\u00a0<\/p>\n

By the age of 30, he was already demonstrating that conservation and design are soulmates, not adversaries, despite the post-war expectation of \u2018comprehensive redevelopment\u2019 in which the old was destined to be replaced with the new, whatever the subject. He trained and worked as an architect, setting up his own practice, Donal Insall Associates<\/a>, in 1958, which is still a leader in the field. But his expertise extended into the multidisciplinary practice of planning and urban development, breaking the mould and convention of parallel professional disciplines.<\/p>\n

It was his holistic vision and capacity for rallying all talents that was also inspired by, and contributed to, a post-war Europe of sensitive, creative reconstruction. Europa Nostra was founded five years after Sir Donald founded his practice. Inevitably, as kindred spirits, together, we have walked much the same path. In European Architectural Heritage Year, 1975, and in its 50th\u00a0anniversary, continuity of that genius loci of Europeanness has prevailed and flourished. His office is adorned with many Europa Nostra Awards, including this year\u2019s for Rochdale Town Hall<\/a>; our events have enjoyed his towering presence and kindly shared wisdom.<\/p>\n

Sir Donald will be an indelible watermark in the storybook of Europa Nostra.<\/p>\n

\"Rochdale<\/a><\/p>\n

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List of Europa Nostra Awards won by Donal Insall Associates<\/p>\n

The Bridgegate Conservation Action Area, Chester \u2013 Medal (1983)\u00a0
\nBowland Yard, Belgravia: Sensitive Residential Development in a Typical London Mews\u2019 (1989)
\nTrinity College, Cambridge: \u2018Major Restoration Project to the Highest Standards\u2019 (1991)
\nSpeke Hall, Liverpool: Restoration of Hall and Recreation of Garden (1993)
\nThe Bath Spas: Repair and reinstatement of missing original features (1993)
\nThe Mansion House, London: Restoration, repair and alteration (1994)
\nCockerell Building, Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge: Diploma (1997)
\nWindsor Castle: Medal for Post-fire Restoration Work (1999)
\nDonald Insall \u2013 Medal of Honour (2000)
\n\u00a0Somerset House, London, Phase II \u2013 Diploma (2001)
\n\u00a0Royal Albert Hall<\/a>, London \u2013 Diploma (2003)
\n\u00a0Palace of Westminster Conservation Plan<\/a> \u2013 Medal (2007)
\n\u00a0The Grange, Ramsgate<\/a> (2008)
\n\u00a0Wimpole Hall\u2019s Gothic Tower<\/a>, Wimpole \u2013 Grand Prix (2016)
\n\u00a0Westminster Hall<\/a>, London (2024)
\n\u00a0The Camellia House<\/a> at Wentworth Woodhouse (2025)
\n\u00a0Rochdale Town Hall<\/a> (2026)<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a><\/p>\n

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Read more<\/p>\n

Donald Insall Associates Mourns the Passing of Founder Sir Donald Insall <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Home News IN MEMORIAM:\u00a0Sir Donald Insall CBE (1926-2026, United Kingdom) October 14, 2026 | Posted in Awards Europa…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":802320,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-802319","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-gb","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-news","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/802319","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=802319"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/802319\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/802320"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=802319"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=802319"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=802319"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}