My father, Patrick Warren, who has died aged 85, was principal design and conservation officer for the city of Durham, where he masterminded a strategic restructuring of the city over three decades.
Much of Pat’s work focused on the city centre, in particular the pedestrianisation of Elvet Bridge and the old marketplace, which had become a rather large car park but which is now a lovely space that is much better connected to the adjacent streets.
Pat also brought a statue of Poseidon back to its rightful place in the market square, and made sure that all new developments, especially the Milburngate shopping centre, acknowledged the fact that the architecture of Durham revolves around the cathedral and the castle.
Pat was born in Ploughley, Oxfordshire, to Nellie (nee Gregory), a midwife, and her husband, Will Warren, a Quaker, who worked variously as a carpenter’s labourer, a nightwatchman and a printer’s reader.
After attending Lord Williams’s grammar school in Thame, he went to the Oxford School of Architecture and then the Leeds School of Town Planning before becoming an assistant architect with Sheffield city council in 1963.
Through his membership of CND in Leeds, Pat met Patricia Gaythorpe, a physiotherapist, and they married in 1966. The couple then moved to Durham, where Pat became a senior design officer at Durham county council, and they had four children. When Patricia died of cancer in 1980, Pat found himself having to look after the family on his own.
By then he had become principal design and conservation officer at Durham, charged with using urban conservation to promote tourism and improve the quality of life in the city, as well as its environs, including several former mining villages. Alongside his career and parenting responsibilities he chaired the local Gingerbread group for single parents, tried parachuting, Cossack dancing and windsurfing, and began learning Chinese.
In retirement from 1999 onwards, Pat volunteered with Voluntary Service Overseas as a town planning adviser in China, Kiribati, Java, Papua New Guinea and Zambia. In all of those places he lived as much of a local life as he could.
In 2016, having returned from his VSO travels, Pat settled in Bridgwater, Somerset, where he ran a U3A art class, joined the Labour party and became a member of the local art and chess societies. He also returned to his love of making art, developing a bright, naive painting style.
In 2021 Pat moved to Teignmouth in Devon, where he spent time with his granddaughters, painted, and memorised comedic poems to entertain his neighbours. Although a quiet man he was far from serious, and was known for his sense of humour and fun.
He is survived by his children, Mike, Robin, Hazel and me, and two granddaughters, Iris and Martha.
