Richard Gibson

Richard George Gibson ARIBA (19 November 1935 – 26 December 2024) was a British architect born and trained in London but mainly known for his buildings in Shetland from the late 1960s.

After graduating, he worked for British Rail, the education division of Middlesex County Council, and from 1963 Hampstead Borough Council, which in 1965 was absorbed into Camden Borough Council.

Gibson's Scottish buildings are mainly in Lerwick and Scalloway on Mainland, Shetland. –84), Gremista (1999), Grödians (2011) and Da Vadill (2012 ); Moore describes it as a "compressed and varied composition of courts and lanes, of projections and recessions and angles and curves", which "takes pleasure in the changes of level". Gibson also designed private houses, including Gibblestone Court (1989), a small development of single-storey houses adjacent to the 18th-century Gibblestone House in Scalloway, which he converted into flats at the same time.

He designed primary schools in Hamnavoe, Burra, The design was commended by the Royal Institute of British Architects (1983).

Restorations and conversions Gibson was also known for his conservation work. His restoration projects elsewhere in Shetland include Weisdale Mill (1987), now an arts and crafts centre, and Quendale Mill (1990), now a museum, and several historic buildings in Lerwick, including 2–8 Commercial Street (around 1985), the Peerie Shop (1988) and the Albert Building (1990) on the harbour front. the Haa of Bayhall, a three-storey laird's house of around 1750 in Walls, into flats (1978);