Kyle Leyden

The HBC, established in 1974 and currently constituted under section 198 of the Planning Act (Northern Ireland) 2011, aims to provide independent advice to the Department for Communities on the listing of buildings, the general state of listed buildings and other matters relating to their preservation.

Mr Leyden was appointed by communities minister Deirdre Hargey for a three-year term until 30 June 2025.

A native of Cookstown, Mr Leyden was educated at Rainey Endowed School, Magherafelt before undertaking studies at Trinity College Dublin, the Honorable Society of King’s Inns, the University of Oxford and the Courtauld Institute of Art.

A barrister in the Irish and Northern Irish jurisdictions, he recently completed a doctoral thesis at the Courtauld Institute centred on the intersection between architecture and politics in fashioning Irish national identity during the long eighteenth century.

In addition to providing legal advice on planning, architectural heritage and tourism issues, he has worked with many of the major heritage bodies of the UK and Ireland on research, public engagement and tourism projects, including the National Trust, Somerset House Trust and the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art.

He served as a trustee and director of Lissan House Trust in Cookstown, where he worked on the team tasked with funding, interpreting, promoting and opening the estate to the public.

He has lectured in the history of art and architecture at the University of Notre Dame in London, the Courtauld and University College London, and has written on architectural history in a wide variety of publications, most recently as researcher and co-editor of Mark Girouard’s Dictionary of English Architecture.