GSS partner Tom Lyons at the drawing board.

Architect Tom Lyons, who is a partner at GSS Architecture, has been appointed by the Royal Institute of British Architects as a Client Design Adviser. This is a brand new service which has been introduced by the RIBA to help promote high quality and best value from buildings. Tom, who is a former President of the Northamptonshire Society of Architects, is one of only two architects who have been appointed to cover the East Midlands. In total, this region has 914 chartered architects.

Like other Client Design Advisers, Tom will play a crucial and independent role in advising a wide range of clients across all business sectors on their new projects. He will take a broad view of the whole process, helping to develop the brief, monitoring and evaluating designs as they progress, and advising on procurement routes. The aim is to make sure they get the very best value from the final product.

"This is an important new service," said Tom Lyons. "And it's a real feather in the cap for GSS. I'll be taking into account the client's long-term strategic objectives and helping them to identify the best possible solution. We already provide a similar service for one local authority which has a £270 million building programme, and take a pride in being their hands-on champion for design quality."