James Dawson Stelfox is an

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs, and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

from

Belfast Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

. He is the former chairman of Consarc Design Group and in May 2008, he was elected president of the

Royal Society of Ulster Architects The Royal Society of Ulster Architects (RSUA) is the professional body for registered architects in Northern Ireland. It was founded in 1901. Chartered Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) members in Northern Ireland are automatically m ...

Education and career

He was born in Belfast in 1958, attended

Rosetta Rosetta ( ) or Rashid (, ; ) is a port city of the Nile Delta, east of Alexandria, in Egypt's Beheira governorate. The Rosetta Stone was discovered there in 1799. Founded around the 9th century on the site of the ancient town of Bolbitine, R ...

Primary School, then

Royal Belfast Academical Institution The Royal Belfast Academical Institution is an independent grammar school in Belfast, Northern Ireland. With the support of Belfast's leading reformers and democrats, it opened its doors in 1814. Until 1849, when it was superseded by what today ...

, and in 1976 began to study

architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and construction, constructi ...

Queen's University Belfast The Queen's University of Belfast, commonly known as Queen's University Belfast (; abbreviated Queen's or QUB), is a public research university in Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom. The university received its charter in 1845 as part of ...

. His first job was with the conservation architects, Consarc, which after a brief period of self-employment he rejoined in 1995. He became chairman in 2002. Among the many projects on which he has worked are Parliament Buildings, Stormont; Belfast's Christ Church; the

Odyssey Arena The Odyssey Complex, consisting of Odyssey Place and the SSE Arena, is a sports, entertainment and science learning complex located within the Titanic Quarter in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The concept of the complex originated in 1992 and wa ...

; and the Ormeau Gas Works. Several of these projects have been premiated by the

Royal Institute of British Architects The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) is a professional body for architects primarily in the United Kingdom, but also internationally, founded for the advancement of architecture under its royal charter granted in 1837, three suppl ...

(RIBA) and the Belfast Civic Trust.

Mountaineering

In 1993 he led the Irish Everest expedition which contained climbers from both jurisdictions on the island, was supported by both Sports Council as well as private companies. When he reached the peak of Everest via the North Ridge on 27 May 1993 he became the first person from

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

to do so. He is past president and current board member of

Mountaineering Ireland Mountaineering Ireland is the representative association for hikers and mountaineers on the island of Ireland. It is recognized by both Sport Ireland, the Irish authority for sport, and Sport Northern Ireland, the corresponding authority of the G ...

References

Living people Architects from Belfast Alumni of Queen's University Belfast Members of the Order of the British Empire Irish mountain climbers British summiters of Mount Everest Year of birth missing (living people) {{NorthernIreland-bio-stub