MetaConnex is pleased to confirm the appointment of Ashley Dunseath as Managing Director of Placemaking. A senior figure in the world of urban design and regeneration, Ashley brings over two decades of experience leading some of the UK’s most significant masterplanning and estate transformation projects; from early-stage concept design through to delivery.

Ashley joined MetaConnex in 2023, following senior leadership roles at two of the UK’s leading consultancies: WSP, a global engineering and professional services firm with over 60,000 employees worldwide, where he led masterplanning as Director of Strategic Advisory; and LDA Design, where he served as a Board Director shaping transformational strategies for new communities, town centres, and strategic urban extensions.

Throughout his career, Ashley has helped shape the futures of hundreds of thousands of homes across the UK; including landmark regeneration programmes such as Barking Riverside, town centre transformations, and strategic urban extensions. His ability to balance commercial viability, social value, and long-term design quality makes him a natural fit for MetaConnex’s mission: to make smarter, faster, and more accountable regeneration possible.

At MetaConnex, Ashley leads the placemaking strategy; aligning spatial strategy with digital infrastructure to ensure places are coherent, purposeful, and deliverable. His role connects digital infrastructure, local policy, spatial logic and development viability to ensure that every place we shape is coherent, purposeful, and designed for how people actually live, move, and connect. 

Through MetaConnex, Ashley and the team are advancing a model of regeneration that moves beyond static plans. By leveraging real-time data environments and collaborative digital tools, MetaConnex supports investment decisions, optimises land use, and fast-tracks delivery. The result is a smarter, more accountable approach to unlocking the full potential of place. His role sits at the heart of how MetaConnex integrates planning, infrastructure, and delivery to unlock real places, not just plans, making placemaking a driver of long-term success, not a bolt-on.

“The future of regeneration depends on our ability to connect design, data, and delivery. At MetaConnex, we’re building the tools and strategies that help places perform socially, economically, and environmentally. Placemaking must be dynamic, intelligent, and above all, grounded in how people actually live.”

Q&A with Ashley Dunseath

What brought you to MetaConnex?

→ A desire to work with agitators, people unafraid to challenge convention and committed to finding better ways to do things. MetaConnex offers the opportunity to work at the intersection of applied technology and placemaking, using digital tools as enablers of real progress. The draw was clear: a chance to deliver sustainable outcomes at pace, with a team focused on innovation and solutions.

What does placemaking mean in practice today?

→ Placemaking is fundamentally about enviro-economics; aligning environmental responsibility with economic value to create places that truly work for people. It’s about health and wellbeing, social prosperity, and ensuring that the way we shape places leads to a better quality of life. That means embedding policy logic, land use efficiency, and infrastructure planning into a cohesive vision, while making space for the intangible: identity, connection, and purpose. In short, placemaking must deliver great places for life.

What project or place are you most proud of?

→ I’m proudest when I help clients and teams unlock a project that might otherwise have stalled or see the greater potential beyond the red line boundary. Success for me is about creating the conditions for delivery such as the Bradford Development Framework: aligning strategy, design, and governance so things can actually get built. It’s not about the masterplan, it’s about master-thinking. When a team has clarity and momentum because of the work we’ve done together, that’s what matters.

You’ve led design strategies for estate regeneration, new towns, and urban extensions; which project taught you the most?

→ What’s taught me the most is learning how to think clearly and act decisively in complex situations, particularly on projects I worked on in the Middle East and China. Over the years, I’ve developed the ability to adapt quickly, find intelligent solutions, and stay focused on understanding the objectives from the outset. That comes from working with strong clients and peers, and from knowing that what we do must lead to real, positive impact. It’s not just about design or policy, it’s about applying sound judgement to unlock blockers to delivery.

Where do you see the future of regeneration going?

→ Regeneration must be led by evidence, precision, and purpose. The process must change and move away from generic plans toward targeted, strategic interventions. Every proposal should be tested virtually, using digital technology to model outcomes and de-risk decisions. Sustainable development must be embedded from the outset, balancing economic return with social impact and environmental responsibility. That’s how we create places that perform, and can be measured against sustainable outcomes long into the future.