Tom studied at Edinburgh University from 1975-1981. His early work was in Tanzania on the new capital Dodoma. He worked on theatre design in Edinburgh, and high rise development in Sydney Australia then in 1984 he was on site at the Scottish Exhibition Centre. He designed hi-tech silicon wafer facilities through 1980's and planned Scotland`s largest retail mall near Glasgow. He moved to London in 1987 designing commercial buildings such as Sony HQ at Brooklands and CBX Milton Keynes, and then specialised in UK hotel construction for Commonwealth Holiday Inns.
In 1993, Tom became senior designer with Hawaiian-based architects Wimberly Allison Tong and Goo Inc. for Legoland in Windsor. Following completion he relocated to their London studio to design hotels and resorts throughout Europe Middle East and Africa, and in a few years became Managing Director, Senior Vice President and board member. He won international competitions for the Emirates Palace Abu Dhabi, Royal Opera House Muscat, and Oman Convention and Exhibition Centre. He designed a new luxury hotel at Heliopolis in Cairo. He reprised this role on his own 20 years later in its rebranding as a Waldorf Astoria Hotel - the first in Africa - opened in 2024.
He formed his own practice in 2010 to design a range of projects including hotel, education, sports and leisure, residential , and mixed use projects from concept to completion.
MA Edinburgh 1980 ; Diploma in Architecture 1981 ; RIAS ; RIBA
Thomas Neale Russell - Chartered Architect ( ARB - 051278 H)
