Niven Architects, based in Darlington, has appointed CARL Ross as an associate.

Mr Ross will be responsible for strengthening the company's service to commercial, educational and healthcare clients.

Based in Coniscliffe Road, Niven Architects' portfolio includes design projects in many sectors including the health service, education, commercial and residential developments and the leisure industry.

Simon Crowe, partner at Niven Architects, said: "We are growing and moving forward as a practice and Carl's experience is already proving invaluable in terms of new work and in mentoring some of the younger members of the team."

From Darlington, Mr Ross, 34, trained at Hull School of Architecture and worked for ABC Architects, in Hull, before joining Consarc Design Group, in Belfast. While there, he worked on some of the biggest building projects in Northern Ireland, including the £32m Lisburn Civic Centre and the Odyssey millennium project, both of which won design awards.

From there, he joined Waring and Netts, in Newcastle, where his projects included a £25m office development in partnership with the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment, which is being used as a model for similar projects nationwide.