Lorraine Milne
Secretary of the Happold Foundation
“My love for design and appreciation for the people who make great places and environments to live is in my DNA.”
Lorraine Milne
Lorraine Milne grew up in a family that always had a building project on the go, creating something beautiful out of next to nothing. Her dad could not walk past a construction site without peering down the hole in the ground, and her mum’s favourite past time was sitting down with a cup of tea and the newest edition of Home and Garden.
While living in Vancouver, Lorraine worked for a small architectural firm that designed buildings – schools, universities, etc. – for First Nations (Indigenous) clients. They taught her how a building represents and tells a story about its owner. The architects would come to work in the mornings with pockets full of sketches on napkins or the back of cards. They would hand their scribbles over to the engineer who went away, and came back with a structural design that would make the architect’s idea work. All of this led to Lorraine’s passion for the built environment.
Lorraine moved to London in 1998 and worked for a few years in the corporate world. She then returned back to where her heart belonged – working for BuroHappold supporting the Chairman, Directors and being the Secretary of The Happold Foundation. This has allowed her the great fortune to enjoy both of her passions – working with designers and inspiring people about the world of design and engineering.