John McAslan was born in Glasgow and educated at the University of Edinburgh.  He trained in Boston USA with Cambridge Seven Associates before joining Richard Rogers and Partners in London, after which he established Troughton McAslan.  He founded John McAslan + Partners in 1993 where he is Executive Chair and active in all of its work across studios in London, Edinburgh, Belfast and Sydney. John is particularly committed to interdisciplinary collaborations, which are a hallmark of the practice he leads.

John is highly engaged in education. In 2004, together with the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) and the Royal Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE), he established the McAslan RIBA/ICE Bursary to support architectural and engineering students, graduates and newly-qualified architects and engineers committed to the progress of environmental and community issues in the UK or abroad. In addition, in his capacity as an Honorary Fellow of the American Institute of Architects, in 2019 John established the AIA/McAslan Fellowship – a programme of annual travel bursaries for graduate architects from US universities.

John McAslan + Partners’ work has been widely published internationally.  It has received over 200 international design awards, including 30 RIBA National and International awards, 3 European Union prizes for cultural heritage, and the Urban Land Institute (USA) Global Award for Excellence. Additionally, the practice was honoured with the prestigious Queen’s Award for Enterprise in International Trade in 2014, and again in 2022.

In 2012 John McAslan was appointed Commander of the British Empire by Her Late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and also has served as Honorary Consul for the Republic of Haiti in London. In 2013 John was appointed Regent to the University of Edinburgh and the following year was awarded an Honorary Degree of Doctor honoris causa. In addition, John is a Fellow of numerous organisations: the Royal Institute of Architects in Scotland; the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors; the Royal Society of Arts; the Institution of Civil Engineers and the Royal Society of Edinburgh. He is also an Academician of the Royal Scottish Academy and an Honorary Fellow of the American Institute of Architects.