John Holden trained as an architectural technologist at Waterford Institute of
Technology, graduating in 1998 with distinction. He then worked for a short time in
Ireland on a variety of projects before moving to the United Kingdom to train as an
architect at Canterbury School of Architecture. Having completing his degree with First Class honours in 2002, John spent time working with architectural firms across the City of London before joining CivicArts.

Since joining the team in 2003, John has been responsible for many of the practice’s large-scale masterplanning projects including; City of Silk, Kuwait; Mohammed Bin Rashid Gardens; Dubai; Harrah’s Redevelopment, Las Vegas; Borabay Lakes, Kazakhstan; Chadstone Redevelopment, Melbourne; Midway Gardens, Istanbul, Beijing Airport Masterplan, and most recently, designs for Saadiyat Island, Abu Dhabi. Each of these complex projects required a high degree of integration with other design professionals, and John has extensive experience of liaising with civil engineering teams, socio-economic analysts and cost specialists in order to produce detailed presentations for clients, investment groups and political leaders.