English architect and planner, he gained early experience assisting J. H. Harvey, and established his London practice in 1957 which became Donald Insall Associates Ltd. A disciple of Geddes and Morris, he pioneered conservation plans for several towns and villages (e.g. Blandford Forum, Dorset, Thaxted, Essex, and Chester (where, after a Government-sponsored survey (1958–9), he was appointed consultant in 1960 to promote the Chester Heritage City Conservation Programme, which won numerous awards and saw the launch of the new profession of Conservation Officer). He was involved in numerous conservation works for The National Trust at, e.g. Berrington Hall and Croft Castle (both Herefs.), Speke Hall (near Liverpool), The Vyne (Hants.), and Petworth (Sussex). Following the disastrous fire at Windsor Castle, Berks., his firm was appointed coordinating architects for the restoration (1992–7). Other projects included conservation work at Dance's Mansion House, Jones's Banqueting House, the Palace of Westminster, Whitehall, and Chambers's Somerset House, all in London. In the provinces the firm restored many buildings, e.g. Morris's Kelmscott House, Oxon., Wren's Library at Trinity College, Cambridge, and Pugin's The Grange, Ramsgate, Kent. Insall published The Care of Old Buildings Today (1972) and (with others) Fire Prevention Measures for the Royal Palaces (1993).
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