Alan is the Dean of The Bartlett faculty of the Built Environment, a HEFCE Business Fellow and a founding director of Space Syntax Ltd, a UCL knowledge transfer spin out with a portfolio of over 100 applied projects per year, including whole city masterplans, neighbourhood development plans and individual buildings. He is a member of the Space Group, an EPSRC Platform funded research group. He was the Chair of the Architecture, Built Environment and Planning sub-panel 16 and a member of Main-panel C for the Research Excellence Framework 2014. He is Principal Investigator on the £5m five year EPSRC funded Digital Economy Hub: UK Regions Digital Research Facility. He is a trustee of the Shakespeare North Trust a charity which is constructing a new Shakespearian theatre and educational centre in Prescot outside Liverpool.
Brexit vote was due to "a loss of identity more than anything else" – op-ed by Alan Penn, Dean of the Bartlett Faculty of the Built Environment, Sat, Jul 30 '16
As an architect and an optimist, I am hopeful that the chaos in Britain triggered by the Brexit referendum may be accompanied by yet another great age of creative invention.