AWARD-WINNING Nottingham architect Julian Marsh has become professor of architecture at Sheffield Hallam University.

Professor Marsh, who has taught regularly at four universities – Nottingham, Nottingham Trent, Cambridge and De Montfort in Leicester – will lecture and guide research into sustainability, the energy efficiency of buildings.

The post is initially two days a week and Professor Marsh will continue to run his Lace Market practice.

Professor Marsh and his firm, Marsh Grochowski have established a reputation for their "green architecture" which includes giving old buildings a new lease of life by introducing modern energy-saving technology.

He said: "The university wanted my practical experience of working on sustainable projects and my outlook, which is about trying to integrate sustainable design into architecture rather than just tacking on technology.

"This is architecture which uses very little energy, generates its own energy and is sensitive to its place."

Professor Marsh, a visiting professor at Nottingham University, has been active in Nottingham, working with communities to produce leading-edge energy-saving and generating schemes which reduce the carbon footprint.

Professor Marsh said future architecture should incorporate sustainability into design.

The profession was still divided between those that carry out prestige "splash" projects and what he called "the more responsible" approach which was sensitive to its location.

Professor Marsh, who read architecture at Cambridge, has been a practising architect for 30 years.

His firm has won four Riba (Royal Institute of British Architects) Awards and 13 Riba regional awards.

The Meat House in The Meadows, a conversion for his own residence, is currently short-listed for a Riba Award.

The practice has also won four Civic Trust Awards.

Professor Marsh led the much-praised creation of the Nottingham Playhouse public area for the Anish Kapoor Sky Mirror and the refurbishment of the bar.

Other public buildings include Lakeside, where Town and Gown meet at Nottingham University.

Tim Hart commissioned Professor Marsh to design a new £2.5 million boutique hotel in a sensitive cliff edge site between the Castle and The Park.

Environmental campaigner Alan Simpson , the former Labour MP for Nottingham South, employed the practice to convert a derelict building behind the Lace Market Hotel and Kean's Head pub into a family home with minimal energy use. It won a Riba regional award in 2006.

The practice has also been commissioned to design a £3 million eco-house for Indian businessman Nat Puri.