As the city’s first full-time conservation officer, he played a prominent role in ensuring the city’s heritage remained intact amid growing commercial pressures. He started his career as a tea boy with a London architectural practice before working for the Greater London Council historic buildings division. He arrived in Oxford in May 1972, a time when many of the city's special buildings had been restored with money from the Oxford Historic Buildings Fund. Large Victorian houses in North Oxford and terraced properties in Jericho and East Oxford were all at risk. “Much of John's work inevitably involved University and college schemes, and the University thought so highly of his contribution to award him an honorary MA.