Ramboll forms new sustainability leadership team for buildings
Global engineering, design and sustainability consultancy Ramboll has today announced the creation of its Sustainability Leadership Group for buildings in the UK, which will oversee Ramboll’s business strategy to be the Partner for Sustainable Change and reinforce Ramboll’s commitment to driving sustainability in buildings.
The team is headed by Lora Brill, appointed earlier this year as Head of Sustainability for Buildings in the UK. She is joined by Austen Bates, who assumes the role of Sustainability Lead for Building Services. Austen’s appointment follows four-years of driving innovative sustainable solutions for Ramboll’s clients, including the recently completed 3 Sheldon Square, a pioneering sustainable retrofit project for British Land to support their net zero strategy, which has been shortlisted for a BREEAM Award for Best Refurbishment & Fit-Out project. Austen has also contributed to the latest thinking in the circular economy, having worked with the World Business Council for Sustainable Development on building the business case for the circular economy.
Brogan MacDonald, a high-profile figure in the world of sustainability, also joins the team as Sustainability Lead for Building Structures. She is a Chartered Civil Engineer and Chartered Environmentalist and champions material re-use, reducing embodied carbon and regenerative principles. Her recent work has included the imaginative design of Westbury Hotel to secure its retention, saving 5,000 tonnes of demolition material. She also co-authored the Institution of Structural Engineers’ book on Circular Economy & Reuse.
Jac Yarwood, who has recently been appointed to Head of Sustainable Solutions, brings her wide experience in holistic sustainability to the team. She has a plethora of experience in sustainability certifications including BREEAM, LEED and HQM and has worked alongside numerous clients, project teams, developers and contractors in her 19 years in the sustainability industry. Jac has applied her knowledge on a variety of schemes of various sizes from small retail units to large redevelopment projects including data centres, prisons, care homes, schools, leisure centres and tourist facilities.
Together the team is a powerhouse of cross-disciplinary expertise to support clients at every stage of the sustainability journey – from holistic strategy creation through to technical execution. Using these interdisciplinary insights, the team will guide clients to set and achieve ambitious goals and continuously strive for exceptional sustainable outcomes for clients and their projects.
Commenting on the formation of her new leadership team, Lora said “I’m excited to put in place this exceptionally talented team that brings structural engineering, MEP engineering and sustainability consultancy together to lead Ramboll’s incredible breadth and depth of technical expertise on sustainability in building design and engineering. The team will continue to drive more engagements in key industry initiatives like ConcreteZero, and SteelZero and lead our own such as CO2mpare, which transparently shares building projects carbon data. We are committed to being the Partner for Sustainable Change and this leadership team is just one more step in ensuring that we challenge current thinking and champion innovative approaches to sustainability”.
