Meet our North West Regional Steering Group

Claire Brown is a Senior Sustainability Consultant at Turner & Townsend and a PhD Researcher at the Tyndall Centre for Climate change at the University of Manchester. Her PhD research work focuses on addressing issues around heating and cooling demand in social housing in the UK. She has over 18 years of experience in industry, third, public and private sectors. She is looking at how new-build social housing could be a potential way to reduce demand on the power grid through better design and exploring further opportunities for self-generation. Exploring how commercially viable solutions might exist to allow social housing to be built with high energy performance built-in. She has previously worked in the construction industry as a Sustainability Manager, in the public sector as an Energy manager and as a Senior Consultant. She also has an interest in management systems and how these can play a part in improving environmental performance across businesses, particularly around the integration of ISO14001.

David Hoare is a Chartered Environmentalist with over 19 years' experience in environmental consultancy. His experience relates to the environmental assessment and management of a wide range of projects including wind farms, pipelines, major infrastructure projects (motorway, trunk road and local authority road schemes in Wales, England and Scotland), gas storage facilities and mixed-use developments.

Carmel is the Director of Be Sustainable Limited and has 23 years of experience in Corporate Sustainability and Environment working in both in-house and client-facing roles. She has a proven track record in delivering high-quality, practical solutions to multi-site, national and international clients. Particular areas of expertise include: Sustainability Strategy development and roll out including materiality analysis; ESG reporting and verification; GHG Reporting and verification (inc. PAS2060); IMS development and internal auditing. Carmel is a Lead Auditor for EMS and QMS and a Lead ESG verifier. She is also an approved IEMA environmental and sustainability course tutor as well as an IRCA tutor for quality and environmental Lead auditor courses.

My sustainability career started in 2011 where I worked in energy management before moving into a career focusing on wider sustainability management. My main experience has been acquired working across the public sector delivering sustainability improvements and carbon reduction alongside day-to-day environmental management. I have a passion for understanding how climate change will impact organisations and ensuring actions are taken to mitigate impacts on the environment whilst I also have an ambition for sharing my experiences with those with a desire to join the profession and younger generations. In my spare time I enjoy spending time with my family, walking my dog as well as watching and playing various sports including football and cycling.

After earning his undergraduate degree from The University of Manchester, Sam wanted to explore his interest in the environmental sector, with particular focus on nuclear energy and decommissioning. He applied for and was accepted onto the Sellafield Ltd. Graduate Scheme. He has since completed the scheme and is now a qualified environmental advisor. During his time at Sellafield, he has gained valuable exposure to the environmental challenges faced by large-scale industrial sites. Through various team placements, he has been able to broaden his skillset by taking on a diverse range of responsibilities, both in delivery-facing roles, as well as in a corporate, regulator-facing position.

Andrew previously graduated from the University of Durham, completing a Geography degree and has since worked in Sustainability, Quality, Environmental and Safety Management roles over the last 15 years. Andrew is a lead auditor for both the ISO 9001:2015 and ISO 45001:2018 management systems and holds a NEBOSH National General Certificate in Occupational Health and Safety. Currently, Andrew is a Quality and Sustainability Manager, which involves working across a range of sustainability certifications including ISCC EU; RSB EU RED; GMP+; ISO 9001; ISO 14001; MarinTrust and the Marine Stewardship Council.

I am a full member of IEMA, Chartered Waste Manager, Chartered Environmentalist, Chartered Energy Manager, ESOS/EAS lead assessor, BSI Certified Lead Auditor, Certified Measurement and Verification Practitioner, WAMITAB assessor/ verifier and Technical member of IOSH. Key experience/ knowledge/ skills include: SHEQ legislation and compliance, corporate governance, resource management/ efficiency, environmental permitting, auditing, risk assessment, energy/ carbon management, net zero plans, ESG, climate change, developing and delivering training and environmental/ energy/ health and safety management systems.

I am currently the Environment Manager for Costain Group PLC. In the past I was the Environment and Sustainability Manager for William Hare Ltd where I am supporting the business with a Science Based Targets, gathering data and finding the companies hotspots where reductions will make a great difference to our carbon emissions. I also worked as Environment Manager at Cementation Skanska, rolling out many successful low carbon alternatives such as HVO fuels, low carbon concretes and sustainable materials alternatives. My passions lie in low carbon materials, trialling low carbon alternatives but also looking at reuse and redesign. I believe materials and transport are the big-ticket items for the next few years. The road to low carbon is something that definitely gets me excited in my career and believe that collaboration is key in this journey so I seek out every opportunity to join forces with others around the industry to better our chances and successes for a low carbon future.

Georgiana is the Head of Sustainability at Lancaster University, responsible for achieving the University’s strategic aim of achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2035. Prior to joining Lancaster, she held lecturing positions at the University of Leeds and Leeds Beckett University, teaching postgraduate and undergraduate students in sustainability and consultancy, and sustainability and construction. Before that, she was the Regional Sustainability Manager at Willmott Dixon Construction. She is a STEM Ambassador within the Lancashire and Cumbria region, a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, and holds Full (CENv) membership with IEMA. In her spare time, Georgiana is a keen runner and loves exploring the Cumbrian fells.