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Steering Group UK

Dr Donal Brown

Director, SDC

Donal is a Research Fellow in Renewable Electricity Business models at the Universities of Leeds and Sussex as part of the European Union H2020 projects - Prosumers in the Energy Union (PROSEU) and Sol-Bio-Rev. Donal is Sustainability Director at an innovative Design and Build practice - Sustainable Design Collective. Donal has 10 years experience in sustainable energy consultancy, a First class BSc in Environmental Science, Distinction in Climate Change and Policy MSc and PhD in Domestic Retrofit from SPRU. A sustainable energy and energy demand specialist in the low carbon housing sector; Donal has provided consultancy on renewable energy and sustainable solutions to the UK Labour Party. Donal has in depth technical knowledge of renewable energy systems as well as Passivhaus and energy efficient design, a research background in energy policy, innovation and energy economics, and senior experience in business strategy, project management, financial analysis and personnel management.

Michael Chang

Programme Manager - Planning and Health, Healthy Places

Priorities and Programmes Division, Health Improvement Directorate, Public Health England

Michael Chang is a Chartered Town Planner and Honorary Member of the UK Faculty of Public Health. He joined PHE as the Programme Manager for Planning and Health from the Town and Country Planning Association, and has developed national guidance on planning for health and wellbeing for England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and on planning healthy weight environments.

With his experience on the policy and practice links between town planning and public health issues, he provides spatial planning advice across a number of topic areas including obesity, mental health, lifecourse and physical activity.

He is Visiting Fellow at the UK WHO Collaborating Centre for Healthy Urban Environments at the University of the West of England.
 

Paul Ellis

Chief Executive, Ecology

Having been an early investing member of Ecology in 1981, Paul joined the Board as a Non-Executive Director in 1984, working on the Society’s IT systems in his spare time. He has been Ecology’s Chief Executive since 1995.

Paul has a long-held commitment to environmental and social issues, active in a number of community environmental initiatives.  In 2010 he completed an eco-renovation of his property in Leeds and in his spare time has established a five-acre woodland in Calderdale.

Paul is currently a director of the International Association of Investors in the Social Economy (INAISE) and represents the Society at the Global Alliance for Banking on Values (GABV).  Paul is a former director of the Association for Environment Conscious Building (AECB) and the Passivhaus Trust which the Society helped establish.  He has also served on the Council of the Building Societies Association.
 

Marianne Heaslip

Associate Principal, URBED (Urbanism Environment and Design) Ltd

Marianne is an architect with interests in urban design, sustainable architecture, and participative design. At URBED, a multidisciplinary design and research cooperative based in Manchester, she leads on their sustainability and architecture work.  

Over the last decade Marianne has developed particular expertise in domestic retrofit. She was a designer and researcher on the Technology Strategy Board ‘Building Performance Evaluation’ and ‘Retrofit for the Future’ programmes and has worked on design stage Energiesprong pilot programmes. She is currently working on the deep retrofit of terraced housing in Anfield with Homebaked CLT as well as advising various public, community and private clients on retrofit and more general urban sustainability matters. 

She was also lead designer on Carbon Coop’s ‘Community Green Deal’ programme that involved the deep retrofit of 14 owner-occupied homes, that was paid for with 0% loans to householders. She continues to work closely with Carbon Coop to develop services that share this knowledge and experience, such as the current BEIS-supported People Powered Retrofit local supply chain pilot in Greater Manchester.
 

Simon Kemp

Business Development Manager, Warmworks Scotland

Simon is the Business Development Manager for Warmworks Scotland, with responsibility for all business development activities.

Prior to joining Warmworks in December 2017, Simon has enjoyed a varied career with companies such as P&G, Siemens, Eaga and Carillion and has experience of working with blue chip clients and public sector organisations. He brings more than ten years of experience of the built environment and energy efficiency sectors, most recently leading the facilities management operation at the British Museum in London.

Simon is a husband, father, surfer, banjo player and an award-winning marmalade maker. He has a passion for the social justice and fuel poverty agenda and is the founder a community group which collects and distributes donations to refugees in southern Europe.

Originally from Argyll, Simon is a graduate of Strathclyde University and in his spare time he coaches kids’ rugby and is a District Commissioner with the British Scouting Association.
 

Duncan Price

Partner, BuroHappold

Duncan is BuroHappold Engineering’s Director of Sustainability. He brings to the role significant technical and business knowledge and has a high profile within the sustainability market, being nominated one of the Top 50 Stars of Sustainability 2013, Building Magazine.

Duncan has operated successfully at all scales within the built environment, from buildings through to masterplanning and strategic consultancy. He is a Chartered Engineer and Chartered Physicist with nineteen years experience of business leadership in energy, carbon and sustainability. He has worked with leading UK and international clients to deliver successful policies, strategies and projects across a wide range of sectors including retail, commercial property, social housing, public sector and finance.

He sits on steering groups / soundings boards for the UKGBC Delivering Building Performance task group, Open City Green Sky Thinking and is a regular speaker at sustainability thought leadership events organised by the Aldersgate Group, London First and CBx. He is currently leading BuroHappold’s work in a number of innovative areas including climate change resilience and designing to maximise health, wellbeing and productivity.
 

Ian Rigarlsford

External Affairs Manager, Ecology  

Ian leads Ecology Building Society’s communications and public policy engagement activities showcasing Ecology’s pioneering environmental mortgages for energy efficient new build and retrofit as well as their support for community housing with policy makers and wider stakeholders.  Ecology’s innovative approach incentivises energy efficiency through mortgage pricing.    

Prior to joining Ecology, he led The Co-operative Bank’s Values and Ethics and has extensive experience of public policy engagement and ethical finance.  

Ian graduated from the University of Bath with an MSc in Responsibility and Business Practice and achieved a Diploma in Public Relations from the Chartered Institute for Public Relations. 
 

Sandy Rutherford

Programme Officer, Sustainable Energy and Air Quality Team, Leeds City Council

Sandy has worked for Leeds City Council for over 25 years, and on domestic energy efficiency projects since 2013.  She works within the Sustainable Energy and Air Quality Team, helping to address Leeds City Council’s Climate Emergency declaration.  She designs energy efficiency and renewable energy projects and seeks funding for them.  She works with both private sector and social housing as a mixed tenure approach is the best way to regenerate an area and improve residents’ lives.  Leeds is one of Britain’s core cities, the 10 largest cities outside London,  and is active in energy efficiency so she has experience of a wide range of projects, procurement options, funding sources and technologies.  She also Chairs the Core Cities Energy Efficiency Working Group, co-ordinating responses to changes in policy, funding mechanisms and regulations. 

Ryan Sit

Managing Consultant at EVORA Global

Ryan is a sustainability consultant for EVORA Global and specialises in providing zero carbon advisory services at both the strategic portfolio-level and detailed asset level for commercial real estate clients.   Ryan also leads EVORA’s Building Performance Optimisation service line, providing technical energy audits, on-going energy performance monitoring, continuous commissioning, BMS optimisation, and development of portfolio-level energy targets.

Ryan has a background in energy consulting for the built environment, including working as a Building Performance Engineer for Integral Group and Energy Engineer for Newcomb | Anderson | McCormick.

Ryan holds a BASc in Chemical Engineering, M.Eng. in Clean Energy Engineering, and is an AEE Certified Energy Manager and RESET AP.
 

David Weatherall

Head of Policy, EST

David Weatherall is the Head of Policy at the Energy Saving Trust. David has worked for over 15 years on energy in homes, identifying the potential for energy efficiency, renewable energy and smarter energy systems to change the way we live. David has served on several UK government stakeholder committees on issues relating to housing and energy, including, for example, the Code for Sustainable Homes, the Bonfield Review and the regulatory trajectory for energy efficiency in the private rented sector. He has a global perspective: he has developed and worked on  major European projects to improve EPCs and in 2018 was funded by the EU and UK Governments to advise Canada on launching a building energy labelling system.  Alongside his work at the Energy Saving Trust, David, in 2016 and 2017, worked as a Knowledge Exchange Fellow at Oxford University  studying issues on building governance and energy efficiency, publishing academic papers on law and energy efficiency.