Designing for the future, now (e-conference)

Sir David King has published over 500 papers on science and policy, for which he has received numerous awards, and holds 22 Honorary Degrees from universities around the world. Elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1991, a Foreign Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2002 and knighted in 2003, Sir David was also made an Officer of the French Legion d’Honneur’ in 2009, for work which has contributed to responding to the climate and energy challenge. Sir David was the permanent Special Representative for Climate Change from September 2013 until March 2017. Previously, from 2000 to 2007, Sir David was the Government’s Chief Scientific Advisor, during which time he raised awareness of the need for governments to act on climate change and was instrumental in creating the Energy Technologies Institute. He also served as the Founding Director of the Smith School of Enterprise and Environment at Oxford; was Head of the Department of Chemistry at Cambridge University 1993-2000 and Master of Downing College at Cambridge 1995 -2000.

A Divisional Director at Spatial Initiative, part of the ESS Modular Group, Emily leads the construction company in the delivery of major projects for public sector and private clients, such as the nine new schools completed to date and the further seven new projects in the pipeline. Emily has previously held roles for leading construction consultants, such as Arup and Mott MacDonald. Alongside sustainable construction, Emily is passionate about promoting diversity in the industry.

Sam is a British construction industry leader and writer on construction innovation. He has an MBA from Henley Business School and degrees in Civil Engineering, Architecture and Philosophy from Imperial College and Cambridge University. As Director of Innovation at Skanska UK, he was known for promoting Flying Factories. In 2018 Sam joined UK Research and Innovation to oversee construction R&D as Challenge Director for Construction. From 2018 to its completion in September 2022, he was Challenge Director for Construction at UKRI, implementing the Sector Deal for Construction, as part of the UK’s 2017 Industrial Strategy.

In his current role at AKT II, David co-leads the practice in matters related to Climate Action, and he focuses on adaptive re-use, design efficiency and material innovation. He has lectured widely on these topics at universities across the UK, Ireland, Sweden and the United States. His projects include the Stirling Prize nominated 100 Liverpool Street, the rejuvenation of the world’s first cast-iron framed building at Shrewsbury Flaxmill Maltings and the new home for the Museum of London at West Smithfield.

Will graduated from Cambridge in 2013, worked at AKTII for two years, and then completed a PhD on the design and optimisation of novel, low-carbon, concrete shell floor structures. Today, his research and teaching focuses on achieving zero carbon in construction, through design optimisation, novel structural systems and enhancing our understanding of the ecological impact of materials.

Karen is a Fellow of the UK Royal Academy of Engineering and author of over 200 journal papers. Her research focuses on the understanding of the chemistry and microstructure of cement-based materials and in improving their sustainability. In 2008, she came up with the idea for LC3 cement, a material with the potential to cut CO2 emissions related to cement by more than 400 million tonnes a year.

Walter started his career working in consultancy designing in a range of materials, but pursued his interest in steelwork, initially working in steel fabrication and latterly in steel manufacture. With a broad knowledge of steel products, the manufacturing processes employed to make them, and where they sit in a construction context, Walter has become a point of contact in the industry on strategies that can be rolled out to deliver on embodied carbon targets for buildings.

Andrea is a Chartered Environmentalist and Engineer specialising in the sustainability of the built environment, with a particular expertise in the circular economy and how this applies to materials, structures and buildings. Her current interest is in exploring how we can build truly regenerative places - places that form the basis for continued life, supporting plants, animals and healthier humans, now and in the future.

Susan focuses in achieving the best structural solution for projects and relishes the creative nature of the design process. She has worked on a range of diverse and interesting projects, from private houses to large residential schemes, commercial buildings, museums, schools and theatres. Susan champions technical excellence across design and analysis and leads HTS+ Innovation and Research, a dedicated team who works on research projects to help resolve engineering challenges.

Glen has led multi-disciplinary engineering design teams at Arup, delivered complex projects in the UK and internationally, and, for the past 6+ years, has worked within the technology, innovation and R&D team at Laing O’Rourke, the UK’s largest private contractor. In his current role, he leads the technical design, development, and deployment of innovative next generation structures, low carbon, and high productivity solutions for the built environment.

Sophie is passionate for sustainable design and always strives to make the most of natural resources using circular economy principles. She designed the structure for the Glyndebourne Pavilion with Baker Brown architects - a prestigious new events space to be built using sustainable materials salvaged from the Glyndebourne estate, designed to be fully demountable and reusable at end of life.

Rachel has extensive experience working with existing buildings. For the past few years, she has engaged in a series of deep research assignments and is utilising this data and knowledge to push the boundaries of sustainable development – both in refurbishment and new build projects. Recently, she led a research piece on material passports as part of a wider Grosvenor Estate Innovation Project into material reuse. Rachel has recently received the 2021 AJ100 Sustainability Champion Award.