Structural timber engineering in East Africa

Caroline is a Chartered Civil and Structural Engineer and Regional Director for Arup in East Africa. She has worked in Southern and East Africa for almost 20 years and has been based in Nairobi, Kenya since 2012, leading Arup’s work across East Africa. Caroline works with public sector, private sector and NGOs in the formal built environment and informal settlements.

Caroline is a champion of the integration of sustainability, sustainable development, and climate action into Arup’s mainstream work across the continent. She is leading several projects in the region related to decarbonisation of the built environment, collaborating with champions of bio-based construction and with Government of Kenya regarding the regulatory environment for lowering the embodied carbon of new construction in the country.
 

Edson is a Structural Engineer, with over 18 years of experience in Uganda’s building construction industry. He is a member of the Uganda Institution of Professional Engineers and a Registered Engineer in Uganda.
 As a co-founder and lead structural engineer at Localworks limited, Edson has championed the use of locally sourced materials to deliver high quality, low carbon buildings. Edson was key in the development of Eco-prefab, a prefabricated timber framed system using locally sourced FSC Certified pine and Eucalyptus timber for construction of school buildings. His practice is defined by a commitment to pushing the limits of local resources to create buildings.
 

Wekesa is a Kenyan architect and a passionate advocate for sustainable building materials in East Africa. He has a proven track record of collaborating with socially and environmentally responsible enterprises across the region, with a focus on alternative building materials and environmentally conscious design. His career includes pivotal experience at BuildX Studio, where his work as a project manager and architect contributed to advancing timber construction, including involvement in Kenya’s inaugural mass timber demonstration project. He is now a partner at studio OMT architects, a practice dedicated to creating innovative, flexible design solutions based on local practices and resources.
 

Zani Gichuki is a Nairobi based structural engineer with over 9 years experience in East and Southern Africa in the design and construction of projects ranging from hospitals and housing projects to campuses and schools. She is currently developing best practices for mass timber manufacture in Kenya as the CTO and Co-founder of Ardhi na Mbao, a Kenyan, women-led design and construction company founded in 2023.