Woodknowledge Wales is delighted to announce that Paul King, Chief Executive Officer, of Built by Nature, will provide the keynote address on day two of WoodBUILD 2024, on 3 July, at the University of Wales Trinity Saint David IQ Waterfront campus in Swansea.
“We are absolutely thrilled that Paul King will provide the keynote address on day two of WoodBUILD 2024 and take part in a centrepiece debate. Paul will provide a European vision on how the built environment can work in unison with nature. Following his presentation, Paul has agreed to participate in a curated debate, alongside other key timber industry experts, that will focus on the practicalities of delivering on the challenge laid down by Prof. Hans Joachim (John) Schellnhuberat last year’s conference (see his presentation here for those that missed it), on how the industry can substantially increase the use of timber and other biogenic materials in the built environment to act as a carbon store and become a highly significant climate change mitigation solution.”
Gary Newman, CEO, Woodknowledge Wales
Built by Nature is a network and grant-making fund dedicated to accelerating the timber building transformation in Europe. Set up by the philanthropic Laudes Foundation, Built by Nature has head offices in Amsterdam. Supporting developers, designers, investors, asset owners and insurers, alongside policymakers and city leaders, the organisation aims to help the building sector radically reduce embodied carbon, safely store carbon in our buildings for generations, and sequester carbon by championing forest stewardship and regeneration.
About Paul King
Paul King joined Built by Nature as CEO after serving as Managing Director, Sustainability and Social Impact, Lendlease Europe, since February 2015.
Previously he was the founding CEO of the UK Green Building Council, May 2007 – January 2015. Before that he worked for WWF-UK as Director of Campaigns, Campaign Director for WWF’s One Million Sustainable Homes campaign and co-founder of One Planet Living.
Paul is a Director of BeOnsite, a not-for-profit organisation that supports people furthest from work into sustained employment, and a Design Council Expert Specialist in the areas of sustainability and net zero carbon. Between February 2017 and February 2023, he was a trustee and Vice Chair of the Board of Centre for London, the city’s only dedicated think tank.
Paul was Chairman of the public/private sector Zero Carbon Hub 2008 – 2016 and a member of the Zero Carbon Homes 2016 Task Force, established by the UK Government to translate the zero carbon homes policy ambition into reality. He was a member of the UK Government’s Green Construction Board and Chair of its Buildings Working Group. He was also a member of the Low Carbon Construction IGT, Sustainable Buildings Task Group, Code for Sustainable Homes Steering Group and the Egan Review of Skills for Sustainable Communities, all commissioned by the UK Government. On an international level, he was a member of the Board of the World Green Building Council and Chair of the WorldGBC Europe Network 2007 – 2014.
