Oliver Broadbent FRSA HonFIStructE
1851 Fellow in Regenerative Design
Founder & Director, Constructivist Ltd

Oliver Broadbent is a design educator, facilitator and author working at the intersection of regenerative design, systems thinking and construction. He is the author of Pattern Book for Regenerative Design and co-author of The Regenerative Structural Engineer.

Oliver is the founder of the Regenerative Design Lab and Director of Constructivist Ltd, where he runs training for engineers (and other humans) in regenerative design, creative thinking and leadership. He is Chair of Trustees of Hazel Hill Wood, a woodland retreat centre for deepening connection with the living world.

Oliver is a recipient of the Sir Misha Black Award for design education and an Honorary Fellow of the Institution of Structural Engineers, recognised for his contributions to regenerative design.

Heather Ferguson
Head of Policy and Engagement
The National Lottery Community Fund in Wales

Heather Ferguson is Head of Policy and Engagement at the National Lottery Community Fund in Wales, leading on policy and stakeholder engagement under the Fund’s four community-led missions and leading the Fund’s customer support offer.

Heather has recently joined the Fund, prior to this she has almost 20 years’ experience of working in the non-profit, mental health, and Higher and Further Education sectors in Wales.

Originally from Rochdale in Greater Manchester, Heather has lived in Cardiff since coming to the city to study.

Ele George
Founder of Elevate FBE

Ele George is a Civil and Environmental Engineer and founder of Elevate FBE, a specialist consultancy created to bridge the gap between technical innovation and practical delivery. With over 25 years’ experience across consultancy, main contracting and manufacturing, her work focuses on how materials and industrialised construction can enable low-carbon delivery, circularity and systemic change.

Driven by a “don’t tell me, show me” philosophy, Ele’s expertise is grounded in lived experience, including the design and delivery of her own A-rated eco-home, Brock House.

As a 2025 Churchill Fellow, Ele is undertaking research in Germany, Sweden and Japan to explore how industrialised construction can make custom-build housing a scalable reality. She also serves as Partnerships Lead for Ecosystems Technologies, helping communicate the potential of their UK-grown, carbon-negative mass timber platform.

In her session at WoodBUILD 2026, Ele challenges the industry to look beyond carbon tunnel vision and confront the wider system challenges shaping our built environment. Drawing on her international research, she argues for a shift away from the UK’s bespoke-build trap towards standardised timber platforms that can genuinely unlock customer choice and make the “right thing” the easiest thing to do.

Charlie Luxton
Charlie Luxton Design
Board member of Woodknowledge Wales

Charlie is passionate about the environment and communicating the value of sustainable architecture and design. He founded Charlie Luxton Design in 2005, and since then the practice has grown to 13 people, and last year became an Employee Owned Trust (EOT) building on its core principles of creating beautiful, sustainable architecture fit for the 21st century.

Two recently completed projects capture this ambition. The first is the headquarters for an ethical investment company pursuing carbon neutrality through Passivhaus and circular economy principles, alongside careful stewardship of its 22-acre site to encourage carbon sequestration and biodiversity. The second, Hook Norton Housing, is a Community Land Trust project delivering 12 homes, a village work hub, therapy rooms, and an edible landscape — including the country’s smallest micro-grid and largest community-run car club. The project was designed to address many of the challenges facing rural communities today. These ideas are being applied across a broad range of projects, from one-off houses to settlement-scale schemes.

The practice has recently won the AJ Small Projects Sustainability Award, the Daily Telegraph ‘Home of the Year’ award, and a Gold Medal from the RHS.

Cristina Massot Berna

Secretary General of the Agriculture Department
The Generalitat of Catalonia

Cristina currently serves as Secretary General of the Agriculture Department of the Generalitat of Catalonia, a position she has held since August 2024.

From November 2021 to August 2024, Cristina was the Deputy Director General of Food Industries and Food Quality within the same department. Her main responsibilities included planning and organising actions in the food sector, fostering collaboration among various stakeholders in the agri-food chain, and ensuring the quality of agri-food products. She coordinated aid for the transformation and commercialisation of these products and promoted local Catalan agri-food products through several initiatives.

From September 2017 to November 2021, Cristina worked as a Seconded National Expert and Policy Coordinator at the DG SANTE of the European Commission in Brussels. In this capacity, she contributed significantly to developing and implementing the new European legal framework for animal health. Her work involved managing regulations that govern the entry of animals and animal products into the EU, as well as implementing disease prevention and control measures, among others.

Cristina has extensive experience in various veterinary roles. From January 2014 to September 2017, she served as the Head of the Animal Health Prevention Service at the Agriculture Department of the Generalitat of Catalonia, overseeing animal health programs aimed at preventing and controlling diseases, managing a regional laboratory, and implementing biosecurity programs across swine farms in Catalonia.

She also coordinated the Catalan Livestock Traceability System from March 2012 to January 2014, focusing on updating system requirements and training veterinarians and farmers on livestock software. Prior to that, she worked as an Official Veterinarian in several capacities, conducting farm inspections, ensuring compliance with health standards, and supervising meat quality in regional slaughterhouses.

Cristina holds a degree in Veterinary Medicine from the Autonomous University of Barcelona.

Mark McKenna MBE
Co-founder/ CEO
Down to Earth

Mark McKenna is co-founder and CEO of Down to Earth, an award-winning group of social enterprises based on Gower, Swansea.  Working with marginalized and disadvantaged communities in south Wales, Mark has been developing inclusive approaches to health care and education through the medium of sustainable construction and sustainable land management since 2002.

Mark’s degree and Masters at Swansea University informed Down to Earth’s evidence-based way of working with on-going academic and clinical research underpinning their holistic, cross-sectoral approach.

Mark’s background has blended the use of natural materials with renewable and off grid technologies in construction to bring about positive change in people’s lives.  He is an advocate for community engagement, working with young people and adults from diverse backgrounds to tackle social and environmental inequality at the same time.

In October 2020, Mark was awarded an MBE for Services to Young People and Environment. 

Mark is also a board member for Natural Resources Wales.

Gert-Jan Nabuurs

Professor European Forest Resources
Wageningen University & Research

Gert-Jan Nabuurs is Professor European Forest Resources at Wageningen University & Research. His background is in European scale forest resource analyses and management under climate change. His work has both scientific aspects as well as large outreach to the forest sector. He started the work with the EFISCEN model, the European forest resource, forest management and carbon balance model. Applications are in wood availability, effects of forest management, climate change impacts, biodiversity and CO₂ sequestration.

Further he was Coordinating Lead Author (CLA) of the Agriculture and Forestry chapter in the IPCC 6AR. He was also CLA in the IPCC Good Practice Guidance for Greenhouse reporting in the land use sector in 2003. He was Assistant Director of the European Forest Institute in Finland from 2009-2012. He led the Dutch forest climate pilots under the Climate Accord, a 2.3 M€/y program with 38 partners from Dutch sector. Furthermore currently he leads and is involved in six EU projects on forest, bioeconomy and climate change. 

Ben Rawlence
Co-founder and CEO
Black Mountains College

Black Mountains College co-founder and CEO, Ben is an award-winning writer, activist, and former speech writer to Sir Menzies Campbell and Charles Kennedy.

Ben was a researcher for Human Rights Watch’s Africa division, worked for the Social Science Research Council in the USA, the Liberal Democrats in the UK and the Civic United Front in Tanzania.

David Williams
Chairperson
Llais y Goedwig

David Williams is the Chairperson of Llais y Goedwig (LlyG), the umbrella body for community woodlands in Wales. He first joined the Board of LlyG back in 2008, and was one of the original group of Directors. He lives in Cwmbran, Torfaen and first became involved in woodlands with the setting up of Blaen Bran community woodland (BBCW) in Upper Cwmbran back in 2003. This was a former plantation woodland, dating back to the early 1930’s which is now much more mixed. BBCW is an area of 100 acres, fully open to community access. BBCW were one of the original member groups of LlyG, and all the committee are volunteers. BBCW have previously been recognised in the community woodland category for the RFS awards at the Royal Welsh Show and also have recognition under the Keep Wales Tidy Green Flag awards. David worked previously within health and social care in the Gwent region, before retirement in 2021. He is currently a councillor on Torfaen County Borough Council and chairs the Council Cross cutting overview and scrutiny committee, among other roles, and represents the Llanyravon ward in Cwmbran.

LlyG are a grassroots organisation, with a representational role to Welsh Government, NRW, and other public bodies – highlighting the role and importance of community woodlands within Wales. It is also a peer support organisation, sharing guides, case studies and information across member groups.

Kirsty Wilman
COO
Rebalance Earth

Kirsty Wilman is COO of Rebalance Earth and a Chartered Accountant, pioneering capital direction into nature-based solutions. She brings deep experience as COO of a Real Estate division supporting a £7bn portfolio and serves as Non-Executive Director of a FTSE 250 REIT. Witnessing how nature degradation manifests as water risk—too much, too little, or too dirty—drives her mission. At Rebalance Earth, returns are generated by companies paying for nature restoration benefits.

Kirsty believes investing in nature restoration is essential to reduce risk, protect supply chains, and create a world worth living in.

Gary Newman
Chief Executive, Woodknowledge Wales

Gary is the Chief Executive of Woodknowledge Wales and co-founder and board member of the Alliance for Sustainable Building Products. Gary is a construction engineer by training and early career. After completing a wood technology masters, Gary spent some formative years at the at the BioComposites Centre in Bangor as a researcher where he became inspired by the technical possibilities of bio-materials. In 1995, Gary established a fully integrated hemp and flax processing plant in North Wales and contracted the growing of industrial fibre crops on farms in England and Wales. Over the following 20 years Gary was responsible for developing and manufacturing a range of bio-products including horticultural and automotive nonwovens, hemp particleboard and hemp fibre insulation supplied through B&Q.

Paul Brannen
Commissioner Forestry Commission
Director Public Affairs, CEI-Bois, EOS and Confederation of Timber Industries

Paul is member of the Board of the English Forestry Commission and he is the author of Timber! How wood can help save the world from climate breakdown Edinburgh University Press.

Paul leads the advocacy engagement of the European woodworking and sawmill industries towards the EU institutions and likewise to the UK parliament for the Confederation of Timber Industries.

This year he was awarded an Honorary Fellowship by the Institute of Chartered Foresters. Last year he was awarded the Confederation of Forest Industries’ Changing Attitudes Award.

He is a former UK Member of the European Parliament (MEP) who in the 2014-2019 parliament served on both the Environment Committee and the Agriculture Committee. In 2015 he was a rapporteur on the revision of the European Forestry Strategy.

Before becoming an MEP Paul worked for the development charity Christian Aid as head of advocacy working primarily on climate change. Earlier roles were with the Anti-Apartheid Movement, the Labour Party, Hobsbawm Macaulay Communications and Common Purpose.

Rosie Cade
Founder
Rising Tide

Rosie is a respected voice in built environment transformation, with 20+ years’ experience spanning housing, development, and finance. Building on senior roles at global advisory firms and regeneration specialists, she established Rising Tide as a pan-European strategic advisory practice for pioneers in the built environment navigating change, supporting founders and management teams to reshape strategy, clarify their positioning, unlock investment and scale impact.

Rising Tide’s partners are leading networks, coalitions, funders and developers including C40 Cities, Common Projects, Built by Nature, the Circular Buildings Coalition, Dark Matter Labs, European CLT Network and Woodknowledge Wales.

Rachel Chamberlain
Manager, Land Stewardship team
Natural Resources Wales

Rachel is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Foresters and has worked in the forestry sector since 1986, spending most of her career in Wales but with brief spells in both England and Scotland.  Most of her roles have been with Forestry Commission and Natural Resources Wales (NRW) and have included managing the public forest estate and roles within grants and regulations.

Rachel started as a self-employed chainsaw operator in a small private woodland in mid-Wales and currently works as a manager for NRW who are responsible for managing the Welsh Government Woodland Estate which covers 123,000 ha, approximately 50% of the woodlands in Wales.

Rachel has seen many changes during her career including the introduction of the UK Forest Standard and UK Woodland Assurance Standard (UKWAS), both of which she whole heartedly supports as demonstration of the significant benefits that well managed woodlands and sustainably harvested local timber can bring to society. The Welsh Government Woodland Estate provides timber, biodiversity, landscape enhancement and recreation opportunities.  It is certified as sustainably managed to international standards of sustainable forest management by both the Forest Stewardship Council® (FSC®) and Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC).  Wales’ state forests have been certified via UKWAS since 2001 making them, along with the state forests of England and Scotland, the longest running continuously certified state forests in the world.

Tim Clement
Director of Social Value & Sustainability
Morgan Sindall Construction

Tim leads the social value and sustainability activities of Morgan Sindall’s construction business. He has led several collaborative R&D initiatives to improve the built environment sector, including an Innovate UK funded AI project.

With a background in design management, Tim studied Interdisciplinary Design for the Built Environment at the University of Cambridge, and he created CarboniCa, the innovative and award-winning whole life carbon reduction tool for the built environment.

Andy Cook
Specification Sales Manager
Steico UK

Andy Cook is a construction professional with 23 years of expertise in multiple disciplines, both on and off the tools. Having completed a traditional apprenticeship in carpentry and joinery, he is a passionate advocate for the use of timber in construction and the synergistic advantage of combining wood fibre insulation with modern methods of construction to create high-quality, low-energy, sustainable solutions.

With diverse experience and qualifications in project management, architectural technology, quantity surveying, Passivhaus design and construction and hygrothermal modelling, he understands the multi-faceted benefits and complexities of delivering high-quality, high-performance projects, both new build and retrofit, in an increasingly complex industry.

Rachel Cook
Networks
Woodknowledge Wales

Rachel works with the Communities of Practice (CoPs) and supports membership development, events and training. Rachel’s background is in architecture, urban design and construction. She worked for a South Wales contractor for 11years starting as a trainee engineer, and rising to Site Manager. With a passion for developing skills and training within the industry she later went on to work for Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) as a local manger gaining insight to industry needs across Wales. Her most recent role was with Construction Wales Innovation Centre (CWIC) at University of Wales Trinity Saint David (UWTSD) as a Net Zero Industry Support Manager.

Steve Cranston
Programme Director
Tai ar y Cyd

Steve leads Tai ar y Cyd – an ambitious collaboration of 25 Welsh social landlords looking to build next generation zero carbon affordable homes that nurture people and planet. Tai ar y Cyd roots are in the Woodknowledge Wales seminal Homes Grown Homes project. This collaboration is a step change opportunity for home grown timber in Wales.

He is an experienced practitioner in the fields of housing, social enterprise and  community led regeneration. He has a keen interest in working collaboratively to unlock the potential of anchor institutions that are so vital in strengthening our foundational economy.

He has always had a passion for housing – his first proper job was leading a local authority homelessness team.

Steve is a proud grandad and enjoys being outdoors backpacking, fishing,  gardening, sailing and walking.

Luke Cross MICFor
Area Manager
Tilhill Forestry

Luke Cross MICFor works for Tilhill Forestry Ltd in North East Wales and the Marches. Luke is an award winning forester who currently sits on the Institute of Chartered Foresters Council and is vice-chair for CONFOR Wales.

Luke specialises in large scale commercial plantations and afforestation projects with a keen passion for ensuring timber is at the forefront of discussion for a sustainable future bioeconomy in Wales.  

Anna Dauksta
Forestry and Timber Project Manager
Woodknowledge Wales

Anna is passionate about creating a future where individuals, communities and businesses across Wales and the UK have a deeper understanding of the vital part forestry and timber can play in improving the sustainability of our built and natural environments.

Anna has had a varied career working in a range of environmental and educational roles including Aberystwyth University, Tir Coed and A Greener Future. She is committed to helping people and the environment during a time of ecological and economical crisis.

Richard Farmer
Project and Programme Manager
Cyngor Gwynedd

Richard Farmer is a Project and Programme Manager with Cyngor Gwynedd. His career has spanned the Educational, Environmental and Local Government sectors, focussing increasingly on grant funded capital programmes in the construction sector. He was appointed as  Project Manager to the Property Development Unit of Cyngor Gwynedd, developing the county’s 21st Century Schools programme. Gwynedd has built innovative schools across the County, responding to the needs of pupils in scattered rural locations and to the challenges of building in sensitive landscapes, schools which have won awards with CEW, CLAW and RTPI.

The Sustainable Schools Challenge has given Richard the opportunity to draw together the strands of his career, focussing on the issues of construction and development in response to environmental issues that are increasingly urgent. He has been able to explore alternative approaches, both innovative and through an open-minded approach to traditional construction methods and he believes that the Public Sector has both the opportunity and the responsibility to lead the change in the approach to Construction in Wales.

Prof John Healey
Professor of Forest Sciences, Bangor University
Board member of Woodknowledge Wales

John is Professor of Forest Sciences at Bangor University, the UK’s leading university for forestry. John has spent his whole professional career at Bangor, starting as a specialist in tropical forestry, but now with sustainable management and silviculture of UK woodlands as a major component of his research and teaching. The huge challenges posed by the climate and biodiversity crises are an increasingly dominant focus. He is a section chief editor for the journal Frontiers in Forests and Global Change.

John is a member of the Institute of Chartered Foresters and has recently participated in a number of evidence review, expert group, horizon scan and advisory committee roles. He also brings a breadth of perspectives ranging from his role as Director of Research for the Bangor University college spanning the whole of science and engineering, to that of manager of two small woodlands.

As an ecological scientist, John’s approach is very much based on a whole-systems’ perspective. His work has a strongly applied orientation and he has long been engaged at the interface of science with policy and practice, which he hopes to develop further via membership of the Board of Woodknowledge Wales.

The scope of John’s current research and publications can be summarised as the ecology, management and ecosystem services of forests and agroforestry systems. Key themes include the role in the global carbon cycle of forests and their products, climate change impact on forests and coral reefs, forest biodiversity conservation at species, site and landscape scales, including the impact of invasive species and pathogens, drivers of forest degradation, and the ecological basis of forest restoration and sustainable forest management. Research on agroforestry includes its role in livelihoods and mitigating deforestation and climate change.

David Hedges
Head of Housing
Woodknowledge Wales

David joined the team in 2018 with 30 years’ experience of the social housing and environmental sectors in Wales. He ran his own freelance consultancy for ten years, working mostly with housing associations. He previously worked with Community Housing Cymru, Wales & West Housing and the Prince of Wales’ Committee. He lives in Carmarthenshire in a timber frame and timber clad home he built with his partner.

Tom Henderson
Forestry and Timber Supply Chains
Woodknowledge Wales

Tom leads work on forestry and timber supply chains at Woodknowledge Wales, with a focus on how Welsh wood can support resilient local economies, better land use, and lower-carbon construction.

Tom has a background in forestry and environmental science, with research experience in life cycle assessment, ecosystem services, and spatial modelling of afforestation impacts. His recent work has explored how timber production, land-use change, environmental impacts, and ecosystem service benefits can be assessed together to support more informed decisions about where and how new productive woodland is established.

At Woodknowledge Wales, Tom works across research, stakeholder engagement, and sector development, supporting projects on timber availability, small sawmill capacity, productive forestry, local supply chains, and the role of Welsh timber in construction. He is particularly interested in how the forestry and timber sectors can be organised to deliver more value from Welsh wood while strengthening rural livelihoods and ecological resilience.

Heather Hulse
Training and Outreach Officer
Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) UK

Heather Hulse is FSC UK’s Training and Outreach Officer, with experience spanning environmental conservation and further and higher education, she now works with FSC UK to develop outreach, engagement and training programmes.

Her specialism at FSC UK is varied covering responsible timber procurement in construction, the EU deforestation regulation (EUDR), and anti-greenwashing, and she is FSC UK’s Circularity Ambassador. 

Darren Jarman
Managing Director
Lowfield Timber Frames

Darren Jarman is Managing Director of Lowfield Timber Frames and a highly respected leader in the UK timber construction sector, with more than 25 years of experience spanning design, technical development, manufacturing, and business leadership.

Beginning his career as a timber frame designer, Darren has progressed through technical and operational leadership roles to successfully lead Lowfield Timber Frames through a period of significant growth and innovation. Under his direction, the company has expanded to employ more than 150 people and achieved annual turnover exceeding £24 million, while establishing itself as a recognised leader in sustainable and high-performance timber construction.

Passionate about challenging conventional approaches, Darren has dedicated his career to developing practical construction systems that respond to evolving regulatory requirements. His expertise spans building performance, fire safety, thermal efficiency, airtightness, and environmental sustainability. He is particularly recognised for his ability to take innovative concepts from initial vision through to robust, buildable solutions that can be delivered successfully on site.

Over the past two decades, Darren has overseen the delivery of approximately 25,000 homes across more than 2,500 contracts and has played an active role in shaping industry best practice. He has contributed to government and industry working groups, providing technical insight on the future direction of housing standards and supporting the advancement of Welsh housing quality requirements.

As the construction industry faces increasingly complex fire safety and regulatory challenges, Darren brings a valuable combination of strategic leadership, technical expertise, and real-world delivery experience to discussions on preparing for both current and future requirements.

Rob Joyce
Woodland Manager and Head of Holding
Longwood Community Woodland

Robert Joyce is Woodland Manager and Head of Holding for Longwood Community Woodland, Wales’ largest community‑owned woodland. Longwood spans 324 acres of PAWS (Plantations on Ancient Woodland Site) habitat in South Ceredigion, and Rob oversees its day‑to‑day management, long‑term planning, and the overall health and resilience of the woodland.

Here at Longwood practical woodland management is combined with ecological restoration, sustainable timber production, and community engagement. A diverse mix of hardwoods and softwoods is managed, supervising all stages of processing—from selective harvesting to milling timber on the on‑site sawmill. Being able to process timber within the woodland reduces the environmental footprint and adds value to locally grown wood.

Longwood also plays an important role in supporting the local timber economy. The site provides on‑site support and facilitation for local SMEs working within the timber industry, offering space, resources, and collaboration opportunities that help small businesses grow. Through this work, they are developing a practical framework for working woodlands—demonstrating how sustainable forestry can benefit biodiversity, local livelihoods, and rural economies.

The woodland is a wildlife safe haven, supporting many protected species across a mosaic of habitats. From bats and birds of prey to invertebrates, fungi, and ancient woodland flora, Longwood provides refuge for a rich range of species. Rob leads a small, dedicated team committed to low‑impact, nature‑led management, ensuring that every intervention protects and enhances the long‑term wellbeing of the woodland and the communities connected to it.

Meena Kamath
UK Networks Lead
Built by Nature

Meena is UK Networks Lead at Built by Nature, where she connects and convenes interdisciplinary leaders across the built environment to accelerate the transition to low-carbon, regenerative construction.  Meena looks after Built by Nature’s UK strategy, amplifies knowledge and research from the network and advises the Fund team on UK grants.

Before joining Built by Nature, Meena was Head of Built Environment at The Chancery Lane Project. There, she built and convened industry communities, translated complex legal concepts into practical action, and helped embed climate-aligned approaches across established networks. She worked closely with organisations including UK Green Building Council and Better Buildings Partnership, and coordinated the Legal Working Group for the UK Net Zero Carbon Buildings Standard.

Meena’s professional background is as a commercial real estate and real estate finance lawyer, having spent more than a decade at international law firms Linklaters and DLA Piper, advising on complex development and investment projects. 

Clara Koehler
Design & Architecture
Woodknowledge Wales

Clara joined Woodknowledge Wales to familiarise herself with embodied carbon and explore new ways to become more proactive and help facilitate change within the construction industry towards better choices and design. 

She has a background in architecture and urban design with professional experience particularly in the residential sector working across a variety of scales with housing associations, councils, volume housebuilders as well as private clients. Her broad background reflects her interest in the built environment as a setting for everyday life, which has led her on a quest to find ways to challenge standard solutions and traditional ways of working in order to make that ‘everyday’ sustainable for the planet in the long term.

Seb Laan Lomas
Associate and Passivhaus Designer
Lead of Perform+

Seb is an Associate at Architype Architects and leads its consultancy arm, Perform+, holding a passion to urgently decarbonise the built environment, prioritising bio-based materials for healthy and inspiring buildings that perform for the planet and for people.

Most recently, he led an open-source publication titled Safe Schools for the Future which combines real-world data from 17 built timber-frame schools with progressive fire research to support more UK timber in UK construction.

He also contributes to various industry groups including the England Government’s Inter-departmental Timber in Construction working group, is a Board member to the Alliance for Sustainable Building Products, and the Timber Development UK’s sustainability committee and carbon sub-committee. He has contributed to peer-reviewed industry reports and publications including those on the impacts of measuring and reducing embodied carbon in construction.

Currently, he is self-building his bio-based passivhaus home with his partner Janna in Herefordshire which is an ode to local and natural materials including hemp insulation, garden-clay plaster, straw from the neighbouring farm, and local circular economy successes including windows.

Seb is qualified as an architect, a Certified Passivhaus Designer, and studied at the University of Cambridge, the Centre for Alternative Technology, and University of Westminster.

Christiane Lellig
Regenerative Development | Independent advisor
Woodknowledge Wales

Christiane Lellig focuses on societal transformation and regenerative approaches from a living systems perspective. Christiane has been working on social change programmes in Switzerland, Germany and the UK since 1999 ranging from environmental concerns to labour and social justice issues. From 2016-2020 she was responsible for the UK timber industry’s Wood for Good campaign. Her particular interests lie in questions around resilience, society in transition, land-use, forestry, biodiversity, housing and transport. Christiane holds a postgraduate degree in Social Sciences from the University of Göttingen, Germany. She is a member of the regenerative practitioners network affiliated with Regenesis Institute for Regenerative Practice.

Jasper Meade
Director, PYC Group
Board member of Woodknowledge Wales

Jasper has been in partnership with his brother, Ben Meade, since 1993, founding Pen Y Coed Construction and Insulation Ltd.

His 25 years of experience working in the sustainable building industry and specialism in timber frame systems using Warmcel cellulose fibre insulation and other blown fibre insulation products, has developed his company’s extensive knowledge in this field.  Through embedded learning processes, continual improvements on design and quality building detailing, ensure that their buildings standards and performances reach best possible values.

One of Jasper’s strengths is creating and maintaining a network of industry experts to work with. He believes his own team are vital to the business and is proud of PYC’s ‘Gold Investors’ in People Award; the incorporation of continuing training, is his companies’ key to innovation and sustainability in the industry. He regularly attends Passivhaus seminars and runs ongoing successful architect CPD seminar events around the country.

His willingness to serve on the Woodknowledge Wales board demonstrates his passion for the sustainable of the construction Industry.

Jennifer Merrison
Senior Policy Manager, Commercial & Procurement Directorate Welsh Government

Jennifer Merrison is a Senior Policy Manager in the Welsh Government’s Commercial & Procurement Directorate and a Chartered Procurement and Supply Professional (MCIPS). She has an extensive background in public procurement policy and reform, helping organisations use procurement not only to buy goods and services effectively, but also to deliver wider benefits for communities, businesses and the Welsh economy.

Jennifer works with procurement colleagues across government, the wider public sector and external stakeholders to develop policy, guidance and practical solutions that support better procurement outcomes. She is passionate about making complex legislation and policy easier to understand and apply in practice, helping organisations make confident, compliant and impactful procurement decisions.

Over her career, she has developed expertise in procurement policy, stakeholder engagement and collaborative working. She enjoys bringing people together to solve problems, share ideas and drive improvements that make a real difference to public services and the people who rely on them.

As a leader, Jennifer is committed to supporting and developing others, helping to build capability and confidence across the procurement profession. Her Chartered status reflects her dedication to high professional standards, continuous learning and best practice.

Based in North Wales, Jennifer is proud to contribute to procurement policy that supports Welsh Government priorities and helps ensure public spending delivers maximum value and positive outcomes for Wales.

Outside work, Jennifer enjoys spending time dog training, being around horses and exploring new places through travel.

Dr Paul Newman
Technical Director
Structural Timber Association (STA)

Paul has recently joined the Board of the STA at a critical time for the sector where there is a clear opportunity for growth in the use of timber-based methods of construction with strong sustainability credentials but also significant technical challenges.

Paul has 30 years’ experience within the timber and construction industries following time as a lecturer at London Guildhall University. Paul has also held senior roles at Kingspan Group plc leading pioneering projects that delivered high performance homes at scale.

Phil O’Leary
Director
Filros Timber Consultancy

Phil is Director of Filros Timber Consultancy which provides specialist independent consultancy across the timber sector. Previously he was head of Timber Consultancy at BM TRADA, the technical authority behind TRADA. With over 30 years of post-qualifying experience working with timber across design, specification, structural grading and in-service performance, Phil has published in local and international journals about wood science.

Phil’s background combines formal wood science expertise, decades of applied industry experience, leadership in standards and organisations and specialises in:

1. condition surveys of historic buildings, performance assessments and determining the structural strength of timber in many situations
2. timber quality, performance characteristics, deterioration and preservation
3. serving as an expert witness in establishing the causes of timber failures
4. developing and presenting highly regarded topical and bespoke training courses on a range of timber subjects.

Phil is chairman of BSI’s Wood Preservation Committee and a member of the Wood Protection Association’s Technical, Environmental and Regulatory Affairs Committee. He is also Chair of the Woodknowledge Wales Board.

John Orchard
Chief Executive
Woodland Heritage

John joined Woodland Heritage in the spring of 2023. He brings a passion for the environment and furniture making alongside years of brand development and leadership experience with charities.

For John, heritage is all about what we are passing on to future generations.

Dr Andy Pitman MSc, BSc, CTLHE, Fellow IOM3
Principal Timber Consultant
Filros Timber Consultancy

Wood scientist Andy Pitman specialises in understanding the performance of wood in service. He holds a Masters in Forest Industries Technology and completed his PhD with the Mary Rose Trust investigating the conservation archaeological timbers.

A Fellow of the IOM3 and past Chairman of the Wood Technology Society, Andy worked with BM TRADA in research, development and testing of timber products including modified woods and is author of TRADA’s Wood Information Sheet on Modified Wood. He is a member of the Wood Protection Association’s Technical Committee and was a member of the British Standards Committee dealing with British and European standards relating to wood protection.

Andy has worked across the supply chain, delivering CPD training to architects and engineers on behalf of the RIBA, Wood for Good and TRADA. Prior to working with Filros Timber Consultancy, he worked in R&D for a start-up LIGNIA for four years developing a resin impregnated modified timber which has provided experience in working with resin and adhesive providers and laminators in the UK and Europe, working with investors and commissioning testing services from Europe and North America.

Andy is trained to visually strength grade softwoods and hardwoods and CQI IRCA ISO 9001:2015, Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), and PEFC Lead Auditor. He also routinely undertakes visual inspections of the quality of timber products for UK timber merchants.

Dr Dan Ridley-Ellis
Head, Centre Wood Science and Technology
Edinburgh Napier University

Dan Ridley-Ellis leads research in Wood Science and Technology at Edinburgh Napier University. He is one of the UK’s technical experts on guessing the strength of wood and can talk for hours on the topic – which he frequently does if nobody stops him.

His main area of research is understanding the properties of wood, and how they are influenced by tree growth, forest management, and climate. He represents the UK at European Standards Committees for grading of construction timber, and the majority of structural sawn timber produced in the UK is now graded with settings he developed. He is convenor of CEN TC124 WG2 TG1, which is the group of strength grading experts that approves new machine grading settings in Europe and visual grading assignments for EN1912. He has also been working on how the next generation of standards can support tree species diversification and reuse of structural timber.

Rupert Scott MIFireE
Director and General Secretary
FTSG (trade body for UK fire test laboratories)

Rupert’s career has involved timber, fire or both for over 35 years.  He spent a large proportion of this running the marketing and general management of TRADA.  Other roles have given him experience in quality management, product development, production management, fire testing and consultancy, product certification and passive fire safety surveys of historic buildings.

He is launching a suite of new training courses to help construction product manufacturers navigate and prepare for the heightened regime that is coming in the wake of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry.  These courses will be offered through Woodknowledge Wales.

Luca Silipo
Finisterre Solutions

After graduating in international relations with a major in international economics and politics, Luca began his banking career, working for central and investment banks as an economist and chief economist in Rome, Milan, London, New York, Paris, and Hong Kong. After spending more than fifteen years in investment banking, he transitioned to the real sector and established and managed a strategic research department focusing on economics, geopolitics, and sustainability for GEODIS, a major provider of supply chain services.

More recently, as the world that enabled globalisation unravels, Luca has established his own consulting business, Finisterre Solutions. This venture continues to support corporations with their needs in sustainability, economic analysis, geopolitics, risk assessment, and management, particularly concerning supply chains, foresight, and strategy.

With a passion for music, Luca harbours a strong sense of responsibility to assist corporations in producing value that extends beyond financial results: social welfare, social equality, and sustainability, ensuring that progress in these domains supports each other rather than being seen as antagonistic.

Robert South FICFor MArborA
Managing Director
Bronwin & Abbey Ltd

Robert South is the Managing Director of Bronwin & Abbey Ltd, a specialist forestry and woodland management company operating across England and Wales as part of the Velcourt Group, working primarily across traditional landed estates. With extensive experience in forestry operations, Robert leads the strategic direction, operational delivery and business development of the business, overseeing a diverse portfolio that includes woodland creation, timber harvesting and estate management.

Robert is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Foresters, the current Chair of Confor Wales Committee and  the institutes representative on the UK Woodland Carbon Code advisory board.

He has played a central role in delivering large scale and complex woodland creation schemes, working closely with landowners, farms, estates and public bodies to achieve long term environmental and commercial objectives of their clients. 

Known for his practical approach and strong leadership, Robert prioritises commerciality,  health and safety, operational efficiency and sustainability, ensuring full alignment with UK forestry standards. He is actively engaged in wider industry initiatives, contributing to sector development and advocacy across the UK, with a particular focus on strengthening the role of forestry within rural economies and government policy. 

Dr Morwenna Spear
Research Fellow, BioComposites Centre
University of Wales, Bangor

Morwenna Spear trained in Forestry and Forest Products, then strengthened her interest in materials science by completing a PhD on natural fibre composites. She has maintained a strong interest in timber species, wood properties and the many engineered products formed from wood through her employment at the BioComposites Centre in Bangor University. The timber and bio-based materials industries have undergone enormous growth in interest, as the public seek sustainable, renewable and bio-based products. Her work has included value adding for less known species, wood modification, scale up of emerging technologies and fundamental investigations of moisture dynamics and viscoelasticity.

Morwenna is Chair of the Wood Technology Group of the IOM3 and she contributes wood science to the University taught courses to inspire the next generation of foresters and wood processors.

Emma Taylor
Architect and Research Associate
University of Bath

Emma Taylor is an architect and Research Associate at the University of Bath. After spending much of her career in architectural practice, she joined academia in 2024 to work on the Transforming Housing and Homes for Future Generations research project.

This project collaborates with residents, local authorities, and community partners to co-design the transformation of council-built housing dating from the 1920s to the 1940s.  As part of the project, demonstration homes have been established in Bristol and Swansea to investigate place-based, community-led approaches to housing retrofit. The project also places a strong emphasis on the use of bio-based materials, with a range of bio-based retrofit solutions being implemented and evaluated within these demonstration homes.

Her interest in environmental sustainability and low-carbon design, led to her qualifying in 2019 as a Passivhaus Designer and in 2024 as a Retrofit Coordinator.

Louise Townsend
Business Resilience & Social Value | Independent advisor
Board member of Woodknowledge Wales

Louise Townsend is a leading figure in the sustainability and social value sectors, with a proven track record of shaping and embedding social value frameworks across the UK construction industry. Since 2014, she led the development and implementation of Morgan Sindall Group’s Social Value (SV) framework. Her work will be instrumental in aligning the company’s activities with broader sustainability goals, driving positive social and environmental impacts within communities.

As a member of the Just Transition working group for HM Treasury’s Transition Plan Taskforce, Louise played a key role in advising on the government’s national disclosure framework. Her work ensures that the transition to a low-carbon economy prioritises social and economic well-being, aiming to establish a global gold standard in sustainability reporting.

Louise’s leadership has been widely recognised within the industry. In 2020, she was awarded the Social Value Individual Leadership Award, acknowledging her contributions to the field. She also co-created the National TOMs (Themes, Outcomes, Measures) in collaboration with central government, a pivotal tool in measuring and reporting social value in public procurement, which at the time when it was launched helped public and private sector better understand how social value and sustainability could be represented in public procurements.

Louise’s career is defined by her commitment to integrating sustainability, diversity, and community engagement into business practices, ensuring that social value remains at the core of organisational growth and industry transformation.

Dr Diana Waldron
Head of Built Environment
Woodknowledge Wales

Diana is focused on championing the use of timber, reclaimed building materials and other bio-based materials in constructions. She is also an accredited Passivhaus Designer and trained on the use of thermography and other techniques to assess building performance. An architectural engineer by training and early career, Diana completed her MSc on Environmental Design of Buildings, before completing her PhD where her doctoral research was an active part of the “Plants & Architecture” workpackage for the National Research Network for Low Carbon, Energy and Environment.

Joe Jack Williams
Head of Regenerative Strategy
Bywater

Joe Jack is the Head of Regenerative Strategy at Bywater, embedding his years of cross-discipline experience directly into our projects and business. He is coordinating Bywater’s core response to the climate crisis and approach to ESG.

Prior to joining Bywater, Joe Jack was a partner at leading architectural practice Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios, where he led on research and sustainability, working across projects to drive forward innovation and minimise their impacts on the planet.

He has been a key part of many pioneering sustainability initiatives, including LETI, UK Net Zero Carbon Building Standard and Architects Declare, as well as working closely with industry organisations including CIBSE, RIBA, IStructE, and RICS. He recently co-edited the RIBA book, Materials: An Environmental Primer, reconnecting people with the common materials found in construction.

Crawford Wright
Chief Architect and Technical Lead on Sustainability
Department for Education

Crawford is an Architect and Chartered Environmentalist and has worked in public procurement for over 30 years with 20 years on education buildings.

As the Department for Education’s Chief Architect and Technical Lead on Sustainability, Crawford has led the development of and launch in 2026 of new school and college design and construction standards. These build upon the 2021 Net Zero construction standards (the first across UK government) by rebalancing nature and buildings and taking a holistic whole environment approach to energy, net zero and embodied carbon. Crawford now leads the charge to ensure they are fully embedded and delivered in the Department including through major programmes and strategy.

Key projects over the last 5 years have been the world’s first Biophilic School; St Marys Primary in Derby, three new prototype education buildings built from UK timber and the Gen Zero timber classroom shown at COP26 and the Resilient Schools Pilot programme for four primary schools in Bradford.

Crawford works to keep sustainability at the forefront of policy design and programme implementation and will be programme director for a new £35m research and development project to adapt schools to meet challenging climate risks starting in autumn 2026.

Crawford was shortlisted for Environmental Professional of the Year in 2026 by the Society for the Environment.