Spotlight: Thea

Since joining Carbon.Climate.Certified in October 2025, Thea has become an invaluable member of our team. Her passion for sustainable design, collaborative approach and broad technical expertise have made a significant impact across a range of our services, from Whole Life Carbon and BREEAM Certification to Circular Economy and our recently launched Social Impact offering.

We caught up with Thea to learn more about what inspires her, her journey into sustainability, and her thoughts on the future of the built environment.

Can you tell us a bit about your role and what you enjoy most about it?

I am a Sustainability Consultant at Certified and I work across many of the services that we offer including Social Impact, Whole Life Carbon, Circular Economy, Responsible Material & Procurement Strategy and BREEAM Certification. What I enjoy most is how interconnected these different aspects of sustainability really are, an idea that comes up while working on one service will often spark a new way of thinking about another. I find it really rewarding connecting various workflows in order to contribute positively to our built environment, rather than treating each service as something separate.

What first got you interested in sustainability, and what made you decide to work in this field?

I was first introduced to sustainable architecture during my undergraduate degree, by my technical tutor, and it completely changed the way I looked at buildings. From then on I became increasingly interested in materiality, alternative low carbon construction methods and climate-responsive design. I chose to take that interest further with a Masters in Sustainable Architecture at the Centre for Alternative Technology, where I was able to deepen my knowledge in a much more focused way. It was once I properly understood the scale of the statistics behind our industry's environmental impact, and how urgently things need to change, that I knew there was no other field I would rather work in.

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No single person or discipline can deliver a genuinely sustainable project on their own and it takes architects, engineers, clients, contractors and consultants all pulling in the same direction, sharing knowledge and holding each other accountable, for real progress to happen

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Since starting out, what's one lesson or insight from the industry that's really stuck with you?

One lesson I've learned since starting out is that sustainability really does have to be a team effort. No single person or discipline can deliver a genuinely sustainable project on their own, and it takes architects, engineers, clients, contractors and consultants all pulling in the same direction, sharing knowledge and holding each other accountable, for real progress to happen.

Looking ahead, what do you think are the biggest opportunities and challenges for sustainability over the next ten years?

I think one of the biggest opportunities is integrating all the dimensions of sustainability, environmental, social, economic and cultural, to create genuinely holistic projects that can withstand the changes we know are coming over the next decade and beyond. Alongside that, there's a huge opportunity in the exploration of low carbon materials as viable, scalable options for construction. Getting these materials from innovation to mainstream use at the pace and scale needed to meet carbon targets will be one of the defining challenges of the next ten years, but also one of the most exciting things to be part of.

Outside of work, what do you like to get up to?

Outside of work you'll usually find me running (I'm hoping to take on a marathon at some point soon!), heading to music festivals and getting outdoors with friends and family. Where I can, I also volunteer on sustainable builds, which gives me the chance to get hands-on with natural materials rather than just thinking about them on paper.

Have you set any professional goals for the year, or is there anything exciting coming up you'd like to share?

Two months ago we launched Social Impact by Certified, and it's been great developing this service with the team to help clients measure the social dimension of their projects. It's been especially rewarding to build social impact strategies with clients that explore early integration of local community groups and organisations into large scale developments. Putting people at the heart of sustainability like this is something I believe is key to genuinely long-term, successful projects, and I'm looking forward to growing this service further over the coming year.