I studied Architecture at the Mackintosh School of Architecture, Glasgow School of Art and at the Ecole Spéciale in Paris. I am a natural materials designer and builder, working with community groups, students and professionals on practical solutions to the biodiversity and climate challenges we face. I have been teaching sustainable architecture and nature-based built environments, since 2001, first at the CAT Graduate School of the Environment, and since 2013 at The Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL. 

I lead the Y1 Architecture BSc Environmental Design module, teach on the Making Cities module, and lead the Y2/3 Architectural & Interdisciplinary Studies BSc module Greening Cities, also available as an elective across UCL, giving lectures and workshops in other UCL departments. I work closely with UCL’s Wild Bloomsbury Living Lab, to deliver nature-based solutions on campus. 

Collaborative projects include EPSRC IAA-funded research on carbon-neutral circular economy green roof retrofit, and new market models to accelerate delivery, and developing a UCL-wide Green Infrastructure Network to co-ordinate work on nature-based solutions to urban climate adaptation.

I have co-organised conferences, including the biannual European Urban Green Infrastructure Conferences (EUGIC) series (2015 Vienna, 2017 Budapest, 2019 London) with the EU Commission. 

Publications include:

Nature-based solutions and buildings – the power of surfaces to adapt to climate change and to deliver biodiversity, Chapter 10 in Nature-Based Solutions to Climate Change Adaptation in Urban Areas (co-author, Springer, 2016).

UK Green Roof Market Reports, Dusty Gedge (editor, 2018 and 2019)

UCL’s Living Landscape Strategy for UCL East (co-ordinator and editor, 2018)

Vienna’s Urban Heat Island Strategy (translator and editor, 2019)

10 years of policy for Living Roofs and Walls in London, Gary Grant and Dusty Gedge for the GLA (editor, 2019)

I am an active member of A!CAN the Architects Climate Action Network, mentored students to set up the Bartlett School of Architecture Society in 2020 and B!CAN, supported BSA to declare a climate and ecological emergency in 2019.