Andrew Simmonds
CEO
Andy is the Chief Executive Officer, responsible for collaboratively developing AECB vision & strategy, providing research & knowledge leadership & external liaison.
He is also an architectural designer and builder and a partner in Simmonds.Mills, a practice which has specialised in ecological design since 1991.
Sally Hall
Finance & Compliance Manager
Sally is the co-founder of the AECB. She manages the finance aspects for the AECB and deals with any legal issues. Her expertise is in finance, personnel and administration processes
Samantha Musty
Operations & Commercial Officer
Sam manages the website, provides administration support for the team and manages the membership systems. She has previously worked in the retail and logistics sectors as a data analyst.
Trish Andrews
Training Manager
As the AECB's CarbonLite Training Manager, Trish is responsible for managing the AECB's suite of training offerings. Her role entails overview of course delivery and continuing to develop new AECB CarbonLite training courses around Retrofit, the AECB Building Standards and our PHribbon software. These courses are a crucial part in upskilling and training the construction sector towards net zero targets. As an Architect, she believes we all have a role to play and a personal agency to move away from destructive construction practices towards more regenerative methods, and this includes retrofitting at scale and the uptake of robust low energy building and retrofit standards.
Sarah Everitt
Training Administrator
Sarah provides support to the AECB Training Centre and its students and has an NVQ Level 4 in Internal Quality Assurance. She enjoys taking part in environmental voluntary work and various short courses in sustainable building.
Tim Martel
Program Manager
Tim is the Program Manager for the AECB Standards and Certification Scheme, an Expert Advisor for the AECB Retrofit course and also supports the PHribbon software. Originally an Architectural Technologist, Tim has also been a Passivhaus Designer since 2012.
Bev Workman
Group Administrator
Bev is the administrator for the whole of the AECB, supporting all departments with the day to day running of the group.
Michelle Youngs
Events & Marketing
Michelle is the Events & Marketing Officer and looks after the AECB's social media, webinars, newsletter and magazine. Connecting with members, local groups and beyond in a variety of ways to share the message of the AECB
Gary Wilburn
Chair
Nidhi Shah
Vice Chair
Nidhi is a Passivhaus enthusiast with commitment to sustainable and low energy buildings. Her major concern is the health and wellbeing of building occupants. She has both academic and industry experience working in multiple construction sectors including commercial, education and residential, where she has completed low energy Passivhaus Standard housing. She currently works at D5 architects and promotes better building standards through her work. In her spare time she enjoys yoga, baking and painting with her daughter and is also a keen cyclist.
Chris Herring
Secretary
Chris has been serving on the Board (previously steering committee) since 1995, and was chair of the AECB for 8 years until stepping down in 2013. Chris is a founder director of Environmental Construction Products Ltd, which operates the Green Building Store and Green Building Company. His key role is in steering the future direction of the company, its products and activitites. The company decided some years ago to make Passivhaus a key focus and it is now acknowledged as an important and influential SME in the Passivhaus field. The company built the flagship Denby Dale Passivhaus and continues to undertake ground breaking Passivhaus construction projects. Alongside this it has developed key expertise and product ranges in Passivhaus fenestration and ventilation. Chris was part of a small core AECB team which instigated and developed the UK Passivhaus Trust. He has been chair of the Trust since its foundation. He also plays a role within the international Passivhaus community and is currently chair of the International Passivhaus Affiliates Council. Chris has been passionate about environmental issues since his teens – a passion he is proud to have inherited from his father. His career path has been varied, from communard, social worker, special needs teacher and childcare to joiner, gas installer and small builder and now approaching 20 years in his current role.
Mischa Hewitt
Treasurer
Mischa Hewitt is a sustainability consultant and project manager. He has an MSc Architecture: Advanced Energy & Environment Studies from the Centre of Alternative Technology / University of East London and is also a Certified Passivhaus Designer. He is the co-author of ‘Earthships: Building a zero carbon future’ published by IHS Press and is a director of The Low Carbon Trust, where he project managed the award winning Earthship Brighton project. Mischa also runs the sustainable building company Earthwise Construction based in Sussex, and in recent years has organised many environmental events, including the ‘Eco Open Houses’ weekends in Brighton and several conferences. In his spare time Mischa plays the piano and composes classical music. Mischa is also very active in the Brighton (South East) Group.
Julia Bennett
AECB Trustee
Julia Bennett is a UK registered architect and Certified Passivhaus Designer. She has a Masters in Energy Efficient Building and is based in the Cotswolds. She is a long-standing AECB member and local group coordinator, with a passion for sustainable design, stakeholder involvement and collaborative working to achieve integrated positive communities and developments. In the 90s Julia was a Trustee of the Association for Technical Aid Centres, and the Axiom Community Arts Project in Cheltenham, and Sustainable Solutions coordinator for Stroud Community Planning Conference and for the community-led Local Agenda 21 initiative in Gloucestershire, Vision 21. She has used ‘whole system’ facilitation and consensus-building techniques and workshops to bring large and small groups of diverse stakeholders to work and engage together on highly complex issues and projects. Her work has included roles for large multi-disciplinary practice Atkins, architectural coop Quattro Design Architects, small private practice Tyack Architects, and she is developing a passivhaus and low energy consultancy in close collaboration with Cotswold Green Energy on projects such as the first PH certified house in England. Other work has included primary and special schools for Gloucestershire and Oxfordshire, community, arts and environmental education buildings, mediaeval timber-framed structures and historic stone buildings, private houses and developer housing. She also volunteered in Ladakh in the Himalayas on the acclaimed Arup-designed sustainable school project, Druk Padma Karpo School. Her passion for the supportive learning network that is the special core of the AECB extends in challenging times to stand to be a Trustee to contribute to continued collaboration and capacity-building within the membership at all levels, from one-to-one connections to strategic engagement with others.
Peter Wilkinson
AECB Trustee
Peter Wilkinson is an architectural technologist and partner in architectural practice EcoDesign, and managing director of both Dales Contracts Ltd and Dales Renewables Ltd. Peter studied at Leeds College of Building and Leeds School of Architecture, gaining an HNC in architecture, and is a member of the Chartered Institute of Architectural Technologists. He has subsequently qualified as a planning supervisor and a bench joiner, applying his practical knowledge and skills to the businesses. Peter became a Passivhaus designer in 2009 and helped set up the Passivhaus Trust later that year and is an AECB representative on the board of the Trust. He was Treasurer of the AECB for several years before becoming its Chair in 2015.
Peter Wilshaw
AECB Trustee
Peter spent his first 20 years as a civil engineer, specialising in large-scale water treatment and land reclamation. He has always been interested in environmental issues and in the early nineties founded the environmental building company Greenbuilt. With his then work partner Chris Coates they explored Segal style buildings at the Centre for Alternative Technology, and traditional constructions, resulting in their first major project. This was a cruck frame barn in green oak which became a core element of Lanternhouse, a RIBA award-winning artists’ project base and training centre in Cumbria. As well as construction projects with Greenbuilt, Peter works with arts companies, is the former chair of the trustees of a local social enterprise, Community Works, is a member of Sustainable Staffordshire and a member of Staffordshire Business and Environment Network.
Mark Siddall
AECB Trustee
Mark has been a member of the AECB since late 2006. He has also been a speaker at a number of AECB Conferences, a technical adviser to the AECB CarbonLite programme and a regular contributor to both Green Building and PH+ magazines. As an architect with a no-nonsense evidence-based approach to design he has a deep-seated interest in ecologically aware construction. Mark is one of the pioneers that introduced the Passivhaus standard to the UK. In addition to being an architect and energy consultant Mark is an educator and industry transformer. He has helped to co-author the Certified Passivhaus Designer course for the AECB’s CarbonLite Programme, led masterclasses for the Passivhaus Trust, delivered CEPH training at the University of Strathclyde and, between 2011 and 2014, was a part-time lecturer at Northumbria University. He has also contributed to technical papers for the UK’s Passivhaus Trust including the internationally recognised, ‘What it means to claim the Passivhaus standard in the UK.’
Adam Harper
AECB Trustee
Anna Carton
AECB Trustee
Jarek Gasiorek
AECB Trustee
Kit Knowles
AECB Trustee