Gemma McKenzie-Rodgers

Hello.

When I started out in my career, Sustainability was very much seen as the fluffy, tree-hugging, second-fiddle cousin to Quality and Health & Safety. A tick-box, nice-to-have, “added-value” piece, but not the priority. 20+ years later spent engaging, educating, justifying, and arguing the cause, across the board from supply chain to client project management, I am so proud of how much the built environment industry has changed, and the part I have played.

I have had the privilege of working on projects from £500k-£500m, across the UK Europe and Asia. When it’s done right, and embedded early, proper considerationof environmental and social governance has the most amazing outcomes for clients, communities and the environment.

I have always been passionate about the world we live in (Geography field trips for the win), and protecting (and improving) what we have for futuregenerations. I love seeing that passion passed on to my son and how he values and continues to be amazed by the world around him, from the mini-beasts we find on our allotment, to fossil-hunting on the Jurassic Coast, picking uplitter in our local parks, and always wanting to “save that thing to make something at home”. My little junk-modelling recycler is doing his own bit for circular economy, even if it is filling my house with rubbish.

Writing these bio’s feels like the awful task of putting together an online dating profile. I have a lot of interests and passions. Art, theatre, music, comedy, swimming, fighting the never-ending fight against the bindweed on my allotment, and each year being annoyed by the pigeons who get to my broccolis. Trying to fit them in around a full-time job and a full-time 5yo (going on teenager)menace is another thing. If I’m lucky I’ll get to retire and catch up then.

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