Speakers

Charlotte is an accomplished ecologist, currently working at a principal level in the Balfour Beatty Vinci team.  

After completing a BSc Geography degree Charlotte continued her studies to obtain an MSc Environmental Bioscience in a Changing Climate before securing her first job as a Sustainability Consultant. In this role she advised clients and completed BREEAM assessments for a wide range of projects. Charlotte was one of the advisors on the BRE’S ecology framework which informed the newer versions of the scheme. Whilst working full time Charlotte volunteered on evenings and early mornings to carry out bat and great crested newt surveys with local ecological consultancies. Once proficient in this and ecology report writing she started the ecological consultancy within the company she worked for. After this was set up and running successfully Charlotte was offered a role as a senior ecologist at a  landscape firm, where she worked to bring the ecology in house to the company with the support of a new principal ecologist. Charlotte has worked in a number of companies which varied in size as well as freelance, and this has been reflected in the projects she has worked on, from home owners wanting to re-roof their properties all the way up to the design, and construction of HS2.  

After establishing herself in a role in ecology and with the proposed changes to wildlife legislation as part of Brexit, she decided to diversify her career and go back to university to study MA Landscape Architecture, applying real life scenarios based on experience and knowledge she had gained in the sector to the modules assigned. Charlotte’s thesis focussed on theme park design and how a circular economy and other sustainability principles could be incorporated and as a secondary impact; provide habitats for increases in biodiversity.