Heading up a talented team responsible for Mace's stories from across the continent.

Leading marketing and communications activity for Mace's global infrastrcture portfolio.

Leading internal and external communications for the HS2 Euston Station Integrated Project Team, consisting of Mace Dragados JV, HS2, and the Station Design Services Contractor (WSP and Arup).

I left the Copper as an account director, responsible for handling the communications and stakeholder engagement for portfolio of planning and construction projects.

While working at communications agency, Copper, I led the communications and engagement for the HS2 Curzon Street Station enabling works in Birmingham city centre. To execute my strategy effectively, I operated as an embedded consultant, working as part of a joint venture between leading construction and infrastructure companies, Laing O’Rourke and J. Murphy & Sons. With HS2 being the largest infrastructure project in Europe, stakeholder disruption across the route was inevitable. I worked to communicate with and support those living and working near to the station site, while also telling the wider benefits of high speed rail in order to promote HS2 as the positive project it is, and subsequently support client objectives. I maintained close lines of communication with the local authority to achieve political buy-in and established strong relationships with key council officers. In turn, this supported communications with the local community, which recognised the value of such a collaborative approach. To ensure my messaging reached the widest possible, and sometimes most relevant, audience, I worked closely with senior communications colleagues at HS2 to build media relationships and deliver timely media outputs. I’m developed a tailored communications programme for the substantial archaeological work and expected findings at the Curzon Street Station site, devising ways to open up Birmingham’s history and make it readily accessible to members of the public through open events and educational initiatives. I also worked with stakeholders from the most affected part of the city, Digbeth, to involve them in a community-led art project to help promote the area as Birmingham’s creative quarter.

In this role, I was responsible for establishing a new, value-driven, national approach to stakeholder communications and engagement. I identified key opportunities and challenges to the NGP business plan across the country, and devised a communications and engagement strategy which capitalised on and addressed them, respectively. The approach achieved a balance between supporting commercial aims and ensuring National Grid (as a wider business) maintained its positive public reputation. I engaged and worked with influential stakeholder organisations such as the Confederation for British Industry, Greater London Authority, Department for Communities and Local Government and Department for Culture Media and Sport in order to obtain buy-in for NGP’s business model. Key messages, legitimised through the support of key stakeholders, were proactively shared through media releases developed in collaboration with National Grid’s press team.