Meet the team

The Concrete Centre is staffed with a team of qualified professionals with backgrounds in concrete construction, engineering, architecture and sustainability. This team is strongly focused on the continued development of concrete and masonry through design inspiration and construction efficiency, research strategy, education and training, new product and process innovation and the achievement of best performance of concrete in practice.

Management  

Claire Ackerman, Executive Director, Concrete

Claire is responsible for The Concrete Centre including all aspects of marketing, communications and stakeholder engagement. With experience gained in marketing and business management in a variety of industries, Claire brings business strategy, project management and a passion for projects that inspire behavioural change, particularly in response to sustainability. 

Beyond MPA and The Concrete Centre, Claire is also a member of The Concrete Society Council, the Communications and Outreach Working Group of the Global Cement and Concrete Association and was a contributing author to the Green Construction Board’s Low Carbon Concrete Routemap.

Technical 

 

Jenny Burridge, Director, Structural Design

Jenny is a chartered civil and structural engineer. Prior to joining The Concrete Centre Jenny worked for several consulting engineers including Aecom and Arup, where she designed several award winning buildings. 

Jenny chairs the BSI strategic committee on Engineering Design and Construction and sits on the Construction and Built Environment Sector Policy and Strategy Committee. She is on the council of Construct and chairs the Post-tensioning Association as well as being on the council of the Institution of Structural Engineers.

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Tony Jones, Technical Director

Tony is a Structural Engineer with over 30 years of experience in design, research and investigation of concrete structures. He provides guidance on all aspects of structural concrete design including performance in fire.

Tony has been involved with the production of numerous industry guides and has been involved with the development of concrete structural codes for over 20 years. He is currently the UK Head of Delegation on the European design committee which is responsible for Eurocode 2, Design of Concrete Structures, including the fire part.

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Emily Halliwell, Senior Structural Engineer

Emily's role includes work on the development of Eurocode 2 and providing technical guidance to designers. Prior to joining The Concrete Centre, she worked on a wide range of challenging engineering schemes, including stations, stadia and commercial buildings. She is a Chartered Member of the IStructE and ICE.

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Elaine Toogood, Director, Architecture and Sustainable Design

Elaine provides architectural advice and technical guidance primarily related to the specification, design and use of concrete for sustainable construction. She is joint chair for the UK concrete industry’s circular economy task group, and special advisor to UK Concrete. Elaine has over 25 years experience as a qualified architect, mostly within private practice.

Elaine regularly contributes to working groups related to environmental sustainability, including the DEFRA Property Level Flood Resilience round table; BSI committee revising BS 85500 – Flood resistant and resilient construction – Guide to improving the flood performance of buildings; The London Climate Change Partnership; LETI Circular Economy and Embodied carbon work streams; RIBA Sustainable Futures group and the UKGBC Net Zero route map. 

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Hannah Fothergill-Wilson, Architect

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Tom De Saulles, Special Advisor, Building Physics

Tom has a degree in environmental engineering and specialises in numerous aspects of building energy and carbon performance, including passive design, thermal mass and concrete carbonation. Tom was elected a member of The Institution of Mechanical Engineers in 1995 and The Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers in the following year.

Tom has produced various guidance documents, covering topics such as the use of thermal mass in building design, Part L1A of the Building Regulations, and the whole-life CO2 performance of concrete buildings. Tom has also been responsible for commissioning and overseeing research examining the life cycle carbon performance of concrete buildings.

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Dr Noushin Khosravi, Sustainable Construction Manager

Noushin is a civil engineer and has an MSc and PhD in the concrete technology field. She is a Chartered Engineer with ICT and was previously at Mott MacDonald working on Metro and Civils projects. She is an expert in concrete durability design, concrete assessment and repair, concrete construction systems, and concrete sustainable use. She is experienced in delivery of multidisciplinary design packages and complex research programs. 

Noushin is active in various committees including the UK concrete industry’s low carbon concrete task group, Green Construction Board Low Carbon Concrete Group (LCCG), and GCBIWG Pas 2080. 

Marketing 

Jenny Sheerin, Director, Marketing Communications

Jenny has responsibility for delivering the marketing and communications strategy for The Concrete Centre.

With experience derived from a wide range of marketing positions held, Jenny is passionate about delivering quality guidance for the construction industry for a variety of marketing channels.

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Kim Hawksworth, Digital Marketing Manager 

Kim has over 18 years of experience working in marketing and digital communications. Within her role at The Concrete Centre, she owns the company's social media strategy, is responsible for the development and delivery of the digital marketing communications plan, and creates content for a variety of channels.

Kim has a BA in Communications Management and a Professional Postgraduate Diploma in marketing communications through the CIM.