Our highly skilled and dedicated team works across the wider South West, offering practical support, raising awareness of local energy schemes, attracting investment, and developing innovative and impactful renewable energy projects.
Want to chat to one of our team? Get in touch to find out how we can help to deliver your net zero agenda – select your area of interest from the list provided and complete the form.
Programme
David Lewis
Programme Manager
David has recently been appointed to the role of Programme Manager. Prior to his appointment he was the Hub's Senior Project Manager and Manager of the Project Development Team. David is passionate about the delivery of low carbon projects and has over twelve years’ experience specialising in heat related technologies. David brings considerable expertise in the areas of skills, green finance, and the self-funded retrofit market to his new role.
Kathryn Firth
Programme Support Officer
Kathryn provides support across the Hub's programmes to coordinate knowledge sharing, monitoring, reporting and governance functions. Kathryn has five years' experience in the environmental sector, including most recently providing project management support to a variety of protected species, wildlife licensing and nature recovery projects at Natural England. Previously, she worked as an environmental consultant, primarily supporting local authorities to decarbonise their estates and develop pathways to net zero emissions.
Project Development Team
John Allen
Senior Project Manager
John is managing the Project Development Team in the interim while a recruitment process for the role is underway. John is the Hub's Senior Project Manager.
Chloe Brazier-Sant
Project Manager, West of England Area
Chloe supports the delivery of energy generation projects across the West of England Mayoral Combined Authority area, covering Bristol, Bath & North East Somerset and South Gloucestershire. Chloe has diverse project management experience from working across two local authorities and within ethical banking. She has a Master’s in Environmental Governance and a passion for sustainability,
Mark Burton
Project Manager, Devon and Somerset
Mark is Project Manager for Devon and Somerset, working with public sector organisations to deliver projects across the area. He previously worked at Devon County Council where his focus was on financing of net zero projects. Previous experience includes influencing corporate climate change commitments, community-owned social enterprises, and running canoe trips on the beautiful River Dart!
Linda Irwin
Project Manager, Somerset and Gloucestershire
Linda joined the Hub in 2021 bringing a wide range of skills from her diverse experiences in civil engineering and project management. She is the Hub lead for transport and is always on the lookout for good ideas. Linda provides local capacity support for the Somerset and Gloucestershire areas, helping to deliver net zero projects in these areas.
Sam Moore
Project Manager, Swindon and Wiltshire
Sam joined the Hub in 2021. Previous experience includes careers in investment management, energy efficiency and heat networks. He represents the South West in the Net Zero Hubs’ Green Finance Working Group, incentivising investment and opportunities for collaboration. Sam holds qualifications in finance, Heating Design and Hydronics for Air Source Heat Pumps.
Smaranda Sandu
Project Manager
Sma has rejoined the South West Net Zero Hub as Project Manager. Her previous work at the Hub focused on the delivery of community energy funding, before moving into the private sector, where she managed early-stage offshore wind development projects and led multidisciplinary teams on environmental and infrastructure initiatives. Smaranda brings extensive experience in stakeholder engagement, project delivery, and environmental assessment to help accelerate the region’s transition to Net Zero.
Seb Hockridge
Project Manager, Dorset and Hampshire
Seb supports the delivery of public sector generation projects in Dorset and Hampshire. He previously worked at the West of England Combined Authority as a Low Carbon Technical Advisor, delivering energy audits and managing low-carbon technology grant investment for SMEs and charities. Seb has also worked on renewable energy and built environment planning projects as a Climate Change Consultant.
Sam Porter
Junior Project Manager
Sam re-joined the Hub in December 2025 as a Junior Project Manager. He is working with local authorities to deliver projects in Devon and Cornwall and across the Project Development Team on reporting processes. Sam has a range of experience in delivering projects in the public sector, including the LEAD energy advice programme while previously working at the Hub.
Housing Retrofit
Joanne Wright
Team Manager, Housing Retrofit
Joanne is a passionate Retrofit manager with a diverse background in Project Management which includes Mining, Chemical Engineering and Roads. She is a skilled qualified Retrofit Project Manager with over 7000 homes delivered.
Fazil Chudry
Project Manager, Housing Retrofit
Fazil is a Project Manager for the Housing Retrofit team. With an academic background in Architectural Engineering and previous experience working as a Retrofit Assessor, and VAT Compliance Officer, his role is to assist the team in a technical capacity to help deliver impactful retrofit projects.
Joel Templeton
FINANCIAL PROJECT Manager, HOUSING RETROFIT
Joel coordinates financial processes for housing retrofit projects, alongside the associated governance, communication and reporting requirements. His background is in the financial coordination of academic research grants at the University of Bristol and Client and Carer Finance for local authorities.
Jess Scragg
Project Manager, Housing Retrofit
Jess is a Project Manager in the Housing Retrofit team, working with our consortium of partners on the delivery of Wave 3 of the Warm Homes: Social Housing Fund. Previously, Jess managed the South West Net Zero Hub's Local Net Zero Fund, working with South West local authorities on a range of grant-funded net zero projects. She also has experience in data analysis and visualisation, and managing process improvement and change management projects.
Regional Delivery
Hayley Ash
Senior project manager, Regional Delivery
Hayley has recently joined us as the Regional Projects Team lead, supporting projects including the Community Energy Fund, Local Energy Advice Demonstrator (LEAD) and the Local Net Zero Capacity and Development Fund. Prior to joining the Hub, Hayley has worked in local authorities in Derbyshire and Bristol, delivering co-designed interventions with communities. More Recently Hayley managed the REPLICATE programme (Horizon 2020) and was Senior Project Manager for the City Leap Client Function.
Margaret Davis
Project Officer, Community Energy
Margaret supports the delivery of the Community Energy Fund and other Hub Community Energy initiatives. In addition she manages a funded Carbon Literacy training programme to local authorities in the South West and delivers Carbon Literacy training in the West of England Combined Authority as part of a team of in-house trainers.
Katherine Rooney
Project Manager, Community Energy
Katherine is the Hub’s lead for Community Energy, managing applications to the Community Energy Fund from across the South West, as well as supporting community energy work more broadly. She has significant experience working with community groups and delivering projects in partnership with government. She has worked for Bristol City Council’s City Innovation Team, and at Sustrans.
Matt Windsor
Senior Data Performance Officer
Matt plays a key role gathering and reporting the Hub’s data and making sure it is readily available. He uses mapping and interactive data visualisation software to make sense of the numbers in the context of net zero targets and to help visualise the outcomes of projects and programmes.
Communications and Stakeholder Engagement
Chris Bennett
Strategic Stakeholder and Engagement Manager
As Strategic Stakeholder Manager Chris is responsible for the Hub's communication and engagement strategy, working closely with DESNZ to build understanding of the progress Local Authorities across the region are making towards Net Zero. Chris has over a decade of experience in sustainability, including at Sustrans where he led on behaviour change and engagement initiatives.
Elli Nikolaidou
Heat Network Zoning Lead - Engagement & Implementation.Ell
Elli has started a new role role at the Hub supporting local authorities with the introduction of Heat Network Zoning. Previously Elli was part of the Hub’s PSDS team, supporting public sector organisations to decarbonise their estates. Elli is a Registered Architect and a Certified Passive House Designer, specialising in low/net zero carbon design.
Georgina Gray
Senior Communications and Marketing Officer
Georgina delivers the communications and marketing activity for the Hub. She manages the Hub’s communications channels and creates content to share knowledge and show how the Hub supports the delivery of Net Zero in the region. Prior to joining the Hub, Georgina worked as a freelance communications consultant and as a Comms and Marketing Manager at Bristol City Council.