Meet the 2022 Judging Panel
Michael Murphy - Chair of Judging Panel
Senior Environmental Engineer – Heathrow
With a background in Environmental compliance and regulatory management Michael is working on the long term asset strategy’s for the Heathrow’s £13bn estate and drives sustainable development with all disciplines and projects. He is currently working with EHM Ltd to create Heathrow Nature positive plan for building on their successes as well as working with Cranfield university on accessibility standards for colleagues and a number of other research projects.
He has led the Biodiversity team at Heathrow for a number of years and they've been awarded the Wildlife Trust Biodiversity award for over 14 years for their habitat management. Michael also Chair's the Environmental and Sustainability grant giving panel for the Heathrow Community Trust.
Dr Martina Girvan
Technical Director - Arcadis
Martina is a Technical Director of Ecology and Arboriculture with Arcadis. She has a background in terrestrial biodiversity and ecosystem function and joined consultancy following a career in academia, with a short time spent in local government as the Greater Manchester BAP officer. In addition to managing a team of ecologists and the arboricultural business at Arcadis she undertakes major impact assessments for a wide range of national and international developments. She is a Chartership assessor with CIEEM (the ecology disciplines professional body) and regularly contributes to best practice guidance. The integration of biodiversity and society is a lifelong passion, she is currently developing the Arcadis natural capital approach in the UK.
Sam Bower
UK Head of Ecology & Arboriculture - Balfour Beatty
Sam has been working in the nature conservation sector for the last 18 years. Initially specialising in practical woodland management, conservation arboriculture and habitat management he moved into consultancy in 2012. Sam has been with Balfour Beatty since 2013 providing ecological and arboricultural support on numerous large scale infrastructure projects. In 2018, Sam was the recipient of the CLA Trophy for outstanding service to Forestry and Land Management in Kent.
Caroline Ford
Principal Ecologist - Atkins (member of the SNC Lavalin group)
Caroline is a Principal Ecologist at Atkins (member of the SNC Lavalin group) and Chartered Ecologist (CIEEM) with over nine years’ experience in ecological consultancy. She manages ecological input for a range of projects including road, rail, aviation and flood alleviation schemes, as well as for small- and large-scale residential and commercial developments in the UK. Caroline is currently involved in the design of large-scale road infrastructure and the preparation of detailed mitigation and compensation strategies to ensure legal compliance and enable a positive outcome for development, biodiversity and local communities. She regularly undertakes Ecological Impact Assessment, Habitat Regulations Assessment, and protected species surveys to inform the procurement of European Protected Species (EPS) mitigation licences for projects that involve impacts to protected species including bats and hazel dormice, and provides ecology input to BREEAM. Caroline is an active volunteer and key member within her local conservation groups including Surrey Dormouse Group (Site Leader), Surrey Bat Group (Surveyor) and London Bat Group (former Secretary). She is a Volunteer Bat Roost Visitor for Natural England and a Registered Bat Carer with the Bat Conservation Trust.
Tom Butterworth
Head of Ecology and Director - WSP UK
Tom has extensive experience in natural capital and biodiversity assessments. Tom supports our clients in public and private sectors in meeting their objectives and targets for development together with their objectives for natural capital and nature. WSP has initiated net positive measures and outcomes across many high-profile projects, particularly in the energy, road and rail sectors.
Tom has over 23 years’ experience working for wildlife. Over this time Tom has led practical management of SSSIs, developed local, regional and national biodiversity strategies and policies, led programs of research and managed the delivery of the Government’s biodiversity strategy
Ish Campbell
Senior Ecologist - Arup
Ish is a Senior Ecologist in the London ecology team at Arup and a Building with Nature (BwN) assessor, actively assessing schemes against the BwN benchmark. She has a particular interest in urban ecology and is currently enrolled on an active commission with C40 Cities involving urban rewilding. She has a breadth of experience on multi-species projects ranging from residential and mixed-used developments to national infrastructure schemes which require environmental impact assessments. In support of these projects, Ish also provides ecological design advice to secure Biodiversity Net Gain, as well as the BREEAM and BwN accreditations. Additionally, Ish has an on-going role in providing the ecological technical review of planning applications in London on behalf of a local planning authority.
Matt Tompsett
Head Environment and Sustainability - Kier Highways
Matt is responsible for setting the companywide steer for environmental and sustainability issues. Matt started his career working for a habitat conservation charity before moving into Highways about 15 years ago. He is a Chartered Environmentalist and an active member of several steering groups inc. the CECA Carbon Group, IEMA Climate Change Group and Chairs the Transport for London Environmental Working Group. Matt has worked with CIRIA on developing guidance on Green Infrastructure on Linear Assets.
Helen Denham
Sustainability Manager - Sir Robert McAlpine
Helen is a Chartered Environmentalist (CEnv) with over 40 years’ combined practical wildlife conservation management, technical sustainability and environmental management experience in the UK and overseas including the Bahamas and Guyana. Currently, at two hospital projects in Dorset under the P22 Procurement and working at Station Hill , Reading. As a representative for Sir Robert McAlpine and their nominated Biodiversity Champion time is spent acknowledging opportunities to enhance developments post Stage 4 and advising projects on wildlife related issues from legal compliance, ecological mitigation, biodiversity enhancement benefits and ecosystem services. Influencing and challenging project landscape designs has become a habit and seeing the relevance of even the smallest roof garden too a local school benefitting from support to increase knowledge of the natural environment, and the educational benefits of such projects is one of Helen's main aims. Helen has experience of working in the Forestry Commission, Cumbria Wildlife Trust and for clients from government organisations, Natural England, international funding agencies such as Inter-American Development Bank, non-government organisations (NGOs), stakeholders and community groups.
Benjamin Brown
Head of Policy and Insight - Landscape Institute
Ben heads the Institute’s research and policy team, and the Institute’s response to the climate and biodiversity emergencies. He is currently leading the LI’s work on biodiversity net gain, in particular how BNG can deliver a range of other benefits – from public health to cultural value. Ben previously worked for Design Council CABE, Arts Council England, and the BBC, and as a researcher in international development and social enterprise.
Tony Williams
Principal Landscape Architect at Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII).
Tony is a full professional member of the Irish Landscape Institute (ILI) has been on the council of the ILI since 2005. He held the position of Hon. Secretary of ILI from 2008 to 2011 and President from 2013 to 2016. He is current Hon, Secretary. He has been the Irish delegate for the International Federation of Landscape Architects (IFLA) from 2007 to 2016 and has been on the executive council of IFLA Europe since 2011 first as Vice President Education until 2015 and on the Executive Council of IFLA World as President of IFLA Europe from 2015 to 2019. He is a member of the ICOMOS Ireland National Scientific Committee on Cultural Landscapes and World heritage Reflective Working Group. He is involved in a number of IFLA, ICOMOS and ILI initiatives and in particular as European Voting Member for the Climate Change Working Group and working groups on Blue Green Infrastructure (BGI) / Nature Based Solutions (NBS)
Jonathan Mantle
Corporate Partnerships Manager - Plantlife International
Jonathan heads the corporate partnerships team for Plantlife International. He is responsible for setting the charity’s strategy for engaging with the wider corporate world, and is particularly interested in the ways in which organisations can be helped to engage with BNG, and how by building strong partnerships we can tackle the climate and biodiversity crises we are facing. Jonathan has experience working in the environmental NGO sector, having previously worked as a project manager with the Wildlife Trusts.