SHAP Chair takes on lead role in Birmingham City Council’s Route to Net Zero | SHAP November Newsletter

We’re thrilled to announce key new net zero roles for two of our board members. Newly appointed SHAP Chair Ellie Horwitch-Smith has joined Birmingham City Council as Assistant Director - Route to Net Zero Carbon this month. Ellie is heading up a new Route to Zero (R20) team and acting as lead officer on the Council’s response to its Climate Emergency Declaration, net zero target and green and inclusive economic growth objectives. The public sector has a key facilitatory role but needs a wide range of partners to succeed and this new team will work collaboratively across all sectors and levels to bring forward investment and support residents and businesses in a City-wide net zero transition. She looks forward to working alongside colleagues and wider organisations in scaling up net zero activity, building local delivery capacity and supporting skills and knowledge growth.

 

In equally exciting news, SHAP board member Rebecca Lane has joined the Energy Capital team as Net Zero Neighbourhood Delivery Manager, where she will be enabling the investment of £2m into retrofit measures to prove the concept of Net Zero Neighbourhoods. The Net Zero Neighbourhood programme aims to demonstrate street-by-street retrofit and neighbourhood regeneration across a mixture of housing tenures. Between 3 and 7 neighbourhoods will be identified across the West Midlands, sharing learning across the cohort to achieve scalable approaches to community engagement, technical delivery and finance models. 

By unanimous vote, Ellie Horwitch-Smith has been appointed Chair of the SHAP Board, following six months as Vice-Chair and six years as an active board member. Alongside this, Ellie has recently joined Birmingham City Council as Assistant Director- Route to Net Zero Carbon.

 

Ellie takes on both roles a critical time, with both the government’s Heat & Buildings Strategy and COP26 reiterating the imperative for change. Under Ellie’s guidance, SHAP looks forward to accelerating the delivery and impact of net zero, working with our members to lead and promote best practice on the environmental, social and economic aspects of sustainable housing.

 

Ellie has worked with local authority and other public and private sector clients for over 15 years, holding senior positions in global and UK consultancy firms including the Atkins Group company Faithful+Gould and Adecoe.  She has a wealth of knowledge and experience which will undoubtedly serve our city well as we embark on a new era, turning net zero pledges into net zero action plans.