Built Environment – Smarter Transformation (BE-ST) has announced the appointment of leading voice on climate action in the built environment, Sara Edmonds, helping to accelerate decarbonisation and expand the innovation centre's reach across the UK.

As lead impact manager for retrofit programmes, Sara will support BE-ST alongside her roles as director of Studio seARCH Architects and coordinator at the Architects Climate Action Network (ACAN), as well as ongoing consultancy work and hosting the Zero Ambitions podcast, which focuses on sustainability in the built environment.

Sara originally trained as an architect at the Edinburgh College of Art and, after a decade working with larger firms, left the corporate world behind to focus on delivering projects with greater purpose. She founded Studio seARCH in 2014 and has since been an advocate for decarbonising the UK's building stock, promoting the range of holistic, social, economic and environmental benefits that transformation will bring.

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Sara was first introduced to BE-ST during COP26 last year, where she realised there was a shared vision and opportunity to work together to amplify the innovation centre's impact among new networks, particularly outside of Scotland. In her new role, Sara's priorities will include relationship building and encouraging collaboration with strategic partners to share best practice around retrofit and help companies across the sector to achieve zero carbon ambitions.

Sara Edmonds said: "On my first visit to BE-ST's innovation factory during COP26 I saw the clear direction of travel the innovation centre was headed in when it comes to transformation, as well as driving momentum across the sector. The underpinning values spoke so powerfully to me and at that point I knew there would be a great opportunity to work together. There are so many people who could benefit from the work being done by BE-ST and its partners, and I'm excited to help to communicate and amplify that as far as possible.

"There is a wealth of free-to-use, open-source information already out there when it comes to zero carbon construction and an open invitation for collaboration with BE-ST to use that knowledge to deliver change. The industry is calling out for more support, and the innovation centre is in an exciting position to act as a central hub for guidance and signposting organisations to examples and initiatives that can be rolled out more widely to create a more sustainable built environment."

Stephen Good, CEO of BE-ST, added: "Sara is a fantastic asset to our team and we're thrilled to officially have her on board as part of BE-ST to help spread the word and represent the innovation centre across new networks all over the UK. Sara is well-known to the industry and is an important voice on the climate change conversation that will become invaluable insight as we continue on our mission to accelerate transformation."