Rachel Hoolahan joined Orms as an architect, and now co-leads the sustainability consultancy and research work. For the past few years she has engaged in a series of deep research assignments and is utilising this data and knowledge to push the boundaries of sustainable development – both in refurbishment and new build projects.
Recently, she led a research piece on Material Passports as part of a wider Grosvenor Estate Innovation Project into material reuse. The outcome of this work is a methodology for encouraging more meaningful material reuse, by creating a material database for the project. The approach is deliberately open source and flexible, allowing design teams of any size or skill set to apply the work to their projects.
As partners for the UKGBC Circular Economy Programme, Orms will be continuing their support for this research stream, which has already resulted in several industry guides and tools. Orms are also active participants in the Circular Economy Live Project Forum which has three working groups carrying out deeper analysis into key topics. Rachel leads the Design for Circularity working group which is currently producing a template framework for a Deconstruction Plan.
Rachel has recently received the 2021 AJ100 Sustainability Champion Award.
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