SIMON Dormer has been appointed as the new sustainability leader for architectural and engineering firm HDR as they aim to reinforce their commitment to regenerative design and delivery.
Dormer is well-suited to the role with experience in sustainability strategy, sustainable design, emissions reporting and stakeholder engagement. He has led and delivered reports on sustainability across a number of industries and sectors such as energy, water, waste and climate change across architecture, local government, corporate, retail and healthcare.
Simon will have a number of key tasks within his role at the company. He will be responsible for leading sustainable design across the business and mentoring and coaching design teams to drive a sustainable design culture. He will also uphold HDR’s global, award-winning Regenerative Design Framework to support designers in moving beyond basic high-performance design goals towards net-positive impacts which consider buildings in a broader context.
Simon is equally committed to embedding three R’s – Reconciliation, Resiliency and Regeneration – more firmly within HDR. He will collaborate with Indigenous consultants to bring First Nations knowledge, spirituality and biophilic design to the forefront, advocate resiliency through the lens of the climate and the individual, and work alongside architects and designers to deliver buildings that have the ability reimpose humans on both an ecological and social level.
HDR is ranked #5 among the world’s design firms and #1 in healthcare design. They specialise in Health, Education, Science, Civic, Justice and Defence and designs and delivers projects across a multitude of sectors at every scale. Some of these varied projects include Royal Navy Squadron & Training Facilities, Western Sydney University, Liverpool Vertical Campus & Bankstown City Campus and Australian Centre for Disease Preparedness, CSIRO.
Dormer is very passionate about focusing on sustainability and he says he is looking forward to beginning his new position.
“With a global knowledge base and local expertise, I am looking forward to working with the team at HDR to build strong communities and grow our sustainability footprint for our business, our clients, our staff and our planet. For me, sustainability is a holistic practice and consideration of upstream and downstream environmental, social and economic impacts is critical to the success of any entity – we must be the change we wish to see,” he said.
