People Spotlight: Meet Sarah Falconer
Our People Spotlight series gives you an inside look at our technical experts around the world. This week, we are highlighting our United Kingdom & Ireland Energy Lead from our Environment and Sustainability team, and providing an insight into their inspiration and work.
Sarah Falconer has over 25 years of experience in the environment field, specializing in Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA) and consenting for large complex infrastructure projects. Sarah is passionate about net zero and working with our clients to help them achieve their decarbonization goals. Sarah is responsible for growth within the Energy sector across our Environment and Sustainability range of services. She leads complex energy consenting/EIA projects and develops long term client relationships.
What inspired you to join the industry?
Upon graduating, I embarked on a career in environmental consulting, where I quickly encountered a diverse array of projects and gained a wealth of experiences that the field has to offer. It was this diversity, along with working in partnership with our clients to help them to solve challenging problems, that I found so motivating, and still do. It is a pleasure to help clients to navigate their way through complex and evolving planning processes as well as finding innovative solutions to environmental impacts that result from new infrastructure projects. No two projects are ever the same, and there has never been a more exciting time to work in energy. The urgency and scale of the energy transition make this moment truly transformative.
It is a pleasure to help clients to navigate their way through complex and evolving planning processes as well as finding innovative solutions to environmental impacts that result from new infrastructure projects.
What is your favorite AECOM project that you’ve worked on and why?
I recently led two consenting projects for new hydrogen power development projects. It’s been exciting to see new technologies moving into mainstream developments. Any novel technologies always pose new and challenging consenting risks that need to be considered fully to give regulators and stakeholders comfort and buy in to the projects and this was no exception on these projects. As Project Director, I took ultimate responsibility for delivering to client satisfaction and ensuring that as a project team we met all regulatory requirements. It has been really satisfying to see both projects successfully progress through the consenting process and to receive positive client feedback on our collaborative working.
It has been really satisfying to see both projects successfully progress through the consenting process and to receive positive client feedback on our collaborative working.
Tell us a story of how your work positively impacted the community.
Engaging with the local community is a critical aspect of any proposed new development. One of the rewarding parts of my role is working with AECOM and clients to identify opportunities for creating value for communities within new proposed developments. This could include bringing local small and medium enterprises onto the project team, using our AECOM volunteering days to support local initiatives, and supporting STEM training through local schools and bringing apprenticeships into the team. For example, we have recently been commissioned to deliver three large onshore wind farms for a renewable energy developer and as part of our submission we were proud to establish ten social value commitments which we will implement as the projects progress. These include the use of local supply chain, engagement with schools, colleges and universities, provision of support to local community energy groups and prioritizing local delivery.
Engaging with the local community is a critical aspect of any proposed new development. One of the rewarding parts of my role is working with AECOM and clients to identify opportunities for creating value for communities within new proposed developments.
Share a piece of career advice.
Be open and try to take every opportunity offered to you, even if it doesn’t seem like the obvious career step. We all learn from new experiences giving us the confidence to develop individual skills and careers further. Often, it is the unexpected opportunities that lead to the greatest rewards.