Atkins has appointed Dr Vicky Hutchinson as the company’s new Environment Practice Director for the UK and Europe.

Hutchinson joins Atkins from ISG, where she was the Head of Social Value. In her previous roles, she specialised in the design and implementation of strategies that maximise the socio-economic outcomes of construction projects, with innovative programmes designed to drive more efficient and effective ways of adding value to communities.

In her new role, Hutchinson will lead on the development of service lines to help define best practice for collaboration between the likes of Atkins’ environmental science, ecology, noise, land quality and water specialists. She will also be responsible for driving industry engagement, to ensure that industry experts are given a platform to debate and advise on the journey to a low carbon economy.  

Mike McNicholas, managing director for Atkins’ infrastructure division, said: “Vicky’s appointment comes at such an important time, with factors such as social value, sustainability and net zero goals at the forefront of our staff, our clients’ and their stakeholders’ minds. Vicky will bring a fresh perspective to these issues not only to the environment practice but across the Atkins business.”

Hutchinson said: “I’m excited to join Atkins. As such a big consultancy, the capacity and capability to influence the world around us is enormous. My ambition is to help change the conversation around infrastructure and the built environment, so that we move away from thinking about a trade-off between economic development and environmental impact, to one where we help clients deliver a value proposition based on investments that enhance social, economic and environmental capital.”