Waterman has appointed former HS2 ecology programme director Diane Corfe as technical director to lead its national ecology team.

Corfe brings over thirty years’ industry experience, having previously led and grown ecology teams at Atkins, Scott Wilson and Jacobs. She joins Waterman from ERM where she was responsible for the growth of their capital and major projects portfolio across the UK, Europe and Africa.

With a wealth of technical knowledge in ecology, ecological impact assessment and EIA co-ordination for major projects, Corfe recently undertook the role of ecology programme director for Lot 3 of HS2 Phase 2B. This saw her coordinate 22,000 ecological surveys and technical inputs for the proposed Hybrid Bill submission for what is currently the UK’s largest infrastructure project.

Her wider experience also includes highways Development Consent Orders (DCO) and Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects, together with multiple major strategic land and urban regeneration projects involving large brownfield sites, where she acted as expert witness and participated in public inquiries.

Andrew Ferguson, Waterman’s board director for infrastructure and environment, said: “I am delighted to welcome Diane into our senior management team. Her substantial wealth of leadership experience will see her further develop our ecology team across the UK, within both the infrastructure and commercial development sectors. Diane’s strong technical background in biodiversity and climate resilience will, without a doubt, bring added-value and additional leadership to our current strategic initiatives in these areas.”