London, 01 December 2025, The Useful Simple Trust (Trust) has appointed Will Arnold as Head of Sustainable Materials, strengthening its mission to embed sustainable, low-carbon practices across the built environment. This new role consolidates the Trust’s expertise in engineering, design, and project delivery into a focused consultancy offering, ensuring every project benefits from advanced materials intelligence from concept through completion.
Will’s appointment draws together our Trust wide expertise into a dedicated sustainable materials consultancy offering across Expedition Engineering, Useful Studio, and Useful Projects. This enhanced capability builds on the Trust’s legacy of pioneering projects including the London Olympics, WWF-UK Living Planet Centre, The Phoenix in Lewes and Eden Project Scotland, now with dedicated materials expertise woven through every stage of design and delivery.
Bringing Cross-Sector Influence & Technical Depth
With over 15 years’ experience spanning structural engineering and cross-industry sustainability leadership, Will brings both technical credibility and strategic vision. His hands-on design background means he understands the practical realities of delivery, while his sector-wide leadership positions him at the forefront of policy development and market transformation.
As the former Head of Climate Action at the Institution of Structural Engineers, convenor of Part Z, and embodied carbon technical lead on the UK Net Zero Carbon Buildings Standard, Will has shaped the frameworks that are defining the industry’s transition. His ability to influence policy direction and translate complex sustainability challenges into actionable guidance means our clients benefit from insight into where the market is heading, not just where it is today.
In this new role, Will will work directly with clients to integrate materials intelligence throughout project briefs and delivery. The role encompasses practical support on questions clients regularly face: how to balance embodied carbon reduction with budget realities, which emerging materials are ready for specification, and how to align project decisions with organisational net zero commitments.
This builds on a core Trust principle: doing ‘More with Less’. Will’s materials expertise will help identify opportunities to optimize structural and architectural solutions, using less material, reducing carbon, improving efficiency, and often reducing costs simultaneously – embedding materials thinking into the fundamental design decisions that shape project outcomes.
Shaping Industry Direction
Beyond project work, Will’s role includes contributing to our policy influence efforts. His established voice in shaping industry standards means insights from our projects feeds into broader market transformation, and equally, that emerging policy directions inform our client work before they become requirements.
Will commented: “I care deeply about beautiful, thoughtful buildings and infrastructure, and the creative teamwork that makes them possible, and I see the Trust as a place where that ethos already thrives. My focus is on using deep knowledge of carbon and ecological impacts to shape outcomes that are practical, commercially viable, and genuinely forward-looking. This isn’t about pursuing ‘perfect’ sustainability but achieving the best possible outcomes for each project, creating a foundation for even greater progress in the future.”
Judith Sykes, CEO of Useful Simple Trust, said: “Will’s appointment will help us in our mission to shape the future of our industry. His ability to influence policy and translate sustainability challenges into practical design decisions will strengthen our ability to do things differently. We are excited by how he will leverage the collective expertise of the Trust to drive the transition to lower carbon and lower impact construction.”
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