SWIP is governed by a steering group made up of members who represent a cross section of specialist fields from the region, and representatives from across industry, business and local government.
Prof Colin Taylor
BSc PhD CEng FICE
Chair, South West Infrastructure Partnership
Emeritus Professor of Earthquake Engineering in the Department of Civil Engineering at the University of Bristol
Colin has 40 years research and practice experience on the resilience of infrastructure systems to natural hazards impacts.
His work has covered dams, bridges, nuclear power plants, utilities, buildings, geotechnical and smart infrastructure problems. Colin led the UrbanID diagnostics pilot, funded by the UKRI Urban Living Partnership, which developed a learning focused methodology for diagnosing the barriers preventing Bristol from becoming a ‘flourishing city’. This research continues to be an important theme in the research programme of the UK Collaboratorium for Research on Infrastructure and Cities (UKCRIC) and underpins SWIP’s diagnosis of the SW decarbonisation challenge.
Colin became chair of SWIP in November 2024. He previously represented the academic sector on the steering group. Prior to his recent retirement from the university, Colin was a lead academic on the £138m UKCRIC project, playing a key role in the development of the successful funding proposal. He continues to engage with UKCRIC and is connecting it to SWIP. He is also guiding the development of the methodological framework, based on the UrbanID approach, that SWIP is using to frame the problem space and to prioritise investigations.
Miranda Housden
BA (Hons) MA FICE FRSA
South West Regional Director, Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE)
SWIP Role: Co-founder and ICE Representative
As the South West Director at the Institution of Civil Engineers, Miranda is responsible for raising the profile of civil engineering in the region, maintaining professional standards, encouraging a diverse future workforce and providing leadership and direction to the ICE South West team and more than 6,000 ICE members.
Prior to moving to the South West, she was the ICE Director for London and South East England, having previously been the London Director for the Royal Institute of British Architects. Miranda has produced a number of films including Engineering the London Underground, Engineering Plymouth and Engineering Happiness for which she was awarded the Institution of Civil Engineers Garth Watson medal.
Former voluntary posts include Foundation Governor at Central Foundation Girls School, Bow; Board of Trustees Member for the Community Land Trust, St Clements, Bow; Campaign for Drawing Board Member and a Vice Chair on the Artists Advisory Board, Chisenhale Arts Place. She is currently Secretary to the Torpoint Mooring Association and Board Member of the Mayflower Rowing Club. Miranda is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, holds a first-class BA (Hons) degree in Fine Art from Falmouth University, MA in Fine Art from University of the Arts London, and was a Rome Scholar at the British School at Rome. She has a studio in Cornwall and has had several exhibitions both in the UK and internationally including the Arnolfini Gallery, Bristol, Nová Sín Gallery, Prague and Bangkok Arts and Culture Centre.
Neil Carhart
Associate Professor in Infrastructure Systems and Deputy Programme Director for Civil Engineering, University of Bristol
SWIP Role: Academic Representative
Neil’s research examines the planning and management of the built environment as a complex socio-technical system, integrating systems thinking and digital engineering to support resilient, sustainable and regenerative infrastructure planning.
Neil has collaborated extensively across government and industry, contributing research to the former Infrastructure and Projects Authority and National Infrastructure Commission on interdependencies, systemic risks and whole-system performance.
He led systems modelling for the UKPRP-funded project Tackling the Root Causes Upstream of Unhealthy Urban Development (TRUUD) and is developing new research, in collaboration with industry and local government, to support the decarbonisation of peri-urban regions.
John C Chaplin
BSc CEng FICE
Director of External Affairs and Special Projects, The Bristol Port Company
SWIP Role: Maritime Representative
John is a Chartered Engineer and Fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers. After working in consultancy and contracting John joined The Bristol Port Company in 2000. He was promoted to the position of Director of Engineering in 2003 and subsequently to the Director with responsibility for External Affairs and the delivery of major schemes.
John has managed an extensive range of projects for The Port. He is the Port Company’s agent on various national and regional bodies and represents the Port in their dealings with neighbours, central and local government and stakeholders including Highways England, Network Rail and National Grid.
John was appointed Chair of SevernNet in 2019, a social enterprise run by and for the businesses, neighbouring community, and other stakeholders in the Port’s hinterland.
Jessie Curnow
National Environmental Assessment & Sustainability (NEAS) Deputy Director, Environment Agency
SWIP Role: Environment Representative
Jessie is a Deputy Director at the Environment Agency, where she leads the sustainability and environmental risk management of major projects and programmes including flood risk management solutions. She is proud to live and work in the South West, delivering long term solutions to create a better place for all.
Jessie has worked across the Environment Agency for 25 years and has a diverse range of experience across waste, water quality, water resources and natural flood resilience. She has won Environment Agency and DEFRA awards for her inclusive style of leadership across the business. Jessie is proud to be an active part of the disability networks across DEFRA, championing inclusion for all regardless of disability. She firmly believes that being authentically you will help you to shine in all that you deliver.
Pippa Gibbs Joubert
Associate Director – South West, Copper Consultancy
SWIP Role: Communications Representative
Pippa is a specialist communications and engagement strategist for the public and infrastructure sectors. She draws on her 18 years’ communication experience to develop creative, effective strategies, narratives and plans that work to attach action to meaning for audiences – engaging stakeholders, establishing consensus and boosting reputations.
Passionate about delivering a ‘just transition’ to net zero, Pippa has extensive experience of both major government projects and regional strategies. She knows the extent to which good communications underpin the success of delivering wholesale, meaningful change at a societal level, and has guided many clients through planning and funding processes, using her engagement expertise to generate local, regional, and national buy-in.
Claire Gibson
BA (Hons) MPhil MRTPI
Director, CRG Consultants
SWIP Role: Planning and Economic Development Representative
Claire has worked in planning and economic development for over 30 years and is currently Director at CRG Consultants. She began her career in London working for the private sector as a planning consultant, both at Halcrow Fox and ERM. In 2000, she moved back to the South West to lead on planning, transport and environment at the South West RDA, developing regional strategies, advising on infrastructure projects, and investing in strategic environmental initiatives. In 2011, she became the executive director for a non-departmental public body responsible for operating the Wave Hub offshore energy test site in Cornwall. In 2021, she joined the Heart of the South West LEP as Head of Delivery before working at the University of Plymouth as their Head of Sustainability Research Partnerships. Claire supports the Great South West pan regional partnership on energy and also sits on the Nature South West Board.
Darryl Goddard
Managing Director, Guernsey Energy
SWIP Role: Utilities Representative
Darryl has over 33 years’ experience in the gas industry, predominantly with British Gas, National Grid (Transco) and currently within the leadership team at Wales and West Utilities. He has post-graduate qualifications in business management from the University of Plymouth.
He has worked across the country in various roles within the National Transmission System, gas distribution, and emergency and meterwork.
Darryl has a proven track record as a senior leader with experience in strategic project engineering, operations management and business transformation. He is extremely focused on innovation within the utilities sector, employee development and customer satisfaction.
He was previously regional manager with Wales and West Utilities leading a large multi-disciplinary team of direct employees and contract partners.
Julie Gregory
ChPP
Head of Weather Resilience and Sustainable Growth, Network Rail
SWIP Role: Rail Representative
After working as meteorologist and climate scientist at the Met Office, Julie moved to Network Rail where she has been for more than 20 years in a variety of roles.
She spent five years as senior sponsor for a programme of weather and climate resilience works on the Devon Coast, securing funding for over £160m and seeing four out of five projects into delivery.
Julie was the Senior Programme Manager for the Weather/Climate Risk Task Force in Network Rail’s Wales & Western Region where her role involved leading lead work to make the railway more resilient to extreme weather, both now and in the future. She’s is now Head of Weather Resilience and Sustainable Growth at Network Rail.
Paula Hewitt
BSc MCD
SWIP Role: Past Chair
Paula was Deputy Chief Executive and Lead Director at Somerset County Council, where she was responsible for a diverse mix of services ranging from highways and waste to economic development, property and libraries. She also served as president of the Association of Directors of Environment, Economy, Planning & Transport (ADEPT).
While at Somerset County Council, she led a number of high-profile service transformation programmes, addressing climate change and introducing innovative ways of delivering services, customer benefits and financial savings.
Paula was heavily involved in co-ordinating the local authority response to the devastating Somerset floods in 2014 and led the work to minimise the effect of future flooding through the creation of the Somerset Rivers Authority. As a result, Paula was appointed as an expert adviser to the EU Committee of the Regions in relation to disaster resilience.
Paula was appointed by DEFRA as Chair of the Thames Regional Flood and Coastal Committee (RFCC), beginning on 1 September 2024. She is also a member of the board of the South West Business Council.
Kieran Highman
South West Manager, Regional Energy Strategic Planning (RESP)
National Energy System Operator (NESO)
SWIP Role: Energy Representative
Kieran leads the south west Regional Energy Strategic Plan (RESP) team at the National Energy System Operator (NESO). His team seek to ensure RESP is designed with South West inputs at their heart.
He has lived in the region for over 20 years since studying renewable energy at university in Cornwall. He works across sectors in delivering renewable energy, sustainable construction and heat network plans and programmes.
Jason Humm
CEng FICE
Director of Transport and Highways, Gloucestershire County Council
SWIP Role: Local Authority Representative
Jason has over 30 years’ experience working within highway, transport and infrastructure roles. His current role sees him delivering multi-million pound transport and highway infrastructure programmes to meet community needs and deliver economic growth.
He has extensive experience of working within highly visible, public and political environments and in working with partners and central government to fund and deliver infrastructure projects.
Jason is passionate about ensuring that transport and highway networks can support communities, businesses and the economy, while also delivering on sustainability and decarbonisation needs that help meet the demands of our environmental and climate challenges.
Peter Kydd
BSc(Edin) CEng FICE
SWIP Role: Past Chair and Professional Services Representative
Peter has been a member of SWIP since its formation in 2017 and was chair from 2020 to February 2023. He has over 45 years’ experience in senior roles for consulting firms, primarily with Parsons Brinckerhoff (now WSP) and he continues to be retained by WSP as a consultant, advising on decarbonisation, clean growth, climate change action planning and tidal power.
His most recent experience has been acting as technical advisor to the Severn Estuary Commission for their work on tidal power and he has also worked extensively for The Crown Estate, WECA and UK and Welsh Governments. In 2024, he was awarded the ICE’s Gold Medal for Engineering Excellence and Ethics.
Hannah Lawrie
BA (Hons) MCIWM
Head of Sustainability, Ricardo Energy & Environment
SWIP Role: Circular Economy Representative
Hannah is a Chartered Waste and Resource Manager and an Earth Sciences graduate of the University of Oxford with over 22 years’ experience specialising in waste management, circular economy and sustainability.
Hannah supported the procurement and development of waste management services and infrastructure working in the environmental consultancy sector in the Republic of Ireland and New Zealand before moving back to the South West of England. She is a former chair and current Centre Councillor of the Chartered Institute of Wastes Management’s South West Centre Council.
In 2019, Hannah joined the task force overseeing the development of the Devon Carbon Plan as the waste and circular economy expert, and has advised other clients with carbon reduction plans and initiatives for waste services and infrastructure.
Hannah is currently Head of Ricardo Energy & Environment’s Sustainability Business Area which incorporates the company’s circular economy, sustainable packaging, sustainable procurement, carbon & energy management, net zero, sustainability strategy & reporting, life cycle assessment and government programmes consultancy services.
Leticia (Coco) Mandra
Senior Associate, Burges Salmon LLP
SWIP Role: Legal Representative
Coco is a Senior Associate planning lawyer with over 10 years of experience practicing in Argentina and England. Coco works in the planning and compulsory purchase team at Burges Salmon. Since she moved to the UK in 2013, she has gathered wide ranging experience in planning both in contentious and non-contentious matters.
She has a wide range of professional experience from working for local authorities in London, private practice and central government (Treasury solicitor acting on behalf of PINS and MHCLG at the High Court and Court of Appeal) with emphasis in renewables infrastructure across England and Wales, focusing on solar and onshore wind.
Chris Regan
Regional Director, South West, National Highways
SWIP Role: Highways Representative
Chris serves as the Regional Director for National Highways in the South West, where he leads a multidisciplinary team of over 450 engineers, project managers, and operations professionals. Together, they oversee the operation, maintenance, and renewal of more than 600 miles of strategic road network, ensuring safe, efficient, and sustainable infrastructure across one of the UK’s most iconic regions.
With a career marked by leadership and business improvement, Chris previously held senior roles as Director of Transformation at company level and prior to that, Director of Transformation & Performance in Operations. His strategic vision and ability to drive organisational change have been instrumental in shaping the future of National Highways.
Chris joined the organisation, then known as Highways England, in July 2017 as Head of Service Delivery for the South West. He played a pivotal role in launching the asset delivery model, uniting newly formed teams and redefining approaches to network maintenance and renewal.
Before entering the highways sector, Chris dedicated fifteen years to public service in policing, culminating in his role as a Police Inspector in Bristol. He later led the transformation of the Environment Agency’s incident management capability, bringing innovative thinking and operational rigour to national resilience efforts.
A Fellow of the Chartered Institution of Highways and Transportation, Chris is deeply committed to professional excellence and industry advancement. Outside of work, he enjoys spending time with his family, often found in the gym trying to keep pace with his two teenage sons.
Paul Santer
Regional Director
Civil Engineering Contractors Association CECA (South West)
SWIP Role: Contractors Representative
Paul is a Westcountry man, married with two grown-up sons, now living back in his home town of Sidmouth in East Devon. During his forty years as a civil engineer, he has worked on various construction projects for contractors in the UK and the Middle East.
In recent years, as Business Development Manager for a major UK contractor (BAM Nuttall), his skills in customer relationship management and work winning enabled BAM to secure key contracts across all market sectors in the UK and also in Uganda and Tanzania in Eastern Africa.
Paul joined CECA (the trade association for the civil engineering industry) at the beginning of 2017 as its first South West director. Since that time, he has represented and supported CECA member contractors in the region through training provision, client and government engagement, promoting civil engineering as a career in schools and universities and backing the apprenticeship programme.
Dave Slater
South West Regional Director, Natural England
SWIP Role: Nature-based Solutions Representative
Dave has led Natural England’s work in the South West. He is working closely with a range of major planning issues on land and sea across the region. Prior to that he held national director roles, leading Natural England’s work on wildlife management and leading on Natural England’s most complex planning casework including major infrastructure such as off shore wind and HS2.
He has a degree in Zoology and a Masters in Ecology and Environmental Management and five years as a wildlife guide in Africa, he also worked for Oxford University’s Wildlife Conservation Research Unit. His academic focus as always been resolving conflicts between wildlife and people Dave held a range of roles and gained experience in change management, project management and resource planning as well as a three year stint as close adviser to the Chair and CEO of Natural England and manager of their private office.
Dave lives on the West Dorset coast has a passion for nature, and spends every spare moment out enjoying the wealth of beautiful natural places – running, cycling, paddling and swimming often with one or more of his three teenagers.
Phil Smith
BSc MBA
Managing Director, Business West
SWIP Role: Business Representative
From 1983 Phil worked in the North Sea oil & gas fields as an offshore construction engineer for an American oil company. The stagnating North Sea oil industry of the late 80’s led Phil to do an MBA at London Business School and University of California Berkeley, which was followed by a role as a mergers and acquisitions specialist at a City of London investment bank.
Phil moved to Bristol in the early 90’s to become the CEO of the West of England Business Link. In 2003 Phil took on his current position as MD of Business West, the largest Chamber of Commerce in the UK, and a public purpose company, which operates the West of England Initiative and the Bristol, Bath, Gloucestershire & Wiltshire Chambers of Commerce. It also operates various public sector contracts, including DIT export services and Innovate UK services for the SW region. Business West is the co-founder of Destination Bristol and the Bristol Cultural Development Partnership. Phil is Chair of the South West Ventures Fund Advisory and the West of England ESIF committees and sits on the Court of Bristol University.
Matt Wheeldon
Director of Infrastructure Development
Wessex Water
SWIP Role: Water Representative
Matt is a chartered civil engineer with over 30 years’ experience working in the water and wastewater sector. For the last quarter of a century he has worked at Wessex Water where he has held several engineering, operational, compliance, strategic planning and regulatory liaison roles.
He is passionate about water and environmental services and was the water sector representative on DEFRA’s Storm Overflow Taskforce.
Lynda Wookey
Regional Partnerships Director, Digital Catapult
SWIP Role: Data and Digital Representative
Lynda represents Digital Catapult’s leadership in advancing next-generation digital infrastructure, including 5G, immersive connectivity and edge technologies and accelerating the practical application of deep tech.
Having grown up and worked across the West Country, and with extensive experience in strategic engagement and place based innovation, Lynda works with local authorities, industry, academia, and community organisations to strengthen regional resilience and support SWIP’s mission to build a well-connected, future-ready South West.
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