AECB The sustainable building association
Keith & Sally Hall – Founders
Keith and Sally founded the AECB in 1989 following their concern about the use of unsustainable tropical timber in the UK construction industry. They are committed to disseminating information on green building with particular emphasis on promoting eco building products. Keith's publishing business, the Green Building Press, publishes Green Building magazine (formerly Building for a Future) and the Green Building Bible.
Chris Baines - Honorary President
Chris is an independent advisor to government ministers, local councils and to senior executives in the construction, water, housing and oil industries. He is also a well known writer, broadcaster and international conference speaker and leading UK environmental campaigner.
Staff
Andy Simmonds - Chief Executive Officer 
Andy is the Chief Executive Officer of the AECB (part-time). Andy is also an architectural designer and builder and a partner in Simmonds.Mills, a practice which specialises in ecological design.
Sally Hall - Finance and Administration Officer 
Sally manages the finance and administration aspects for the AECB. Her expertise is in finance, personnel and administration processes. She provided support for the CarbonLite and Passnet porgrammes. Along with Warm, Low Energy Building Practice, she helps run the CarbonLite courses. She is also one of the AECB's founders.
Gill Rivers – Business Operations Manager 
Gill Rivers has been contracted to provide business operations management services to the existing core team, and to help the AECB support its existing 1500 strong membership base. Gill previously helped with the AECB CarbonLite programme. Her role includes listening to the membership, maximising, communicating and promoting membership benefits.
Emma Furniss – Membership Administrator and Website Sub Editor
Emma deals with membership enquiries and administration. In her additional role of Website Sub Editor, she helps to ensure that the web-site is kept up-to-date.
Debbie Mauger – Local Groups Co-ordinator 
Returned from living in South Africa 12 years ago and took a position as architectural technician for architects and town planners. Became increasingly frustrated with working for 'unenlightened' professionals and welcomed an opportunity to become involved with the AECB as the Local Groups Coordinator. Persuing personal sustainable building projects with partner, Brian Layton, as well as co-leader of the Hampshire Group.
Simon Kember - Website Administrator 
Simon took over the role of Webmaster in the summer of 2011 and is responsible for maintaining,improving and developing the AECB's websites and the services that they provide to members.
AECB BOARD OF TRUSTEES
Members of the AECB Board of Trustees are elected at the Annual General Meeting. Candidates must have been a member of the Association for a minimum of one year to qualify for election. Trustees are unpaid.
- Chris Herring - Chair
- Fran Bradshaw
- Nick Grant
- Mischa Hewitt
- Neill Lewis
- Joanna Saady
- Geoff Stow
- Peter Wilkinson - Company Secretary
- Peter Wilshaw
Chris Herring – Chair 
Chris is a director of Environmental Construction Products Ltd, which operates the Green Building Store and Green Building Company.
Green Building Store supplies sustainable building products nationwide, including a specialist range of Passivhaus standard products. The Green Building Company carries out new build and refurbishment within the Yorkshire region, built the ground breaking Denby Dale Passivhaus, for which Chris was a core member of the design and build team.
Chris is an active proponent of the Passivhaus approach to low energy construction, with a particular interest in high performance window design.
Chris has been passionate about environmental issue since his teens, and has been advocating and pioneering sustainable approaches through most of his construction career. He has been a member of the AECB since 1992, a Trustee since 1995, and Chair for the last 5 years. He has also been involved with the establishment of the new AECB initiative, the Passivhaus Trust, of which he is currently Chair.
Fran Bradshaw
Fran Bradshaw is an architect, and has been a partner at Anne Thorne Architects since 1996. Extensive experience in participatory design and community projects, with a strong focus on green design, form the basis of her work.
She has contributed through lectures, articles and seminars to developing and promoting sustainable design and refurbishment, and has been a member of the AECB since its early years.
Increasing participation by all AECB members in the work of the organisation, and reflecting women's experience of and concerns about the urban and built environment, are a priority.
Nick Grant
Nick Grant is a Certified Passivhaus Consultant and runs the energy and water consultancy Elemental Solutions. He is a Technical Director of the compost toilet manufacturer NatSol Ltd and a trustee of the Passivhaus Trust.
He has written numerous papers and best practice guidance on many aspects of water and energy efficiency for clients such as the Environment Agency, the Energy Saving Trust and the AECB.
Nick is committed to an 'Eco-minimalist' approach to sustainable construction, rather than bolt-on solutions and green icons. He has developed a number of commercial products, and designed and built his own water and energy efficient house and office.
Mischa Hewitt
Mischa Hewitt is a sustainability consultant and project manager. He has an MSc Architecture: Advanced Energy & Environment Studies from the Centre of Alternative Technology / University of East London and is also a Certified Passivhaus Designer.
He is the co-author of 'Earthships: Building a zero carbon future' published by IHS Press and is a director of The Low Carbon Trust, where he project managed the award winning Earthship Brighton project. Mischa also runs the sustainable building company Earthwise Construction based in Sussex, and in recent years has organised many environmental events, including the 'Eco Open Houses' weekends in Brighton and several conferences.
In his spare time Mischa plays the piano and composes classical music.
Neill Lewis - Secretary to the Trustees 
Neill has been a member of the AECB since 1990 and was appointed to the first steering committee in 1993.
A Chartered Architect with a thriving practice in Malvern, Worcestershire, Neill actively promotes AECB CarbonLite and Passivhaus standards through his work. He is also a qualified teacher and has published articles on eco subjects as diverse as paint, furniture construction and roofing technology.
Neill has been chair of Malvern Hills Agenda 21, a member of Friends of the Earth and was instrumental in securing protection for the Malvern Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty through amendments to an Act of Parliament.
Neill believes that the Association, having established itself as a leader in the eco-building field, must continue to raise its profile in order to remain at the forefront by
- Being a forum for debate
- Being the acknowledged advisory body
- Campaigning on selected issues
- Providing education and training
Joanna Saady - Regional Groups Co-ordinator
Jo's main aim in life is to enable and inspire people to live more sustainable lives. She joined the AECB 15 years ago and her work since she joined the board in 2008 has centred on encouraging the formation of local groups, which are now playing a major role in the strengthening of the AECB voice, and importantly, providing a great way to network and meet up with new and old friends.
Qualifying as an architect in 1995, Jo went on to complete the MSc in Energy Efficient Building at Oxford Brookes University, whilst working as an architect in an Oxford practice. This was followed by a temporary contract at the then Oxford Centre for Sustainability, administrating a European project on thermal comfort. Her practice, Ecotecture is now located in a shop in Haywards Heath, West Sussex, which she lives above with her two boys, to help reduce her reliance on the car. She has also set up a small development partnership, Ecotecture Developments Ltd, to build Passivhaus town houses.
Jo is involved in a number of initiatives to encourage 'green' living. She is a member of the Mid Sussex Sustainability Partnership, following on from her original eco fair idea, and she is also part of the EcoSchool committee at her children's local village school; giving school assemblies is one of her duties! She is currently working towards setting up a social enterprise which she hopes will design and build a new Passivhaus community cafe in her town.
Jo is very committed to the work of the AECB. The AECB has among its members vast experience in all areas of building, coupled with a shared passion for sustainable and ethical living. Jo's mission is for this passion to be shared more actively by networking in local groups and by promoting what members do on a day-to-day basis. 'Its hard to define what makes an AECB member different' she says. 'We're more than just an association. The AECB, with its wealth of experience and exceptionally strong membership base, is playing a vital part in influencing society as we build in preparation for climate change'.
Geoff Stow
Geoff's background is community empowerment via work in adventure playgrounds, community video and photography and then self build.
He was chair of a self-build scheme in Lewisham where he built a house with his partner, and went on to site manage other self-build schemes in London and Brighton. All of these were projects with a high environmental spec.
Geoff has been active in the Walter Segal Self Build Trust for many years as a supporter, development worker and now as a consultant.
Geoff's main interest is bringing information to the widest audience by a range of strategies, including theory and practical courses throughout Britain (with the Walter Segal Self Build Trust and CAT) and through exhibitions. All these projects involve looking at the environmental impact of buildings and how this can be reduced, as well as making houses and community buildings that are efficient, safe and pleasant to live and work in.
He has been a supporter of AECB for many years representing it at exhibitions and conferences around the country.
Peter Wilkinson - Company Secretary & Treasurer
Peter Wilkinson is an architectural technologist and partner in architectural practice EcoDesign, and managing director of both Dales Contracts Ltd and Dales Renewables Ltd.
Peter studied at Leeds College of Building and Leeds School of Architecture, gaining an HNC in architecture, and is a member of the Chartered Institute of Architectural Technologists. He has subsequently qualified as a planning supervisor and a bench joiner, applying his practical knowledge and skills to the businesses. Peter became a Passivhaus designer in 2009 and helped set up the Passivhaus Trust later that year and is an AECB representative on the board of the Trust.
Following 17 years in private practice, EcoDesign was formed in 1996, with an emphasis on sustainable building design working in the domestic, community, retail and education sectors.
Dales Contracts, originally established in 1989, became a member of the AECB later that year. As a mainstream building & joinery contractor it has influenced many projects in become more environmentally sustainable. Since 1995 the business has concentrated more on the green building sector, working on various eco projects such as low impact & low energy buildings.
Dales Renewables Ltd. was established in 2007 as solar thermal and wood pellet boiler installers and now regional suppliers of wood pellet fuel. Along with EcoDesign and Dales Contracts, Dales Renewables adds to a package of sustainable building solutions.
Peter Wilshaw - Membership Secretary
Peter spent his first 20 years as a civil engineer, specialising in large-scale water treatment and land reclamation. He has always been interested in environmental issues and in the early nineties founded the environmental building company Greenbuilt.
With his then work partner Chris Coates they explored Segal style buildings at the Centre for Alternative Technology, and traditional constructions, resulting in their first major project. This was a cruck frame barn in green oak which became a core element of Lanternhouse, a RIBA award-winning artists' project base and training centre in Cumbria.
Since then Peter has gone on to design and construct buildings large and small, as the Greenbuilt strapline says, “with people for people” - adults with learning difficulties, the long-term unemployed, parents, children, young people and artists.
In 2000 he designed and built the first contemporary environmentally sustainable houses in North Staffordshire, training local building inspectors on the way, and has been looking for as many opportunities to intervene in the regeneration agenda as possible.
As well as construction projects with Greenbuilt, Peter works with arts companies, is the former chair of the trustees of a local social enterprise, Community Works, is a member of Sustainable Staffordshire, a member of Staffordshire Business and Environment Network and a grandad to Zak and Isabella.