Who Living Places Is

Partner / Co-Founder

London

Contact Rufus

Rufus had a 23 year career in mainstream finance until 2019, qualifying as a chartered accountant, working as an equity analyst, equity salesperson, being CFO of an AdTech startup and running a 100 person credit and equity research team for a large investment bank. 

Before co-founding Living Places in 2023, Rufus worked at Bankers without Boundaries (BwB), focused on built environment transition, conceiving of the Net Zero Neighbourhood (NZN) model and working with a range of collaboration partners and local and national public sector entities in the UK and across Europe to further develop it.

While at BwB, Rufus co-authored the original outline of the NZN model, both the "City Investment Analysis Report" and "The Case for a National Net Zero Neighbourhoods Programme" with Alex (found on the 3Ci website) as well as a whitepaper on the model.

Rufus is also co-founder of Mettle Capital, a data startup that uses machine reading to create ESG materiality and sentiment data on individual companies, and of hospitality operator BloodandSand.

He sits on the ESG Advisory Board of Mears Group Plc and is a member of the Scottish Government Green Heat Finance Taskforce, the Department of Energy Security & Net Zero Heat Pump Affordability Working Group, the National Retrofit Hub Finance  & Delivery Working Groups,   

the Innovate UK Thriving Places Programme Advisory Board and is seconded to the Local Net Zero team at DESNZ.

Partner / Co-Founder

London

Contact John

John worked in the structured finance market for 23 years, arranging and underwriting sub-investment grade capital for projects and acquisitions, latterly as Co-Head of one of the largest European leveraged finance teams.

In 2007 John moved into the social sector as a provider of alternative capital principally with Impetus (venture philanthropy) and Social and Sustainable Capital (social investment and social housing finance) but also working on payments by results structures and crowd funding. At SASC John led the financing for Heart of England Community Energy - one of the largest community-owned solar farms in England.

Linked to providing capital has been a focus on measuring impact as a funder, fundee and in an advisory capacity, helping to build Trust Impact, a leading impact and data consultancy in the social sector.

Over the past sixteen years John has worked in executive, non-executive and advisory roles with numerous community-based organisations and is currently chair of Cook of Good, a social enterprise addressing food poverty and social isolation on a housing estate and PiP, a local charity supporting adults with learning differences.

Most recently John was a strategic adviser to the Green Finance Institute supporting development of the Net Zero Neighbourhood funding model and exploration of a property linked finance instrument to fund domestic building retrofit. 

Partner / Co-Founder

Edinburgh

Contact Cat

Cat works with communities and stakeholders to design and test innovative solutions to complex challenges. She brings experience and insight from a career spanning cross-sector and multidisciplinary collaboration and innovation, community and sustainable development, research and education.

At Dark Matter Labs she worked with the Neighbourhood Transitions team to develop a portfolio of place-based approaches to community- and citizen-centred climate transition. This included designing a Net Zero Communities demonstrator programme, a model for community-led retrofit and an outcomes-based funding framework as part of a wider funding model for Net Zero Neighbourhoods.

At the University of Edinburgh, she led a Living Lab partnership with local government, civic organisations and data and technology partners that developed innovative prototypes and pilots for improving urban infrastructure. Together with colleagues she developed the Living Lab from a fledgling initiative into a pioneering programme for data- and design-led collaboration and co-creation at the Edinburgh Futures Institute.

For more than a decade Cat lived, worked and travelled across West, East and southern Africa, Central and South America, Japan and Europe. Along the way she helped a charity restructure their model to centre local leadership, created engaging educational experiences for adults and young people, and designed development  programmes at the intersection of public health and sustainable agriculture.

Partner / Co-Founder

Bristol

Contact Alex

Alex has spent his working life trying to stop environmental harm, from reducing pollution of water bodies, through minimising use of raw materials to his particular focus of eliminating greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. His background in both engineering and anthropology enables him to bring the technical and social components together to reflect the realities of these challenges.

At Eunomia Alex developed from scratch the climate practice which has specialised in addressing the most challenging emissions, in particular those associated with our places and neighbourhoods. He has helped develop a number of regional decarbonisation strategies for major local authorities. Building on this, he co-wrote the Net Zero Neighbourhood Business Case with Rufus, and has subsequently supported a number of local authorities in progressing demonstration projects.

Alex has also been heavily involved in developing decarbonisation strategies and action plans for many organisations where operations and supply chains are complex and do not fit within traditional accounting methods, giving him a deep insight into how to address the full range of potential challenges in decarbonisation of our places.

Prior to his time at Eunomia, Alex was deputy head at an international boarding school where he designed and delivered a far reaching and innovative environmental education programme that took a multi-disciplinary approach for students of over 25 different nationalities. As part of this he became a qualified mountain leader to enable him to balance the scientific, social, and practical.

Partner

London

Contact Elizabeth

Elizabeth is an interdisciplinary cities and built environment specialist with over 20 years of experience spanning local and central government, consultancy, academia and the charitable sector. Elizabeth brings a proven ability to work across and between disciplines to build the partnerships and consensus needed to create better places.

While Assistant Director of Strategy for Homes England, Elizabeth led the development of the Agency’s 2023-28 Strategic Plan as well as major strategic initiatives on topics including sustainability and design quality and modern methods of construction. Prior to Homes England Elizabeth led on strategic planning and housing strategy for Meridian Water, the London Borough of Enfield’s flagship £7 billion regeneration of an 85-hectare site.

Elizabeth holds a doctorate in Urban Sustainability and Resilience from University College London and is the author of a number of publications on urban and regional planning, governance, sustainability and climate change. As Director of Research and Advisory Services for the Urban Land Institute Europe, she led numerous research and thought leadership projects, and supported local government clients across Europe with complex use issues.

Alongside her role at Living Places, Elizabeth is the founding director of Polygon Place Strategy, whose mission is to make strategic advice meaningful, accessible and tailored to the unique challenges faced by changemakers working in the built environment. She is a Non-Executive Director at Graven Hill Village Development Company, which is creating the UK’s largest self- and custom-build community, and Publica Community Interest Company, which works to foster gender inclusive cities. 

Partner

London

Contact Fiona

Fiona has 20 years’ experience of place-based environmental, social and economic innovation and delivery, working at the intersection of community, public and private sectors.

Prior to joining Living Places, Fiona spent 10 years at environmental and community regeneration charity Groundwork. There, she led strategic development and oversaw the creation and delivery of key programme areas in London. She supported green economy sector development including skills development as part of the Mayor’s Green Sector Academy, delivered a new model for sustainable retail, and developed carbon finance-led approaches to key areas of work.

Fiona was a Commissioner on the Mayor’s London Green Space Commission looking at the future funding and sustainability of green space; a Director of Brixton Green, developing a community land trust model for urban development; and has sat on various advisory groups. Prior to this, Fiona led on the community engagement and community and economic development strategies for the UK’s first Eco Town at NW Bicester during its planning stages and coordinated the professional team. She also has a background in charity, university and planning public affairs and started her career as Political Assistant and Constituency Office Manager for Harriet Harman KC MP.

Fiona holds an MBA from the University of Cambridge Judge Business School, where she was a Sainsbury Scholar.

Partner

Bristol

Contact David

David qualified as a Chartered Accountant with Deloitte & Touche and subsequently spent ten years working in the financial services sector before deciding to switch to a new career aligned to his keen interest in combatting climate change and subsequently studied for an MSc in Renewable Energy and the Built Environment (Distinction) at the Centre for Alternative Technology.

Following completion of his MSc, he took up a role delivering retrofit programmes with Bristol City Council's nascent Energy Service which, over time, grew to become a 35-strong team delivering one of the largest zero carbon infrastracture programmes in the public sector, including a city-wide heat network, wind and solar PV energy generation, public and private energy efficiency programmes. 

In 2018, David progressed to leading the Council's Energy Service and City Leap programme, the latter being an innovative, strategic approach to decarbonisation at city-scale through pubilc private partnership, which aims to deliver £1bn of net zero infrastructure investment in Bristol's energy system over the course of a 20-year partnership.  Following the conclusion of a complex procurement for a private sector Strategic Partner in January 2023, he transferred to the Bristol City Leap joint venture, alongside the Energy Service team, to become its Operations Director. 

Having overseen the transition and integration of the team, he left Bristol City Leap in April 2024 and is now pursuing a range of opportunities to support the rapid achievement of net zero.

David was recently nominated for the Net Zero Energy Pioneer Award at The Green Energy Awards for his work on Bristol City Leap. 

Associate

Oxford

Contact Petra

Petra works with policy makers and communities to design and deploy effective and inclusive approaches to decarbonisation. She employs her interdisciplinary knowledge to translate scientifically sound advice into well-designed policy. Her experience bridges the private sector and academia. Aside from working at Living Places, Petra is currently studying for an MSc in Environmental Change and Management at the University of Oxford where she is researching economic and financial policy mechanisms for renewable energy innovation and deployment. 

Prior to joining Living Places, Petra spent three years at Eunomia Research & Consulting where she helped develop decarbonisation plans for several UK Local Authorities and conducted decarbonisation related research for UK Government departments. 

Petra is active in civil society engagement and brings stakeholder engagement skills gained from years of volunteering with activist organisations, having organised and coordinated protests focused on motivating local governments to take steps towards transport and energy decarbonisation.