Stephen O'Malley
CEO Civic Engineers & ICE NW Chair
Stephen is a Founding Director of Civic Engineers, he is passionate about urban infrastructure and sets about his work aiming to engineer less; this is about clustering and proximity, reaching first for nature-based solutions and applying these principles with a high degree of emotional intelligence.
The skills Stephen has developed to engineer healthy, active and attractive urban neighbourhoods are broad – civil, transport, highways, flood risk, drainage, utilities, structures, ground remediation engineering – to name some. Stephen’s fusion and practice of these engineering skills enables the creation of inspirational public spaces that have a positive impact on the environment and enable people to lead healthier and happier lives. This broader, more creative and inclusive approach sets Civic Engineers practice apart and has seen Stephen recognised as an industry expert in his field. With a role as an Architecture & Design Scotland Panellist, Membership of the Academy of Urbanism, a Design Council Associate and a New London Architecture Expert Panel Member for Wellbeing.
Climate sensitivity and its protection has been a founding feature of our Practice since its inception and it is embedded in our vision, our values and our designs. Stephen advocates for this agenda through his roles as the Chair of the Manchester Climate Change Partnership (MCCP) Net Zero New Build Task Force, Ministry of Housing and Local Government (MHCLG) High Streets Task Force Expert, Department for Levelling up, Housing and Communities Design Code Pathfinder and as the Chair of the ICE North West.
Session: 15 Minute Cities - Accessibility is Gold, Mobility is Not
Our society has experienced a series of unprecedented climatic, cultural, medical and technological changes over the last ten years. These have fundamentally changed our life expectations and what we understood was our destiny. We have realised that driving a fossil fuelled car in Penzance contributes to global warming, raising sea levels and increasing the frequency and severity of rainfall in Betws-y-Coed and coastal flooding in Southend on Sea.
We have at our fingertips the ability to access news and information from across the world. Markets and investors make commercial decisions and take action on political, natural disaster or competitor events that have real world consequences on our cost of living, in the time it takes Elon Musk to eat his cereal in the morning.
Our connectedness, sharing of personal data and our understanding of what that means has accelerated as we lived through the pandemic. We access medical, banking, workplace, educational and social platforms virtually, embracing the convenience and ease with which this contactless world allows us to glide effortlessly from one space to the next.
Our built environment needs to adapt to these changes and support lifestyles that are focused on accessibility, positive choices of shorter trips, 15 minute cities.