Helen Udale-Clarke
Helen has been our Sustainability Programme Manager since 2022, focusing on enabling HR Wallingford to adapt, grow and make more sustainable choices – in the short and long term. Her current role builds on 30 years’ experience in the drainage industry and 25 years at HR Wallingford.
What made you want to pursue a career in drainage?
When I was studying civil and structural engineering at the University of Sheffield, I had the opportunity to do an MPhil funded by the European Commission, with my time split between Sheffield and Warsaw, Poland. With the encouragement of one of my professors, this research was in drainage. It then caught my interest and things just continued on from there. It’s given me the opportunity to do a lot of interesting work, both in the UK and overseas.
What made you move from drainage to sustainability?
The company decided to look at how it could become more sustainable as a business, and I was lucky to be part of the working group. About that time, I was also looking at how I could make changes to my career to challenge me. Sustainability felt like a perfect fit, so I enrolled myself on a short course with the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership to learn more. After that, the opportunity came up for managing the sustainability programme, which was exciting as well as timely.
How useful have your past experiences been for your current job?
There was one particular project – the UK’s first UK's Climate Change Risk Assessment (CCRA) – that gave me lots of the skills that I still apply now. The total project value was £3.5 million, and I was involved throughout, from 2009 to 2014.
The project was the first of its kind and I learned a great deal about effective communication, especially talking about complex and contentious topics with people. It also honed my skills of working collaboratively with people from different sectors and technical disciplines. Until then, I’d mostly worked within the bubble of the water sector – it was a steep learning curve. But I like that.
Are there any other projects you feel particularly proud of?
I’m proud of my role as project manager and co-author of The SuDS (Sustainable Drainage Systems) Manual, published by CIRIA. My colleague, Bridget Woods Ballard, was responsible for bringing the technical expertise, and did an amazing job.
What’s exciting now is that Bridget and I have the opportunity to work with some of our previous co-authors and key experts in the industry to update the manual, as part of the Ofwat Innovation Funded Rainwater Management Platform.
What do you enjoy most about your sustainability role?
There are two main things: the people I work with – it’s lovely working with people from across the business and getting to know them and their work; and learning new things, because I enjoy constantly learning something new.
What does sustainability mean for HR Wallingford?
For HR Wallingford, sustainability is at the core of what we do and fundamental to our purpose of living and working sustainably with water.
Helen in the Flood Resilient Garden
Helen With Bridget Woods Ballard
Helen in one of our garden rooms at Kestrel House
Helen with sustainability team members.
Helen with her dog
Helen being interviewed by Belle during her work experience
How does your job impact the community?
Ultimately everything that the company does has an impact on society as well as the environment. At HR Wallingford, we aim to increase this positive impact, both locally, nationally and at the global scale. We use the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to help us to define and monitor this impact.
We also deliver social value for the local community through our STEM outreach work and via our business park, Howbery Park. We work hard to encourage a sense of community on the park, as well as supporting a healthy work-life balance. The park is open to all and we provide opportunities for the local community, as well as tenants and employees, to enjoy the grounds, which include nature-friendly gardens (such as the Flood Re Flood Resilient Garden) and biodiverse habitats that we’re continually improving. My role is to see where there are opportunities to enhance what we are already doing.
What sort of challenges does your current job involve?
My role includes making sure that the initiatives that we undertake related to sustainability provide real, measurable value to the business – our sustainability priorities are the company’s priorities. These inevitably change over time, so we need to be flexible and responsive to new information.
Another challenge is bringing everybody with us. Communication is exceedingly important, and needs to be two-way. We’ve got to listen and not just give information out to people, so that people continue to engage with us and give us plenty of feedback. It can take time to incorporate feedback – we need to contextualize it and weave it into what we’re doing. If not made clear, people can understandably wonder what’s going on and why they bothered to raise concerns or share ideas.
What do you enjoy outside of work?
I love walking my dog; we have beautiful woods behind us and many of our family holidays are walking holidays. But if I have any spare time to myself, then there is little I enjoy more than putting my feet up with a good coffee and a good book.
*Helen was interviewed by Belle from Didcot Girls' School while on work experience at HR Wallingford.
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