Simon Dormer Joins HDR as Australia’s Sustainability Leader

September 26, 2022

Simon Dormer

HDR has appointed Simon Dormer as its Australian sustainability leader in a move that cements the company's commitment to sustainable business practices and project delivery, and underpins HDR's future trajectory towards truly regenerative design.

With a background in sustainability strategy, sustainable design, emissions reporting and stakeholder engagement, Dormer's transdisciplinary experience in leading, delivering and reporting on sustainability spans a multitude of markets and sectors, ranging from energy, water, waste and climate change across architecture, local government, corporate, retail and healthcare.

Dormer will be responsible for leading sustainable design across the business and mentoring and coaching design teams to drive a sustainable design culture. He will also work closely with HDR's health, education, science, civic, justice and defense sector leads to design and deliver buildings that regenerate people, places and nature.

In his role, Dormer will champion HDR's global Regenerative Design Framework to support designers in moving beyond basic high-performance design goals towards net-positive impacts, collaborate with Indigenous consultants to bring First Nations knowledge, spirituality and biophilic design to the forefront, and work alongside architects and designers to deliver buildings that restore humans both ecologically and socially.

"With a global knowledge base and local expertise, I am looking forward to working with the team at HDR to build strong communities and grow our sustainability footprint for our business, our clients, our staff and our planet," Dormer said. "For me, sustainability is a holistic practice and consideration of upstream and downstream environmental, social and economic impacts is critical to the success of any entity - we must be the change we wish to see."

"Simon's holistic approach to sustainability and transdisciplinary thinking across architecture, local government and corporate sectors will unlock unrealized sustainability potential across the practice," said HDR Managing Principal of Architecture Cate Cowlishaw. "With both Simon's experience and our global Regenerative Design Framework in play, we have an opportunity to partner with our clients to design truly regenerative infrastructure that inspires people and improves the human condition for future generations."