Ellie Kuitunen

Based in Manchester, Ellie is a core part of our UK-wide carbon advisory team helping clients understand their carbon emissions and how to take steps to decarbonise.

She has a keen interest in behavioural change as a means to securing greater stakeholder engagement in decarbonisation programmes. Ellie has recently completed an MSc in Behaviour Change, exploring approaches to large scale retrofit of domestic properties and the strategic changes to approach required to achieve this.

Ellie joined Hydrock from Manchester City Council where, in a senior project manager role, she spearheaded a city-wide retrofit plan covering both privately owned homes and social housing to accelerate progress towards a carbon-neutral city.

By securing funding through the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund, Ellie acted as the council’s project manager during the mobilisation phase to retrofit 1,600 council-owned homes. She helped to build the delivery team, procure contractors and establish data-driven reporting structures for the long-term benefit of the scheme.

Ellie’s career track record also includes a secondment to the alliance delivering the TransPennine Route Upgrade. As Alliance People and Process Lead, she oversaw organisational development processes and improved data collection and management through automation. She also led the review of the organisational structure of Transport for the North to enable the body to adopt more devolved powers.

In the energy sector, Ellie project managed a 15-year energy masterplan for the Northern Gateway regeneration and residential development in Manchester, and as energy lead collaborated with all the engineering and technical disciplines involved. She has acted as project manager on a number of heat network feasibility studies for local authorities, supported PFI decarbonisation projects for Manchester City Council and in the nuclear sector her project management skills have been deployed by Radioactive Waste Management Ltd and the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, whilst she also reviewed technical aspects of the Development Consent Order for the proposed Wylfa Newydd power station.

Passionate about equal opportunities, Ellie has mentored students from disadvantaged backgrounds, and taken part in reverse mentoring schemes on equality, diversity and inclusion, both as a mentor and a mentee. Ellie also acts as the chair of a governing board in a school located in an impoverished area of Manchester.

Ellie is also a chartered physicist and has a doctorate in nuclear engineering.