A leading land, consent management and stakeholder engagement practice which has an office in London has made a senior appointment to further expand its work in the utilities sector after a strong period of growth.
Ardent, which has offices across the UK and Ireland, has appointed Helen Boyle as Head of Strategic Growth for Utilities on the back of securing significant instructions with National Gas, National Grid and Thames Water.
Helen has worked in the utilities sector for more than a decade including roles with Cadent, Electricity North West and SSE Energy Solutions.
Ardent made the appointment at a key time for the industry, with the Government making key policy decisions around infrastructure to crowd-in private investment.
Helen’s role will be identifying opportunities to grow in the ‘movement’ of electricity, gas, water, carbon and hydrogen.
Helen said: “I am very pleased to join Ardent at an exciting time for the business and, indeed, for the industry.
“The company is already making great strides in this area and has landed significant instructions on major projects. My role is to build on what is already here and take it to a new level.
“I will bring a strategic approach to how we grow this area of the business at a point where there is more money than ever going into infrastructure. Ardent and our teams can have a big part to play in that.
“We need more wires; we need more pipes in the ground. It goes beyond water and electricity, there are hydrogen projects and carbon capture that need this level of infrastructure investment for the UK to transition to net zero, and that requires the services of Ardent.
“I’ve built up several years of experience within the utilities sector and I am now looking forward to using that knowledge on the agency-side with Ardent, at what is such an exciting time.”
Ardent recently surpassed the 200-staff mark and is already heading towards 250, such is the company’s pace of growth.
Jon Stott, Group Managing Director, said: “We can see so much potential for growth across the business, but we can only achieve that if we work as hard as we possibly can to keep and hire the best people to help us realise our ambitions.
“Helen has an excellent track record and breadth of knowledge that will help us to build on the already significant progress we’ve made within our utilities division.
“There is so much investment being earmarked for infrastructure and we want to be part of that. As a business, we’re proud to play an important role in such key projects for the country, and Helen will help us to grow that further.”
For more information, visit the Ardent website.
