Mace announces new Global Head of Responsible Business

Mace has appointed a new responsible business lead who will take up the reins later this year.

James Low, who currently oversees the company’s world-wide responsible business service offer for consultancy and facilities management will take over as Global Head of Responsible Business in May. 

James, who has been with Mace for eight years, has been instrumental in the company’s drive to reduce industry carbon emissions. He played a key role in the development of Mace’s net zero carbon strategy, ‘Steps without Footprints’, and has led a strong period of growth for the consultancy business.

James takes over from Isabel McAllister who has led the responsible business division of Mace for the last 10 years. With Isabel’s strategic counsel, the construction and consultancy business has set and achieved some ambitious targets, including becoming a net zero carbon business in 2020. 

In 2020, Mace published its new business strategy that set out clear targets for 2026. Central to the strategy is the ambition to accelerate the built environment’s response to the climate emergency. The strategic priority – to pursue a sustainable world – centres around targets to reduce Mace’s own carbon emissions by 10% year-on-year, while delivering1m tonnes of client carbon emissions, and creating 500 hectares of biodiversity net gain. The company has also set a target to create £700m of value to society by 2026.

James Low, Global Head of Responsible Business, Mace, said: 
“This is an incredibly exciting and important time to be providing Responsible Business services. At Mace we have a global platform and opportunity to deliver purpose-led projects and programmes that will help accelerate the response to the climate emergency, create social value, and generate biodiversity net gains for governments, businesses and individuals. These are no longer future problems – we have to act now, and I’m looking forward to working with colleagues and peers to speed up and scale up our impact.”

Mark Holmes, Deputy Chairman, Mace, said: 
“We are more determined than ever to bring about positive change in our industry. We have many carbon challenges to overcome - retrofitting existing buildings, understanding the full lifecycle impacts of new buildings and tackling embodied carbon – and the only way we will succeed is if we step out of our comfort zone, challenge ourselves to think differently, and work collaboratively across the industry.”