Darren Bilsborough has been appointed director of urban innovation at Woods Bagot with a vision to provide strategic advice pertaining to integrated design and systems thinking and its application to solving complex problems.
Woods Bagot describes urban innovation as being about delivering integrated design solutions for precinct scale development.
Through integrated design solutions, it is possible to maximise value to built form and minimise risk to future urban resilience.
Bilsborough said:
“Urban prosperity in Australia is being challenged by the side-effects of success, including traffic congestion, resource scarcity and escalating housing costs.
The enormity of the cost impact on business and communities is only now being realised and is not sustainable. These are hard but not intractable problems.”
“We can create exciting and functional mixed-use buildings and ‘people friendly’ business precincts to address these impacts and deliver key outcomes which should include; improved productivity, competitiveness, liveability and sustainability; and a development industry that enjoys lower cost finance through lower risk, improved processes and higher value assets,” said Bilsborough.
Woods Bagot said that the goals of urban innovation will be achieved through a combination of applied research, corporate strategy and business case development and the harnessed creativity of a multi-disciplinary design team representing all aspects of the built environment in support of amenity, liveability, productivity and sustainability within our urban settings.
Woods Bagot’s managing director Ross Donaldson:
“Darren’s expertise in sustainability combined with his knowledge and understanding of urban issues, makes him perfectly placed to lead Woods Bagot in creating integrated, intelligent solutions for our clients.”
About Darren Bilsborough:
Bilsborough is an Adjunct Professor of Sustainability at Curtin University Sustainability Policy (CUSP) Institute and a director of the Green Building Council of Australia.
He has experience as a sustainability advisor and green building advocate and has been consulting for over 27 years in a variety of areas including; building services, energy efficiency, asset management, infrastructure, sustainability, resilient cities, business planning, strategic risk management and governance.
