KLH’s story
I was someone who rocked the boat, and it became obvious to me that despite all the collaborative relationships I had invested in and the positive impact I had, I was considered an awkward boat rocker by many in senior leadership.
In 2006, a few years into my career, I started work on the Olympic Programme. I was rather daunted by the complexity of the project and the challenge of delivering ‘the most sustainable Olympic and Paralympic Games ever’.
My theoretical knowledge of sustainability was good, after spending a year studying Engineering for Sustainable Development at Cambridge University, but practical implementation was a different matter altogether!
I spent four years workshopping with design teams, creating assessment and reporting procedures, briefing contractors and engaging with supply chain partners. By getting to know everybody involved and everything about this mega-project, I created an extensive network to call upon to make change happen.
I was direct, driven and focussed… it didn’t go unnoticed. I was someone who rocked the boat, and it became obvious to me that despite all the collaborative relationships I had invested in and the positive impact I had, I was considered an awkward boat rocker by many in senior leadership.
In 2010, so evidently overlooked for a promotion that even my colleague who was handed the promotion apologised, I decided to build my own boat. Slowly (and somewhat surprisingly, for I never had any real business plan) my boat started to attract people with a clear drive to challenge the status quo that exists in our sector.
The first year was incredibly hard. My own mother, who is one of my greatest supporters, must have asked me at least three or four times “Are you sure you shouldn’t take that job with Balfour Beatty?”
Then contracts started coming in and I employed my first KLHer. Slowly, KLH became a respected voice of ambition and challenge, invited into the boardrooms, on to the stage at international conferences and given a seat around the project leadership table.
As our reputation for direct and honest advice, focussed on clear actions and implementable strategy grew, so did our team. Two become six and then ten with a serious post-Brexit wobble in between.
When I started on this journey, never would I have imagined that our client list would include some of the most impactful UK organisations in the built environment including The Crown Estate, Urban & Civic, Balfour Beatty, Morgan Sindall, McLaren Construction and Bidwells. Nor did I dream that we would be collaborating with global organisations such as Google, Sky and the International Olympic Committee. However, it is testament to what KLH offers; honest, transparent advice that is supported by robust technical analysis and a wealth of completed project experience.
For more than a decade, we have actively sought to diversify our team so that we not only help to create places and businesses that are respectful to the natural environment and last generations, but also reflect the values of the communities we work with. Our transition to employee ownership in 2021 felt like an obvious one. It allows us to continue our pursuit of a fairer, more inclusive way of doing business. It embeds our approach into the fabric of the business structure, ensuring that business growth respects the core values that are fundamental to our success.
– Kirsten Henson
