AECOM's Lucy Bradbury works on projects protecting people & planet

AECOM employees are pushing the limits of what's possible. They are life-long learners who are continuously building knowledge and skills.

AECOM's People Spotlight series provides an inside look at the company's technical experts around the world - and here we meet Lucy Bradbury, AECOM's global ESG training & development lead, based in AECOM's Coral Gables office in Miami, Florida.

Throughout her career, Lucy has been passionate about up-skilling people to embed Environment, Social & Governance (ESG) into their work.

Lucy completed the Institute of Environmental Management & Assessment (IEMA) Sustainable Business Practice Diploma and PRINCE2 Project Management Practitioner courses and has been working on ESG projects at AECOM.

Working on projects that protect people and the planet

At Lucy's previous company, she was part of the client team for a construction project in Manchester, United Kingdom, refurbishing a substantial warehouse and office.

"As the project grew, I ended up spending most of my time on site and fell in love with it. As the project wrapped up, I knew I wanted to work in the industry full time, and I joined AECOM in August 2016. During my time at AECOM, I’ve been fortunate enough to have the opportunity to work on safety, sustainability and equity, diversity and inclusion programs," explains Lucy.

"They all focus on protecting people and the planet and working towards a better future, so they have more crossover than people sometimes expect. It’s important to me that the work I do makes a difference and leaves a positive legacy, and our industry is a wonderful, impactful way to do that."

Suporting of AECOM's Sustainable Legacies agenda

Lucy has developed training throughout her career, whether it be on safety, environmental compliance or LGBTQ+ issues in the industry. Lucy has appreciated the opportunity to help lead the development of AECOM's Sustainable Legacies training series over the last 18 months.

"It has been a mixture of in-person, virtual and online training covering everything from broad topics like our ESG strategy to niche technical topics like carbon modelling," says Lucy.

"It has been extremely rewarding to have the opportunity to train tens of thousands of people, to teach them how to deliver sustainable legacies and to see the results of that training. It’s also given me the chance to work with industry leaders in the ESG space across the world, and finally meet some of our UK and U.S. teams in person after a three-year hiatus due to the pandemic, and ultimately move to our U.S. East region."

Supporting impactful community projects

A huge believer in the idea that "no one gets left behind" as we transition to a lower carbon and more just world, Lucy's work at AECOM has positively impacted the community.

Lucy cites an example of her involvement in The Land Collective in London. Lucy worked on The Land Collective's ESG Launchpad program to design training covering the value proposition of ESG, aimed at creating pathways for young people into skilled, sustainable green jobs and ensuring that its teams reflect the diversity of the clients and communities it serves.

"Thanks to the fantastic efforts of The Land Collective, the program had a diverse cohort, and it was an honor to teach the class and give back to the community. The passion and knowledge of the participants was inspirational," adds Lucy.

Sharing her career advice

Finally, Lucy shares some valuable career advice inspired by a talk led by AECOM President, Lara Poloni.

"Her advice was to say yes to everything! It hasn’t steered me wrong yet. As long as you can keep a work-life balance, take all the opportunities you can get, that’s what makes work, and life, interesting, and it’s certainly kept me on my toes!" explains Lucy.