Rachel champions the role of the built environment in supporting health. A qualified landscape architect, she has designed streets and public spaces in the UK, Ireland, India and Nepal, and has managed social housing and delivered town centre regeneration.

Rachel worked for the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment, advising local authorities, developers and designers on development and regeneration proposals across England. She has led advocacy, research and guidance projects on health and the built environment, including for the NHS Healthy New Towns initiative and for Design Council’s Creating Healthy Places programme. Rachel is now part of Public Health England’s Healthy Places Unit, where she works across government to drive up the performance of the built environment to better support population health.

She leads on built environment for London’s Child Obesity Taskforce, stimulating cross-sector action to create more active, playful streets across the capital. She is a member of the design review panels for Wandsworth in London and for St Cuthbert’s urban extension in Carlisle. Rachel is part of Wandsworth Living Streets, campaigning for people-friendly streets in south-west London, and sits on the board of a Transport for London innovation project to improve town centre streets for pedestrians.