Listed below are personal profiles for each of our key team leaders:
Andy Harrop, Managing Director
Andy holds a BSc in Chemistry, a MSc in Environmental Management and a MBA from Warwick Business School. He is the Director of CRA's UK office and has worked extensively as a project manager in the environmental management field primarily around the UK/Europe but also in North and South America and the Far East.
Andy's particular experience is in Environmental Management Systems - ISO14001 and EMAS, Environmental Auditing, Health and Safety / Integrated Management Systems -OHSAS18001, Environmental Training and Operations Permitting (IPC/IPPC). He has implemented over 20 EMS's to ISO14001, project managed/directed 15 IPPC applications, and undertaken global SHE policy and strategy development for some of the world's largest companies.
Andy is an IEMA Registered Environmental Auditor, a Chartered Chemist/Member of the Royal Society of Chemistry and has worked in the Chemical, Electronics, Food and Drink, Engineering and Oil and Gas Industries.
Jim Gott, Commercial Director
Jim holds a BEng in Civil and Structural Engineering and is Commercial Director of CRA Europe. He also leads CRA's Land and Property team. Jim specialises in assisting clients with the technical and financial risk management of contamination issues for operational sites and during acquisition and divestiture projects. As part of this work he has led numerous due diligence, site investigation and remediation projects as well as assisting with various aspects of operational improvement programmes.
Jim has managed and undertaken due diligence and compliance audits, site investigations, probabilistic risk assessments and remediation projects for national and international clients in the UK and across Europe and has worked on projects in France, Germany, Ireland, Belgium, Norway, Sweden, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Czech Republic and Bulgaria. He has worked across a variety of business sectors including heavy industrial/manufacturing, chemical manufacturing, distribution, food processing, property development, petrochemical and nuclear industries.
Alistair Blackwell, Associate Director
Alistair has extensive experience of regulation and permitting, which he acquired initially with the regulation of EPA Part B processes and general nuisance under the Environmental Protection Act in 1992. Following a period in policy work in Local Government, the regulation of industry continued to be the main theme of his career after joining the EA, where he specialised in the regulation of major industry under PPC.
He has a wealth of experience of various industries having been the site inspector for a substantial number of sites. His role covered the permitting, compliance assessment and regular inspection of 20 sites as well as auditing as part of a team on a number of others. Inspection themes include: emissions to water and air, bulk storage facilities, abatement trains, fugitive releases, maintenance and management systems.
Sectors represented in his portfolio include Combustion Plant (LCPD), Crude Oil and Gas handling, Speciality Organic Chemical manufacture, Bulk Inorganic and Organic Chemical manufacture and processing, Electroplating and Food and Drink. As temporary member of the Strategic Permitting Group, predominantly servicing the Food and Drink sector, which was new to the IPC/PPC regime Alistair was responsible for overseeing the production of permits by consultants as well as dealing with contentious sites.
Nigel Leehane, Manager, Environmental Management Services
Having a considerable breadth of environmental consultancy and related industrial experience, Nigel specialises in supporting organisations in improving their environmental and sustainability performance. An experienced auditor, he works at corporate and project level to identify risks and opportunities, and to develop programmes to deliver improvement. He has guided more than 20 organisations in the development and implementation of ISO14001 environmental management systems as a means of meeting these goals. He is involved in or managing a number of IPPC projects in various sectors. He is an experienced trainer and facilitator, and has developed and presented courses and workshops ranging from advanced EMS auditing to the development of corporate sustainability targets. His environmental consultancy experience also includes environmental impact assessment, contaminated land investigation and environmental monitoring.
Nigel is an advisor to the UK Government's Envirowise Helpline, supporting primarily industrial organisations in IPPC, environmental management and waste minimisation. He works closely with certification organisations, providing technical support to ISO14001 certification teams and training for firms involved in EMS implementation.He represents IEMA on the BSI Standards Committee SES/1/2 Environmental auditing and related environmental investigations.
He has broad industry experience, including primarily manufacturing (including engineering, automotive components, ceramics, textiles, printing), mining and quarrying; construction, infrastructure and land development. Nigel has worked in many countries, including Belgium, Germany, Czech Republic, Romania, Bulgaria, Belarus, Azerbaijan, Pakistan, Egypt and Hong Kong
