Our Wates Construction business appoints social value and sustainability leads
Our Wates Construction business has strengthened its social and environmental sustainability team, appointing Sasha Simmonds into a new Head of Social Value role and Josh Steiner as Head of Sustainability.
These appointments reinforce the firm’s commitment to creating meaningful social value for communities and delivering a more sustainable built environment. They come as we continue to grow our social and environmental sustainability offering, with the Group generating £464m of social value in 2025.
Sasha joined in 2024, having worked alongside the company through the supply chain since 2017. Through roles including Head of Social Value at O’Neill & Brennan, Sasha brings valuable experience developing programmes to create employment opportunities, including supporting more than 300 people serving prison sentences into employment through the release on temporary licence scheme. In her new position, Sasha will lead the next phase of our Wates Construction business’s social value strategy, strengthening strategic partnerships and devising specialist programmes that create lasting benefits for local communities.
Josh has spent nearly a decade shaping Wates Construction’s sustainability approach, building on experience gained through former sustainability leadership positions in the public and third sectors. As Head of Sustainability, he will lead the delivery of the five-year sustainability roadmap, driving action to reduce carbon emissions and support the transition to net zero through more efficient use of resources.
Our projects have the potential to create opportunities that extend far beyond the buildings themselves. The strongest social value comes from understanding what communities need, working with the right local partners and creating programmes that can deliver meaningful, long-term outcomes.
“Having worked with Wates through the supply chain and now from within the business, I’ve seen what we can achieve when that thinking is embedded from the outset. My focus will be on building on that approach, strengthening our partnerships and creating opportunities that make a lasting difference to the people and places connected to our projects.”
Sasha Simmonds
Head of Social Value, Wates Construction
The built environment has a significant role to play in the transition to net zero, driving resource efficiency and leading nature recovery. Achieving this requires us to turn ambition into practical action across the way projects are designed, planned, procured and delivered.
“Wates has already made strong progress against its sustainability goals. The next phase is about building on those foundations through cross-functional ownership and collaboration with our customers, partners and supply chain to reduce carbon, use resources more efficiently and make sustainability an integral part of the decisions we all take throughout the project lifecycle.”
Josh Steiner
Head of Sustainability, Wates Construction
Our customers are increasingly looking at us to help them address some of their biggest long-term challenges, from decarbonising their projects and making better use of resources to creating jobs, skills and opportunities in the communities they serve.
“We believe the industry has an opportunity to go further than simply responding to those requirements. By bringing social value and sustainability thinking into projects from the outset, we can help our customers make better-informed decisions and deliver outcomes that create value well beyond the completion of a building.
“Sasha and Josh bring the expertise and leadership to help us do that. Their appointments strengthen our ability to work with customers and partners to turn ambitious social and environmental sustainability objectives into practical, measurable outcomes, while continuing to challenge ourselves and the wider industry on what responsible construction can deliver.”
Steff Battle
Executive Managing Director, Wates Construction
