Charlotte Sugden

WORK HISTORY

EDUCATION

SKILLS

ABOUT CHARLOTTE SUGDEN

Charlotte is a Chartered Associate with AtkinsRèalis and has thirteen years’ experience undertaking different styles of flood and environmental economic appraisals from high-level through to detailed assessments, developing business cases for local government and the Environment Agency. Alongside flood economic appraisals Charlotte also undertakes and assures environmental economic appraisals using a natural capital approach, via the assessment of ecosystem services using guidance and methods including CIRIA B£ST, NWEBS, ENCA etc. Alongside expertise in natural capital Charlotte is also increasingly utilising the six capitals approach (social, manufactured, human, intellectual and financial capital, all underpinned by natural capital) to assess benefits and impacts in an integrated way to inform sustainable and resilient investment decisions. Charlotte is well versed in developing compliant appraisals and documentation to support business cases in order to access funding, alongside highlighting benefits to other stakeholders to encourage shared funding and partnership working. Through her work on business cases and in understanding the need to identify innovative funding mechanisms to deliver nature based solutions Charlotte has developed a good working knowledge of funding streams and green finance to support her clients in delivering on their priorities. Charlotte is also experienced in FEH flood flow estimation techniques, flood risk and resilience studies, identifying SuDS retrofit opportunities and assessing the multiple benefits they can deliver, GIS and Strategy and Policy development. She is passionate about promoting and seeking funding for less traditional capital solutions, such as nature based solutions, such that they are funded and implemented and deliver a wide array of benefits for the environment and society.A non-technical interest for Charlotte is in business development, with a particular focus on knowledge sharing and innovation. Charlotte is the lead developer and product owner for Atkins’ in-house flood economics tool; Flood DamaGIS. This innovative tool supports all stages of flood economic appraisals and can rapidly calculate and spatially present direct property damages and other associated indirect damages such as mental health costs.Charlotte sits on the CIWEM Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management Specialist Panel and the Water Industry Forum’s Multi-Capitals Working Group.Views are her own.