Nick Corne is Director of Environment and Consenting at NIRAS, with responsibility for oversight of the company’s environmental projects across Asia in the offshore market. In this role, Nick is responsible for project delivery, client management, and for a team of environmental consultants based in Taipei, Taiwan. The team works predominantly within the offshore wind sector, with some work on subsea telecommunications cables. Nick cites his most exciting and interesting projects as being those in the wind sector, and is particularly proud of his team's contribution to securing finance for an offshore wind project in Taiwan.
Following a master’s degree in Coastal Zone Management, Nick began working for a marine aggregate company in their consenting team. At the time, he had been concerned that working for a developer might impact his environmental credentials, however he soon realised that this was not the case! Following this, he began working for an engineering and environmental consultancy, and has gradually gained experience in marine ecology, environmental assessments, project management, and business development.
Within these roles, Nick has been involved in some high-profile projects around the world, including 7-star hotels in Dubai, coastal management projects, and offshore wind projects in both Taiwan and the UK. His most memorable project to date has been working on a Scottish offshore wind farm project for which the main opponent was Donald Trump who objected on the grounds of visual impact. The evidence Nick and his team presented contributed to the decision by the Scottish Government in favour of the developer. Of the outcome, Nick notes: “I felt a sense of pride that I was able to contribute to the offshore wind industry and the democratic process of consent.”
Nick became a member of the IES in 2017, and in 2018 achieved Chartered Environmentalist status. “I felt the IES provided me with an ideal platform to evidence my environmental skills and to keep these updated. This has become even more important with my overseas posting and provided me with a connection to my home market.”
Prior to his career in environmental consultancy, Nick worked as an English language teacher and greatly enjoyed the teaching process. In the future, he would like to return to teaching in an academic setting at a local university.
