Sustainable communities. Opening the reserve and shaping the future: what does sustainable communities mean to you?
Join us for an evening of conversation exploring how communities evolve across the built environment. Together, we'll consider the many perspectives that shape sustainable development, and how priorities and challenges shift depending on the nature of a project and the roles involved in delivering it.
This is a chance to reflect on what it really takes to create resilient, thriving communities - today and for generations to come.
Panellists
Darcy Arnold-Jones ARB RIBA
Architect and Circular Economy Lead, Marks Barfield Architects
Darcy is an Architect and Circular Economy Lead at Marks Barfield Architects, and a Circularity Consultant at Reusefully. She is also a member of the Circular Do-Tank, The Edge and ACAN.
Alongside her architectural practice, Darcy leads Marks Barfield's circular economy strategy, driving research and implementation of regenerative, resource-conscious design. She leads the practice's work on whole life carbon assessments, material reuse audits and circular design strategies, and has developed an in-house donor–recipient model to facilitate material reuse across projects.
Working closely with demolition contractors, industry specialists and project teams, Darcy champions a shift from demolition to urban mining - unlocking the value of existing buildings as material resources. Her work spans material-specific reuse strategies, the development of second-hand construction material networks, and the wider systems change needed to embed circularity across the built environment.
As a Circularity Consultant at Reusefully, Darcy advises clients on practical approaches to implementing circular economy principles in construction. Through practice, consultancy and industry advocacy, she is helping accelerate the adoption of circular, low-carbon and regenerative approaches to the built environment.
Simon Fry
Senior Development Manager, Dorchester Living
Simon is a Senior Development Manager at Dorchester Living, part of Dorchester Regeneration, with over 15 years' experience in real estate development, regeneration and placemaking. He has worked across large-scale, residential-led developments throughout his career, specialising in strategic planning, development management, land promotion, infrastructure delivery and stakeholder engagement.
Simon has been involved in the transformation of Heyford Park, Oxfordshire, since 2011 - progressing from commercial lettings and estate management into strategic development leadership. Today he plays a key role overseeing the planning, delivery and long-term evolution of one of the UK's largest mixed-use regeneration projects, helping deliver homes, employment space, community facilities, education provision, transport infrastructure and environmental enhancements as part of a sustainable new settlement.
He holds an MSc in Real Estate Management from Oxford Brookes University. His professional interests include strategic regeneration, infrastructure planning, sustainable development, community creation, and delivering complex projects through public-private collaboration.
Dipl. Ing. Jan Glasmeier, Architect BDA
Founder, Simple Architecture
Jan is a German architect holding a Diploma in Architecture from the Technical University in Darmstadt, Germany. Before moving to South-East Asia in 2010, he worked for several architecture firms including Foster + Partners in London and Abu Dhabi, and Arup in Singapore. Since 2020, he has been a guest professor at BASEhabitat, University of Arts Linz, Austria, and in January 2025 became an appointed member of the Association of German Architects (BDA).
Over the past ten years, Jan has been based on the Thai-Burma border, working with migrant communities there. Through this work, he has built strong bonds with these communities and completed around fifty projects.
Jan believes architects should embrace cultural building traditions which, over centuries, have proven energy-efficient and sustainable - knowledge often overlooked by prevailing architectural practice. His mission is to bring back low-tech methods of building that respond directly to the needs of individuals and communities.
Not part of More Than a Building but think your organisation would be interested in joining? Get in touch at info@article-25.org