The first confirmed keynote speaker for this 12^th version of the World Conference on Timber Engineering 2021, is the winner of the “Outstanding Woman in Construction Award” in the Awards of Excellence of the Vancouver Regional Construction Association of 2017.

She also co-founded Building Technology Innovations, a building technology incubator that provides services to diverse firms as a means to push innovative ideas and sustainability in the construction industry. In fact, in a presentation on Procuring Innovation at the Pacific Association of Quantity Surveyors Congress 2017, she stated that “Construction is the number one solution provider for climate change in the urbanisation crisis, so we have to stop getting it wrong”. And, consequently, she has been advocating for a long time for R+D investment, training and education encourage a transformational change in the industry.

Currently, Helen is the Principal, and Head of Research & Innovation at SCIUS Advisory, as well as serving on the National Zero Waste Council’s construction taskforce, at CanBIM. She also worked as chair of the United Nations Sustainable Building and Climate Initiative’s technical committee that promotes sustainable buildings worldwide. Moreover, she served at the Canadian Construction Association in the Corporate Social Responsibility Taskforce, where she assessed firms to work in a more sustainable manner.

In her own words, “It is now imperative to effect a paradigm shift in the way policies are developed, businesses are run and how limited resources are deployed”.