Tara Gbolade is Co-Founding Director of Gbolade Design Studio and a Mayor’s Design Advocate. She is a winner of the UK Net Zero Climate Champions Powerlist and an RIBAJ Rising Star winner. An Architect and Passivhaus designer with expertise in net-zero design and deep retrofit, Tara’s over 15-year experience in sustainability sees her lead strategic design and policy work for varying client groups including the development of the Harlow & Gilston Garden Town Sustainability Strategy (shortlisted for the Urban Design Group awards), with contributions to the industry-leading LETI Retrofit Guide and the GLA’s Net-Zero initiatives. Tara sits on the Board of Trustees at the UK Green Building Council (UKGBC) and is on the steering group of Architects Declare: organisations addressing our climate emergency. Her design expertise sees her sit on Design Review Panels including; RBKC and Lambeth Councils - advising on major planning applications in and around London. As a Founding Member of the Paradigm Network, Tara champions Black and Asian representation in the built environment. She has previously held strategic roles at: Public Practice, Quality of Life Foundation, and Guys & St Thomas Impact on Urban Health. As a Co-Founding Director of the Gbolade Design Studio, Lanre Gbolade’s expertise lies in medium to large scale sustainable residential architecture, Offsite Construction, Design for Manufacture & Assembly (DfMA) and design management. He has a passion for and expertise in all things Digital, Innovation, Off-site Construction & collaborative working. He has worked with some of the largest developers in London as well as successfully leading the MMC and DfMA transformation programmes for the one of the UK’s leading Housing Associations. He is a Design Review Panel member for Oxford, Ebbsfleet Design Forum and Design South East, as well as a Part 3 Examiner for Newcastle University. Lanre is a founding committee member of the Paradigm Network: a professional network championing Black and Asian representation in the built environment. He’s also proud to have co-created the Architects’ App as one of the studio’s self-initiated projects and a gift to the industry. He volunteers his time to support Build Studios and Naked House as a Board Director and was an elected RIBA Council Member between 2017-2020.