Global engineering firm Egis has appointed Afshan Rasheed as Head of Environment to lead its dedicated environmental consultancy practice.

The service will sit alongside Egis’s existing energy, water and transport teams, bringing specialist environmental capability, including environmental impact assessment (EIA) and environmental services, to the full lifecycle of the firm’s infrastructure and engineering projects.

Based between York and London, Afshan brings more than 25 years of experience in the environmental sector. She has held senior leadership roles at major engineering consultancies and built a reputation for developing high-performing teams, integrating environmental expertise at scale, and enabling the next generation of sector talent. Her appointment signals Egis’s ambition to become a leading voice on environmental matters across the UK.

In her new role, Afshan will lead the growth of Egis’s environment services across the UK. Her team will provide environmental support across the firm’s major project portfolio, ensuring sustainability considerations are integrated from the earliest stages of project planning through to delivery.

The appointment comes at a time of significant demand for environmental expertise across the UK’s infrastructure sector, with a recognised shortage of experienced professionals in areas such as EIA, ecology, and climate adaptation. Egis is positioning the new practice not only to meet client demand but to invest in talent, building capacity in a market where skilled environmental professionals are increasingly scarce.

Afshan is widely recognised as a mentor and leader within the industry. She won the Mentor of the Year award at the Women in Green Business Awards 2024, with particular recognition for her work supporting apprentices and professionals returning to work after career breaks. Her approach to talent development will be central to how Egis continues to build its environment team in the years ahead.

Joanne Moran, director of Water, Environment, Energy Transition and Nuclear, UK & Ireland, said: “This is a significant step for Egis in the UK. There is growing demand from clients for environmental expertise that is fully integrated with engineering and infrastructure delivery, not bolted on at the end. Afshan has spent her career doing exactly that and her leadership will be central to how we grow this capability. The green skills shortage is real, and we want Egis to be part of the answer.”

Afshan added: “Leading Egis’s environment capability in the UK felt like the natural next step in my career. The focus now is on growing the team in the UK so we can better support the increasing demand for environmental expertise across projects. With the green skills market facing a shortage of experienced professionals, there is a real opportunity to bring talented people into the sector and build the capability needed for the years ahead.”