About Us
Naomi Atherton
I have a strong background as a conservation-driven project manager with experience delivering projects across a wide spectrum from construction and conservation repair to community engagement and volunteer-led initiatives. I work directly with clients or collaborate with other disciplines within the sector for both project and programme management.
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I’ve always felt a deep connection to historical places, captivated by the ‘sense of place’ even before I knew there was a name for it. My career has grown through taking the right opportunites at the right time, and each one led me to where I am today. Key partners I have worked with include English Heritage, The National Lottery Heritage Fund, The North of England Civic Trust, The Science Museum Group and into the private sector with Turner & Townsend, Summers Inman and Steel River Consultants. Beyond heritage I have also managed construction projects in schools. rail infrastructure, manufacturing sites and prisons.
I’m a practical and people-focused project manager who works to create positive environments that help projects succeed. With experience across the public, private, and third sectors, I understand the different priorities and perspectives that shape heritage and cultural work.
I am a full member of the Association of Project Managers.
Rob Illingworth
My passion for the cultural and historic environment is rooted in a deep understanding that organisations need a systematic approach to managing and appreciating their assets. With over 27 years in the construction and infrastructure sectors, I draw on experience and knowledge from both the public and private sector. My experience lies in asset and programme management, underpinned by strategic planning, which enables me respond to the complex challenges presented by historic buildings and heritage sites.
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I spent 11 years at English Heritage, where I led a team developing an asset management strategy, surveying 420 sites from neolithic burial barrows, cold war bunkers to castles and former Royal residences. This gave the organisation the ability to understand their portfolio, the condition of the assets and helped prioritise works required. A similar approach was successfully adapted at the Science Museum Group, tailored to a very different portfolio of buildings.
I have extensive experience as a programme and asset manager to deliver commissions which are embedded in a technical understanding of the asset, whilst focusing on clients’ needs and requirements. I’ve led the development of funding bids and strategies aimed at generating economic, social and environmental benefits. My work has also included building and managing teams to deliver a multi-million-pound programme of works across a museum portfolio ensuring the project was both impactful and sustainable.
I hold a Carbon Literacy Certification and am an Associate of the Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB).