Turner & Townsend strengthens UK Energy and Natural Resources team with two senior appointments
Turner & Townsend, the global professional services company, has made two senior appointments to its UK Energy and Natural Resources (E&NR) team. The business welcomes Gareth Taylor and Asa James to support the continued growth and innovation across the energy sector and reinforce its capabilities in helping clients deliver ambitious projects across major programmes and portfolios.
Gareth Taylor joins as Director and Nuclear Sector Lead, bringing over 25 years of experience in the nuclear industry, spanning new build, operations and decommissioning.
Gareth has held senior leadership roles at the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA), where he led transformative programmes to improve asset performance, programme delivery and operational efficiency across the UK’s nuclear estate. His work included implementing a programme management and asset management strategy that identified over £10bn in savings and advancing carbon net-zero goals through an optimised energy strategy.
A mechanical engineer by background, Gareth’s earlier career includes senior roles at EDF Energy, where he led delivery of major infrastructure programmes, including power station cooling systems and structures valued at over £5bn.
At Turner & Townsend, he will focus on strengthening the company’s role in the UK’s nuclear resurgence, building strategic partnerships and the capacity and capability required to deliver these nationally significant major programmes.
Asa James joins as Director and Head of Estimating and Data, with a focus on digital transformation and data-led delivery across major portfolios, programmes and projects.
Asa brings 25 years of experience in project controls, cost management and digital strategy, including for Turner & Townsend between 2013 and 2020 and having led Gleeds’ data analytics and digital transformation service. His expertise spans energy, utilities, aviation, defence and rail and includes the development of bespoke digital solutions for clients such as Sizewell C, BAE Systems and Rolls Royce.
Asa returns to Turner & Townsend with a renewed focus on embedding digital-first approaches across E&NR projects. He will be leading efforts to scale innovative solutions, strengthen estimating and data capabilities and build diverse teams that foster inclusive, high-performance environments.
Alan Sinclair, Managing Director for Energy and Natural Resources, UK at Turner & Townsend, said:
“We’re thrilled to welcome Gareth and Asa to the team. Their combined leadership, sector expertise and passion for innovation will be instrumental as we continue to grow our Energy and Natural Resource offering."
These appointments reflect our commitment to delivering smarter, more sustainable outcomes for our clients and supporting the UK’s energy transition.
“The energy and natural resources sector is seeing significant opportunities as investment is committed to expand capacity and increase resilience as we drive towards the UK’s decarbonisation targets. The challenges this landscape poses are equally, if not more, substantial. These appointments mark an important step in strengthening our capabilities to help clients navigate these, particularly in nuclear, digital transformation and programme resilience.”
