LAURA PELLAGGATTA

Project Stakeholder

Laura is a consultant in low environmental impact strategies, and brings entrepreneurial flair and a passion for supporting businesses that create value in the local community. She has successfully developed stakeholder management and engagement at a number of different levels of sales and trade across a variety of business sectors, and has been a proponent of the extensive green sector for over fifteen years. Her experiences include the energy-saving and efficiency sectors, renewable sources, management of circular economy logistics and green building strategies, particularly regarding innovative timber products. For nearly a decade, as the head of a Canadian company that provided solutions for professionals and entrepreneurs who wanted to insert technologies and systems for energy saving and improve living comfort, she quickly grasped the fundamentals of the green building and energy sector, bring business skills and knowledge to what was at that time a developing market. Laura is a pragmatic and proven problem solver with an ability to quickly grasp the underlying barriers of any project, and to implement simple and effective solutions. Her skills in addition include excellent interpersonal, negotiation and mediation skills, which make her a great addition to any team.

MELISSA GRAY

Communications

With an MSc in Sustainability in the Built Environment, and extensive knowledge of LEED, WELL and EDGE certifications, Melissa is passionate about building standards and sustainability in the Built Environment. As the founder of Sustainably Blue Malta, she looks to connect like-minded professionals, and found showcase development projects using low carbon materials to provide evidence that well insulated buildings with passive design techniques and low carbon materials really do provide better and healthier living conditions as well as providing lower energy running costs and more comfortable living spaces. With studies estimating that we can spend as much as 80% of our lives in an indoor environment, including domestic and commercial office environments, and in the midst of a a pandemic which has forced many to stuck behind closed doors for longer periods than normal, the trend towards the benefits of healthier buildings has rightly been put into the limelight. An especial believer of modern timber products as significant construction material, she looks to promote the benefits of the many proven sustainable timber products now available (including CLT and GLT) which include the twin benefits of low carbon and creation of healthier spaces, especially suitable to more humid climates. With a background career in international design and communications skills from the Asia Pacific to the MENA regions, Melissa brings unique experience from the communications sector with varying senior roles in different countries and contexts, and proven abilities to prepare and implement effective communications through various media platforms.

MAIS TAHA (ADVISOR)

Architect-engineer

Mais is architect, engineer and entrepreneur, with specialist knowledge in green buildings standards including LEED and EDGE. By profession a highly qualified architect and engineer, she has designed and project managed a number of impressive international projects in the MENA region, Zurich and Malta. Currently head of her own consultancy, XEROWASTE, she looks to promote a revolutionary franchise process for efficiently managing the design and architectural aspect of projects whilst simultaneously saving waste, and targeting wellbeing aspects such as thermal comfort in new buildings design through large scale models. Xerowaste offers complete Architectural Services and Green Building Designs by licensed professionals, are LEED certified and use non-toxic or recycled materials. Ultimately, their aim is to preserve natural resources and enable prospective clients to have beautiful cost-effective eco-designs, whilst preventing the waste of material used in the design process and production. Describing herself as an “Earthy person creating a digital world”, Mais has received a number of awards for eco design and architecture including the Queen Raina Entrepreneurship Award in her homeland Jordan and Award for Women Entrepreneurs from AWE in Malta.