Erik has served on the FRC Group board since 2002. His entire career has been devoted to the field of sustainable change. His first job was as an Environmental Planner at an English County Council before moving to sustainability consultancies which included some time working in Hong Kong. He was then asked by the Co-operative Bank to head up its National Centre for Business & Sustainability. Later he ran its partnership organisation Sustainability Northwest. Erik subsequently became a Professor of Regeneration and Sustainable Development at the University of Salford. There he turned his focus to developing a way to apply social return in investment in the built environment sector. This led to him co-founding the pioneering consultancy RealWorth which identifies, maximises, measures, and communicates the social value of buildings, places and programmes.
Throughout his career Erik has been a regular contributor to printed media, radio and television. He has published academic papers, book chapters and two books including ‘Positively Responsible’ and ‘The Coming of Age of the Green Community’. Erik has been a sustainability advisor to Co-operatives UK and Liverpool City Council. He is currently a member of the Royal Town Planning Institute, a Fellow of the RSA, a member of the Council of both the Merseyside Civic Society and Social Value UK.