Jenny Ford is a convenor, strategist and creative technologist working at the forefront of circular and regenerative practice in the built environment. Her work spans industry, education, community and policy, advancing systemic approaches to materials, supply chains and workforce transformation.
Jenny founded Materials in Mind, through which she has supported innovative construction and design practice across the South West for over seven years. Originally focused on materials strategy, procurement and site resource planning, the practice has evolved toward leadership development and workforce training — embedding circular economy principles, low-carbon thinking and systems approaches at organisational scale rather than project-by-project.
She led a place-based skills and industrial transition study for Portbury–Avonmouth–Severnside (PAS), aligning employer demand, community access and education provision with regional decarbonisation and growth strategies. The study developed a coordinated delivery framework linking the West of England Industrial Cluster’s Local Industrial Decarbonisation Plan (WEIC LIDP), cluster storytelling, workforce mobility and inclusive pathways into the sector, producing actionable recommendations to strengthen connective infrastructure between industry, FE/HE institutions and local authorities.
Jenny is the founder and strategic convener of FactoryX, a rapidly growing network of industry leaders, practitioners and educators advancing low-carbon construction through regionally driven collaboration. FactoryX operates as both a physical and digital platform for demonstration, incubation and knowledge exchange, supporting distributed (re)manufacturing, material innovation and circular supply chains. Through initiatives such as the Urban Mine, she has piloted material recovery and reuse systems that demonstrate viable alternatives to linear construction logistics.
Her training and dissemination work includes delivering multiple rounds of the Future of Construction Skills Bootcamps (WECA and Devon County Council), Circular Economy CPD for UWE estates and facilities teams, Retrofit West workshops, and regional “Train the Trainer” programmes for further education colleges. She regularly convenes cross-sector events connecting retrofit, MMC, sustainability and regenerative design practitioners, and is particularly interested in how emerging technologies — including AI and digital twins — can unlock future workforce potential and disrupt traditional construction training conventions.
Earlier in her career, Jenny was Co-Designer and Materials Lead for the award-winning SNUG Homes low-carbon modular prototype, developed with Innovate UK support. The project received multiple national accolades including RIBA South West and Sustainability Awards, and helped position adaptable, natural-material modular housing as a viable route to inclusive, high-performance homes.
Across all her roles, Jenny’s work is marked by a commitment to making circular practice practical, accessible and economically viable. She connects materials, people and systems — building the skills, confidence and infrastructure required for a built environment that is low-carbon, inclusive and regenerative.
In 2025, I completed the Level 3 Award in Education and Training with Exeter College (in partnership with GSAP and Building Greater Exeter), joining a cohort of construction professionals responding to the urgent need to strengthen Further Education and green skills delivery.
My work has increasingly focused on workforce development — moving from project-based consultancy toward embedding circular and regenerative thinking at organisational and sector level.
Training is delivered either: