The Team

Who We Are

The West Somerset Lagoon scheme is being developed by West Somerset Lagoon Ltd, a company that was formed to develop the West Somerset Lagoon Tidal Range scheme. There are 5 Directors who between them provide extensive professional experience in the engineering, environmental and architectural aspects of large energy and marine schemes including Tidal Power schemes.

Chris Binnie

Chris Binnie is a Fellow of The Royal Academy of Engineering and a Fellow of The Institution of Civil Engineering (ICE) and also a Fellow and former President of The Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management (CIWEM). He has had a long involvement in Tidal Power. He was on the Management Board of the Severn Tidal Power Group (STPG) and chaired the DECC Independent Engineering and Technical Expert Panel. He lives in West Somerset and knows the West Somerset Lagoon site well. He leads the Environment aspects of the scheme.

David Kerr

David Kerr is a Fellow of The Institution of Civil Engineering (ICE). David has had a career of over 50 years in civil engineering which included 25 years with Sir Robert McAlpine where he was Chief Design Engineer for 8 years prior to retirement. He has also had a long involvement in Tidal Power. Whilst with McAlpine he led the civil engineering studies for the Severn Tidal Power Group. Since retirement from McAlpine, he has worked on tidal power, offshore wind power and other marine renewable energy projects. He leads the Engineering aspects of the scheme.

Roger Falconer

Roger Falconer is Emeritus Professor at Cardiff University, a Fellow of the: Royal Academy of Engineering, Chinese Academy of Engineering (Foreign Member), Learned Society of Wales, Institution of Civil Engineers and Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management. He specialises in tidal power and environmental impact assessment modelling for tidal range projects and has published extensively in the field. He continues to serve on advisory panels for several lagoon and barrage schemes, and was a member of the DECC Independent Expert Panel. He leads the Energy and Modelling aspects of the scheme.

Julia Barfield

Julia Barfield, MBE RIBA, FRSA, Managing Director + Co-founder of multi award winning Marks Barfield Architects and is co-creative entrepreneur of the London Eye and Brighton i360. She is leading the practice towards a regenerative future with a focus on retrofit and the circular economy. MBA’s diverse portfolio includes culture, residential, workplace, bridges, transport, sports and leisure as well as renewable energy projects in tidal power and urban wind. She helped

establish Architects Declare in 2019 in response to the Climate Emergency, which has now spread to 28 countries globally and over 7000 signatory companies

Steve Pickard

Steve Pickard is a retired Minehead businessman who now lives in West Quantoxhead and also knows the area well. He was on the Minehead Town Council for some years and has an extensive range of local contacts. Steve has been involved in schemes for a West Somerset Tidal Power Lagoon since 2013. He leads the local promotion and liaison for the scheme.