As a Junior Green Building Consultant at Solid Green Consulting, Amy Symington is part of a new generation of built environment professionals passionate about designing a more sustainable future.
Source: Supplied. Amy Symington, Junior Green Building Consultant at Solid Green Consulting.
With a strong belief in the power of thoughtfully planned spaces to enhance both human well-being and environmental resilience, Amy brings creativity, collaboration, and clarity to her role.
Whether she’s advising on Green Star certifications or engaging with the Regenerative Collaborative South Africa, her work is grounded in the principle that sustainability and design are not separate goals—but deeply interconnected.
Committed to continuous learning and collective progress, Amy is helping shape a greener, healthier South Africa one project at a time.
We caught up with Amy to find out more about her journey, inspirations and insights…
As a young professional in the green building space, what inspired your journey into sustainable architecture and consultancy?
I’ve always wanted to make a positive impact on the world through the work that I do. I felt thoughtfully designed spaces would be a great starting point for improving both people’s lives and the environment.
Architecture affects the world around us, and it’s not about only focusing on people-centric spaces or just the environment — it’s about looking at ways they can both benefit mutually.
Can you share how your role at Solid Green Consulting allows you to merge your passion for creative design with sustainability in practice?
Solid Green Consulting aims to advise design teams on good sustainable building choices. My role is to clearly communicate ideas that can then be integrated into design.
I need to understand the architects’/designers’ point of view and then advise on sustainable choices that can be made along the way. This is an interconnected process, an engaged dialogue between all team members is essential to ensure the values of the design and the values of sustainability are upheld. The best way to achieve this is to begin collaboration from the start of the building's design.
You're involved in Green Star Interior Certifications – what are some of the most exciting trends or innovations you've seen in sustainable interior design?
An exciting trend is designing interior spaces to be healthy for people; this brings an awareness that our interior environments have an impact on us. This practice is reflected in the GBCSA’s Green Star Interior “Indoor Environmental Quality” category. For example, one of the credits in this category looks at incentivising the use of low volatile organic compounds (VOC’s) in materials such as paints, adhesives and carpets - the aim of this is to reduce interior air pollution. This is one solution but there are many more ways to create healthy spaces.
What drew you to volunteer with the Regenerative Collaborative South Africa, and how does that experience complement your work in the built environment?
The goal of the RCSA is to strive towards a regenerative built environment - monthly webinars are hosted in order to achieve this. I was drawn to volunteer because I wanted to know what actions were being made to improve the built environment and who was driving this change.
I love being part of spreading regenerative knowledge and hearing good news in each webinar. Each topic helps to complement my work by broadening my understanding of the built environment. For example, topics around materials can help inspire my choices for materials in an interior fit-out.
What advice would you give to other young professionals who want to make a meaningful impact in the construction and sustainability sector?
Strive to align the work that you do with the things you are passionate about and have a lot of care for. Work hard and take every step of your journey as a learning curve - learning from both your mistakes and your successes. There’s always room for growth. Don’t be afraid to reach out and connect with people - change doesn’t happen in isolation. Make sure you surround yourself with people who will give you constructive positive support and feedback. It’s also very important to believe in yourself.
How do you see the role of youth evolving in shaping the future of green building in South Africa and beyond?
What happens today will affect our youth tomorrow. Change needs to happen - the youth have a lot to offer and a lot of skills to provide to see this change realised.
We all want a better future, and the adoption of environmental and social standards can help lead us there. It is our opportunity to learn from past understandings of how to improve the built environment and integrate them with new visions of what we want the future to look like.
I hope that we work together to make green buildings more equitable and sustainable. I see an opportunity for youth to embrace complex building challenges through a design that celebrates a true sense of place.
