How I can help

I am based in Cumbria and Yorkshire and work across the north of England and southern Scotland. I offer four key services:

Programme and Interim Management

I offer programme and interim management services alongside my other service offerings, having honed these skills over the last five years.

Subjects I can cover are regeneration, housing delivery, grant-giving and environmental management to name a few.

Bringing me in on a part-time basis makes it more cost-effective for you as client, as well as providing opportunities for members of your team to be mentored and supported by me.

Heritage Buildings

I’ve been involved with lots of old buildings that people love, and it’s often the most challenging as well as rewarding work I do.

The passion people in the community feel about their building can be incredibly powerful if harnessed to positive effect, and I love helping groups do exactly that.

More often than not the problem is the lack of care that previous owners have shown, leaving the building unloved, unmaintained and deteriorating. Wrestling buildings from delinquent ownership into the hands of the community is worth all the effort it takes to achieve.

I can help with capital project management, including procuring and managing architects, landscape architects, engineers and quantity surveyors, working alongside them and the client group.

I’ve project managed the conversion of a Town Hall into a business centre, and churches into arts and music venues.

Fundraising

I have significant experience in fundraising, including multi-million bids to central government such as ‘Town Deal’ and ‘Levelling Up’ Funding, as well as smaller but significant funding bids for individual projects, from funders such as the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

I also offer a valuable perspective from sitting on the other side of the table as a grants manager/advisor. I worked for Architectural Heritage Fund across Yorkshire, assessing grant applications and making recommendations to trustees for funding as well as mentoring and supporting the organisations making the applications.

I can develop strategic fundraising plans, as well as making applications on your behalf, whichever is your preference.

Storytelling

A common theme in my work is building a narrative or storytelling.

If you represent a community group trying to secure a building through community asset transfer, you’ll need a compelling argument to build support from locals, and to persuade the council to transfer the building to you. You’ll need a strong message or set of messages to weave through any funding applications.

At the other end of the scale, attracting developers and investors to a town requires a compelling narrative, not only of what the town once was and is now, but also the ambition the residents and the council representing them have for the future.

I’ll work hard to make sure I understand the story you are trying to tell, work with you to refine this and target it to the audiences you want to attract

Close-up of a tree branch covered with various types of lichen and moss.

  • "reliable, insightful and solutions focused"

    Gareth Candlin, Assistant Director, Westmorland and Furness Council

  • "strong, supportive leadership to the team, maintaining morale and focus"

    Isabel Assaly

  • "Her breadth of experience, coupled with her commitment and passion to make a difference, enables her to operate with confidence and credibility in complex senior environments"

    Julie Mennell, Vice Chancellor – University of Cumbria

View through a round window with four panes showing a landscape with trees, grass, a body of water, and a clear blue sky.
Hebden Bridge Town Hall Courtyard. An outdoor terrace with people sitting at tables, dining and chatting, surrounded by a stone building and green trees, with a hillside and additional buildings in the background on a sunny day.
Karen Houghton on a boat over to Piel Island, Cumbria. The sky is blue and there are people standing on the headland looking out to sea.
17 Nineteen events space, Sunderland. View of a church altar with stained glass window, surrounded by white columns and wooden railings, inside a historic church building. which is now used as a community events and arts space
Close-up of a weathered stone wall covered in moss and lichen.
Old wooden boat stranded on the muddy shoreline of a tidal flat under a clear blue sky, with a small village visible in the background. Bardsea Cumbria