Emily has led the Harmony Works project since 2017, bringing together her longstanding commitment to music, architecture and the city of Sheffield. An experienced architect specialising in complex urban regeneration projects, she studied at the University of Cambridge, completing her MA and Diploma in Architecture before qualifying in 1997.

Emily spent 15 years at Benoy, leading teams on major city-centre regeneration schemes across the UK. Most recently, she led the delivery of a £40m town centre redevelopment for Wokingham Borough Council, which won the RTPI Award for Excellence in Planning for a Successful Economy in 2020. Earlier in her career, she worked in Cambridge on mixed-use science park and residential developments and spent a year at INSEAD’s Centre for the Management of Environmental Resources contributing to a major EU research project.

Born and raised in Sheffield, Emily benefited from the city’s music education and remains an active musician. Since founding Harmony Works, she has played a central role in building political and professional support for the project, leading fundraising, assembling the delivery team, negotiating with building owners, and developing partnerships locally and nationally. Under her leadership, Harmony Works has become one of the region’s most ambitious and significant cultural regeneration projects.

Alongside her work at Harmony Works, Emily taught for several years at the School of Architecture and Landscape at the University of Sheffield. She is now full-time Project Director at Harmony Works and also serves as a Trustee of Sheffield Music Academy, one of the project’s founding partners.