News: SECBE Non-Executive Board member - Oona Muirhead

04 August 2026

SECBE is delighted to welcome Oona Muirhead CBE to its Board, bringing with her an exceptional breadth of leadership experience and a proven track record of helping organisations navigate change, build partnerships and deliver meaningful impact.

With a career spanning senior leadership roles across the public, private and charitable sectors, leading major public organisations to chairing national charities and advising boards, she has developed a reputation for bringing people together around shared ambitions and helping organisations focus on where they can make the greatest difference.

As SECBE continues to champion innovation, collaboration and a more sustainable and resilient built environment, Oona's strategic insight and values-driven leadership will be a significant asset to the organisation. She understands what it takes to influence change across diverse stakeholder groups, balancing differing priorities while building consensus around a common purpose. This experience is particularly relevant to SECBE, where success comes from inspiring and supporting the industry to embrace innovation.

Oona also brings extensive experience of supporting organisations with ambitious goals and finite resources. She recognises the importance of strategic prioritisation, knowing where to focus effort, where partnerships can amplify impact and where difficult decisions are needed to ensure long-term success. These perspectives will support SECBE’s Board as it continues to shape the organisation’s future direction, strengthen its impact and identify opportunities to influence positive change across the built environment.

Whether working with government, industry, charities or communities, she has consistently demonstrated that lasting change is achieved through trust, collaboration and open dialogue. This collaborative leadership style aligns closely with SECBE's role across the built environment, creating opportunities for clients, contractors, consultants, educators and innovators to work together to solve some of the industry's biggest challenges. Her experience will help strengthen SECBE's ability to influence, ensuring the organisation continues to play a leading role in shaping conversations across the wider construction sector.

For almost two decades, climate prevention, mitigation and resilience have been central themes throughout Oona's work. As Chair of Groundwork UK, she leads programmes focused on green homes, green jobs and greener communities, bringing valuable strategic insight into how environmental sustainability can be integrated with economic growth and social wellbeing.

Oona also brings an important client-side perspective through her involvement in post-Grenfell building remediation. Working closely with residents and building owners has given her first-hand insight into the importance of quality, safety, accountability and transparency across the built environment. She believes rebuilding trust in the construction sector requires openness, a willingness to learn from past mistakes and strong leadership that encourages organisations to take ownership of improving standards. These values align closely with SECBE's commitment to creating a better-performing industry that delivers high-quality outcomes for clients, communities and society.

Oona's relationship with SECBE stretches back many years. As Chief Executive of the South East England Development Agency (SEEDA), she was proud to help ensure SECBE continued beyond the SEEDA’s closure, recognising its importance as a catalyst for collaboration, innovation and industry improvement.

Reflecting on her new role, Oona said "SECBE has an important role to play in helping the industry navigate change. From climate resilience and improving productivity to rebuilding trust and encouraging greater collaboration, there are significant opportunities ahead. I hope to bring strategic insight, an independent perspective and a collaborative approach that helps SECBE continue to influence positive change across the wider built environment."

We are delighted to welcome Oona to the SECBE Board. Her strategic leadership, commitment to collaboration and passion for creating lasting impact will strengthen SECBE's ability to influence the sector and help shape a more resilient, innovative and trusted construction industry for the future.