Sarah El Battouty

is an architect and climate policy specialist with 20 years experience in the sustainable design and the development field. Her work has been pioneering in shaping the transformation and acceleration of green building design in Egypt and the region.

In her early career she questioned why green buildings are not accessible to the most climate vulnerable communities and since she has set out to redefine and introduce affordable and accessible green buildings into the market.

ECOnsult her company which she founded as an architecture and strategy consultancy in 2013 is now the highest awarded green certified portfolio in Egypt. Working with all types of buildings that spans the high-end property to the most vulnerable and poorest villages.

Her extensive knowledge in indigenous and vernacular design and technical environmental buildings has allowed her to create hybrid buildings that have achieved platinum awards, global awards and also reach ten degree cooling without mechanical assistance which is a first in the region.

Sarah is also an advocate for inclusion in design developing the first green community guidelines with the Ministry of planning and Economic Development if Egypt, UNDP, and other partners that is designed to help non practitioners to implement climate proofing for their community.

Sarah is a UNFCCC Global Ambassador with the High-Level Champions. Sarah is the recipient of the Vital Voices award for greater MENA 2020 and the first leader in the region to be among the impact entrepreneurs by Forbes.

She founded Egypt’s leading green building consultancy & multi award winning ECOnsult in 2013 which have the highest portfolio of green award projects by a local architect.

She is also the founder of a scrap waste upcycling company MùBun which transforms the waste into high end furniture.

She recently founded Again Florista start-up that recycles event flower waste.

El Battouty is an Ashden Cooling Fellow awardee and a pioneer in green entrepreneurship. She is considered a disruptive leader who challenges the traditional building and polluting methods in building design to achieve climate justice, accessibility for low-income communities and also become one of the regional and global female leaders in the realm of environmental design.

Her contribution to environmental impact has inspired students and business to go green.

Since 2014 she has led the climate profile being one of a handful of architects to ever hold such prominence in the climate change leadership. Her work has led her to become a senior advisor to the Egyptian Presidency and regional Ministries as her role was pivotal in Egypt’s signing of the Paris Agreement.

One of her best-known works is the Official Country -Egypt Pavilion at COP27 which was based on art and conservation and the link between humanity and natural heritage, her most celebrated design is a village for Farm workers which has won numerous World Green Building Council certifications and is designed as a green project for farmers.

The architectural style she is known for is linear and subtle with a focus on light, cooling and material quality. Her designs are complex with orientation, colour depth and lightness playing a critical role in design decisions.

She doesn’t impose her signature; however, her work is distinctive because it blends in to the natural and climatic needs with cool breezes and calmness. “Green buildings should be all the buildings of the future, and as architects we serve comfort.”

She remains adamant that if something is too complex, we shouldn’t call it smart, if it needs too many solutions for people to live in we can’t call it green. Her work is diverse because it is about livelihoods as well as awareness.

El Battouty is pioneering the role of women architects as policy makers and their role in society pushing the boundaries of her work beyond design.

She serves on the board of numerous prestigious institutions and on the advisory boards of universities. From this she furthers the need for businesses to adopt internal action to decarbonize and lower their emissions, through change and asset assessment and retrofitting as well as challenge the status quo of architectural and engineering curriculum to address climate challenges.

She is on the board of the American Chamber of Commerce in Egypt, The American University in Cairo Business School Advisory Board, Ein Shams University Board and the Middle East Institute in Washington as a fellow and advisor.

Her most recent role is on the board of the National Institute of Governance and Sustainable Development as well as being a registered consultant with the European Bank of Construction and Development EBRD.

These roles allow her to promote better understanding of the linkages between the built environment and business but more uniquely really shed light on the potential for architects to play a greater role in humanity and take part in development, education, and sustainable economic growth. Sarah takes a great sense of pride in being an architect with a capacity beyond architecture to be able to teach and contribute.

Sarah has featured in publications and taken part in lectures in New York Climate Week, London Climate Week, Bloomberg Good Business, Cambridge University, IFC, Financial Times, BBC World, CNN Arabic, DW, Dezeen and many more.

ECOnsult and all of Sarah’s companies are established by women with over 60% of her teams being women. She set up the company to have equal pay and all tasks set equally.

Education:

• Bachelor’s Degree from University of Cambridge, UK in Architecture
• Master’s Degree from School of African & Oriental Studies SOAS, UK in Sustainable Development and Project Management
• CeDeP Professional Award: Centre of Environment Development and Economic Policy Degree in Rural Project Management, Climate Policy and Water Resource Management