Kathleen Hetrick

Kathleen Hetrick is a sustainability engineer at Buro Happold and a LEED AP BD+C and  EcoDistricts AP. 

As part of Buro Happold’s sustainability and physics team, Kathleen combines her passion for human-focused sustainable design with a technical background in mechanical engineering. She has experience in a wide range of cutting-edge projects across all scales of work including multiple LEED platinum projects, Living Building Challenge projects, historical adaptive reuse, LEED Neighborhood Developments, and city and campus sustainability plans.

Her most recent project work includes coordinating the Living Building Challenge process for the Santa Monica City Services Building, as well as leading the LEED v4 and WELL v1 certification of one of the largest mixed-use redevelopments in downtown Detroit.

Kathleen recently led the WELL certification process for the Buro Happold Los Angeles Office, following the LEED v4 Gold Certification of the office space through her role as the Buro Happold West Coast Environmental Coordinator.

Her experience with the Living Building Challenge Material Red List requirements has prompted her to spark a firm-wide effort to identify and reduce the most harmful chemicals within the MEP scope of work, and fuels her passion for improving the health aspects of sustainable materials on all of her projects.

She is also the current Co-Facilitator of Buro Happold’s Diversity and Inclusion Forum, spearheading outreach initiatives to encourage local K-12 students to pursue sustainability- focused careers in STEAM through mentoring, design competitions and paid high school internships.

Kathleen’s recent speaking experience includes: Los Angeles Collective Impact Speaker Series: Creating a More Sustainable, Equitable Industry through Engineering Outreach (2018), LBC Collaborative -Las Vegas Valley: Living Building Challenge in Santa Monica (2018), Municipal Green Building Conference: Mentorship for the Future of Sustainable Design (2018).