Kirsten has spent a large part of her career working for recognition of the importance of women’s contributions to design and construction and the need to provide greater workplace flexibility to suit individual lives and needs. This includes allowing women to be judged on their output and to get away from the presenteeism that pervades the profession today. With over 30 years’ experience in strategic planning and urban design, she is a highly creative leader who inspires her teams and collaborating with engineering, construction and client teams with flair and energy. This approach was integral to Kirsten's election as the London studio’s first female Managing Partner in May 2018. During Kirsten's tenure, the practice has expanded to another studio in Paris, bolstering its European presence, as well as satellite offices in Auckland and Los Angeles to meet growing project requirements. As well as her Managing Partner role, Kirsten continued to work on several projects across the arts, sports and masterplanning sectors – areas of work Kirsten takes a key role in expanding on at Grimshaw. Kirsten’s approach is to encourage diversity in practice, input and delivery and has advocated research and innovation to further the industry and is committed towards greater equity within the workplace. In support of this, Kirsten is a trustee of the Grimshaw Foundation, which aims to broaden the accessibility of architectural education to underrepresented groups, and is a founding member of Equilibrium Network, who work to achieve broader gender diversity within the industry. She is a regular invited public speaker on diverse topics, works closely with the RIBA to create best practice guidance on how best to close the gender pay gap, and is a regular speaker on the Future Leaders programme. She is also an active member of the AJ W Programme helping to understand the barriers to diversity, and tangible, deliverable actions that all organisations can adopt to overcome them.