Looking back to look forward: A catch-up with Malcolm McMahon & Bill Flinn

I started Greenheart, in 2000, with a friend of mine, Bill Flynn. The idea was to create an enjoyable working environment whilst pursuing our enthusiasm for sustainable construction. I think we achieved this and, although neither of us are involved in the business any more, the current Greenheart team are continuing with this ethos.

I’ve been busy since leaving Greenheart! Not, unfortunately, doing the main thing I set out to achieve when I left, which was moving to Portugal. Having spent many years building houses for other people, I intended to build my own, and to that end bought some land and a ruined farmhouse in Northern Portugal. A combination of forest fires, the Covid epidemic, Brexit and a significant change in Portuguese planning rules means we are still waiting for approval on our scheme.

For about a year and a half I worked with The Green Register, an organisation Greenheart have always had a good relationship with.  I really enjoyed my time with TGR and learnt a huge amount. But the time felt right to ease back into partial retirement, which has meant plenty of travel in the campervan I recently converted, visiting our daughter in New Zealand, and generally making the most of my free time walking, mountain biking, swimming and undertaking more cerebral pursuits including taking modern history and politics courses.

This time has also given me the opportunity to complete plenty of unfinished projects on our house, including building my wife, Kate, an art studio. Fortuitously, this has coincided with Kate’s sculpture business taking off and we now work together on her outdoor sculptures.

With Greenheart’s 25th anniversary just around the corner, I want to wish everyone still involved many more years of joyful, green building ahead.ent, which has meant plenty of travel in the campervan I recently converted, visiting our daughter in New Zealand, and generally making the most of my free time walking, mountain biking, swimming and undertaking more cerebral pursuits including taking modern history and politics courses.

Looking back on 25 years of Greenheart, it’s clear that the environmental building company Malcolm and I started has grown beyond recognition – and I can’t take any credit for that: when I left Greenheart, while we’d built a lot of exciting projects, they were all small and we were a tiny team. Nonetheless, it is great to know that from those small beginnings, Greenheart has flourished.

I left Greenheart to work in the humanitarian sector as an advisor on post-disaster housing, and have worked for CARE International for most of the intervening time. I’ve been privileged to support many major disasters across several continents; the Indian Ocean Tsunami, earthquakes in Haiti and Nepal, storms in the Philippines and South Pacific. In the course of my work I’ve encountered extraordinary resilience in the face of terrible trauma and destruction.

I also teach at Oxford Brookes University, hopefully passing some of my passion for the subject to the next generation.

I do miss building. But who knows – having recently moved into semi-retirement, perhaps I will pick up again my love of carpentry, design and the gentle art of building!