Peter was founder, in 1980, and is now a Vice-President of RedR Engineers for Disaster Relief. He is a Non Executive Director of Buro Happold. He was a member of the UK Department of Environment Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) Science Advisory Council from 2004-2011. He was a member of the UK Government’s Project Board for the Severn Tidal Power Study. He is a member of the Global Agenda Council on Catastrophic Risks in the World Economic Forum.

Peter Guthrie seeks to articulate sustainable development for engineers, and to pursue research that enables engineers to deliver more sustainable outcomes. The research he leads is focused on the integration of sustainable development into decision-making in large infrastructure projects such as large scale civil engineering projects, environmental restoration projects, regeneration schemes, and buildings worldwide. Recent research has focused on the development of improved understanding of energy efficiency in buildings and the challenges (financial, social and environmental) faced in delivering significantly lower carbon emissions from building stock. The other main strand of research is into decision-making in infrastructure looking at stakeholder networks, the impacts of delay, post-disaster reconstruction, urban development, and heritage value