OCS has appointed Simon Humphrey as Sustainability Director for the UK and Ireland business. Simon brings more than two decades of experience in sustainability strategy, ESG reporting, and stakeholder engagement, and will lead the UK and Ireland sustainability function as OCS progresses its sustainability ambitions across the region.
“We are delighted to welcome Simon to OCS. His depth of experience in sustainability strategy and ESG, combined with his understanding of how to drive meaningful change within complex organisations, makes him well placed to lead our sustainability agenda across the UK and Ireland. His appointment reflects our commitment to embedding sustainability across everything we do, for our customers, our colleagues and the communities we serve.”
Chief Executive Officer, UK & Ireland
From Initiative to Business as Usual
Simon’s approach to sustainability starts with a practical question: how do you make it genuinely stick?
“Sustainability has to be more than an initiative or a philosophy. It has to be tangible and practical so people can buy into it and actually change how they work. If it’s too expensive, too difficult, or too theoretical, people won’t adopt it.”
Sustainability Director, UK & Ireland
For Simon, the answer lies in normalisation. He points to recycling as the clearest example of sustainability done well: something so embedded in daily life that people no longer experience it as a conscious choice. It is part of the system, adopted and defended without a second thought. That is the standard he wants to build on at OCS.
Central to this is a shift in how sustainability is framed. For Simon, sustainability and “better” are interchangeable. He wants people to apply the same instinct to sustainability as to cost: when a solution is proposed, ask what it will cost, and how it can be done more sustainably. A better approach for the environment is often more efficient and frequently lower in cost over the service lifecycle.
The Scale of the Opportunity
Facilities management changes the scale of what is possible. OCS operates across every major sector, serving thousands of customers in environments ranging from hospitals and manufacturing plants to government offices. For a sustainability leader, that breadth is not incidental. Learnings from one contract can inform dozens of others, and sustainable solutions can be embedded in service delivery at a scale no in-house role allows.
“You’re not just looking at your own direct emissions. You’re working across multiple customers, sectors, and environments.”
Sustainability Director, UK & Ireland
The FM model also means change is measurable over time. Working with customers across the full span of a contract, OCS tracks real progress from mobilisation through to renewal, applying learnings and developing solutions tailored to specific environments rather than following a generic template.
Simon’s immediate focus is on securing validation of OCS’s carbon reduction targets through the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) in line with the Paris Agreement, and on driving down Scope 3 emissions across the supply chain by working directly with procurement teams and key suppliers. The work extends beyond carbon: reducing waste, cutting pollution, and improving the overall quality of service delivery are part of the same commitment.
People, Progress and the Long View
For Simon, success starts with the team.
“Success would be a motivated and engaged sustainability team that feels inspired by the change they are helping to deliver. It’s important that the team feels they are building their careers at OCS, developing their skills, and contributing to the wider business, rather than operating as a separate function.”
Sustainability Director, UK & Ireland
The ambition is to further embed sustainability across how OCS develops bids, delivers contracts, and provides services across the UK and Ireland, so that the team’s work is visible within the business, not alongside it.
Simon believes facilities management is one of the best platforms for achieving that kind of impact. OCS is present across every major sector, and the scope for building on existing sustainable solutions is, in his words, vast.
“The potential to create long-term, meaningful change is significant. It’s a great place to have an impact.”
Sustainability Director, UK & Ireland