EVORA Staff Benefits: living our Values

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EVORA strives to be an open-minded, culture-driven company that really believes in our people, individually and collectively. Over the years, we have built a team of like-minded colleagues and it is fair to say, our people really are at the heart of everything we do and achieve.

Over the past 36 months our niche team has tripled and we now have 41 full-time staff. We have taken additional space in our fantastic offices in London (look out for more on that, coming soon!) as well as new office space across the country to accommodate growth in Bolton, our engineering team in Shrewsbury, the software team in Birmingham and the finance team in Farnham!

As we have grown, we have not compromised on our culture and values. Maintaining an environment that is supportive and inclusive and provides the flexibility that allows the team to work in a healthy, balanced workplace has been key. Following on from a consultation with the whole team last year, we are excited to launch our enhanced staff benefits for all staff which includes:

  • Increased pension contribution – EVORA match contributions up to a maximum of 10% dependent on seniority
  • Increased holiday allowance – from a base of 25 days, staff will accrue an extra days holiday for each year served up to 30 days
  • Sabbatical – After 3 years of continuous service, staff will be given an additional 5 days holiday and the ability to take a month’s sabbatical
  • Flexible working – Staff now have the ability to work flexibly, both in relation to home working and flexible hours.
  • Maternity package – we now have a generous maternity package
  • Healthcare – comprehensive private Healthcare with loads of benefits is now in place
  • Bonding with nature – All staff are now given a plant to adopt and care for, in a bid to improve our indoor air quality
  • FUN – we have provided a games console in our London HQ and also provided board games for staff to use during their lunch or after work

This is all in addition to the many benefits we already have in place.

They say that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. We believe that by consulting with our staff, and providing them with an environment in which they thrive, we build a strong team, which delivers value to our clients.

Watch our video to find out more about the team!

We are always on the lookout for outstanding individuals. You can learn more about what it’s like to work for EVORA on our Jobs Page and find details of our current vacancies.

EVORA set to expand consultancy team after annual promotions

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The EVORA team is growing rapidly in response to huge market demand for sustainability consultancy services and a number of great client wins.

Here at EVORA, we pride ourselves on building a positive, like-minded team of experts, and providing them with training and progression opportunities which enables us to deliver value to our clients.

I am pleased to announce, following our annual review process, that several staff have been given promotions.

This really is testament to the enormous amount of talent we have in-house, and our dedicated and hard-working team. We also announced recently that Louise Russell has been promoted to Associate Director.

If you’d like to join the EVORA team, you can find out more about working with us, and see our current vacancies on our Jobs page.

EVORA appoints new Associate Director

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I am delighted to announce that Louise Russell has been promoted to Associate Director.

Louise is EVORA’s longest serving employee and we couldn’t be more thrilled to offer her this opportunity in recognition of her hard work. She was our first Junior Consultant when Chris, Paul and I started the company six years ago and over that time, has worked her way through the ranks and developed her skills and knowledge.

Louise delivers invaluable support to several of our clients, including L&G, Schroder’s, EQT and more. She will now join the Senior Management Team to provide further strategic direction to the business.

Louise said “It has been really exciting to watch the company grow and for me personally to be a part of it. Despite our growth we have still maintained the same values that attracted me in the beginning. The drive for sustainability in the built environment continues to evolve, but I feel EVORA is ideally placed to spearhead the conversation.”

Find out more about Louise here.

If you would like to join EVORA, you can find out more about working with us and our current vacancies on our careers page.

Career Opportunities at EVORA

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At EVORA, we are able to apply our depth of knowledge and experience to help organisations understand and manage environmental risks, as well as realise the opportunities to protect and enhance the long term value of their assets. Our breadth of knowledge and client base have grown year on year and every member of the team is passionate about sustainability as a professional service.

We intend to grow our team by identifying individuals who have similar values, technical expertise and enthusiasm for their work.

We are currently recruiting for the following exciting positions:

If none of these current roles fit your expertise, but you are a sustainability professional who’d really love to work for a company like EVORA, please get in touch anyway. The team is expanding rapidly and we are always open to speaking with individuals who fit with our culture and values.

Our EVORA EDGE team are also looking for people working in the following areas:

Building Physicists, Building Services Designers and Engineers, EPC assessors, Air Conditioning Energy Assessors, CAD engineers, M&E Tech iCal Services Managers.

No agencies please!

How to apply

Passion and enthusiasm are essential qualities as is a practical common sense approach and a determination to deliver the highest quality of work.

If you think you’ve got the skills and experience to join our rapidly expanding business, we’d love to hear from you!

To apply, please email recruitment@evoraglobal.com with your CV or see our LinkedIn page.

Staff benefits and rewards

Senior Management, in consultation with the wider team, are currently working on an exciting new package of benefits and rewards which will be rolled out between now and the start of the new financial year. However, we already have a great range of benefits, including:

  • Work as part of a rapidly growing close-knit team of dedicated and enthusiastic professionals
  • 25 days annual leave per year plus public holiday entitlement
  • Work for a company that lives and breathes its values
  • Excellent ongoing professional development support
  • Employee pension scheme (after qualifying period)
  • Opportunity to work for large blue-chip clients
  • 2 days per year to volunteer for charity
  • Discretionary end-of-year bonus
  • Optional locations – London, Manchester, Birmingham, remote working (dependent on role)
  • And more (e.g. monthly company socials, childcare vouchers, Bike2Work scheme, payroll giving)

Skills and expertise

We are particularly keen to hear from people with the following expertise and knowledge:

  • Client account and programme management
  • Depth of technical knowledge of sustainability issues and application to real estate
  • EMS development and operation to ISO certification levels
  • Managing large environmental data management programmes coordinating multiple parties
  • Monitoring and analysis of energy consumption data
  • Regulatory and voluntary reporting, e.g. CRC, GRESB, CDP
  • Environmental and Energy Audit Experience for commercial buildings
  • ESOS Lead Assessor
  • Detailed understanding of UK environmental legislation (ESOS, CRC, EPCs, MEES)
  • BREEAM in Use Assessor and/or WELL Accredited Practitioner status

To apply, please email recruitment@evoraglobal.com with your CV or see our LinkedIn page.

EVORA revealed as finalists in Edie’s Sustainability Leaders Awards

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In EVORA’s first year of entering, we are thrilled to be finalists in three categories for the Edie Sustainability Leaders Awards 2019.

We are proud to be finalists in the ‘Consultancy of the Year’ category, along with a number of other outstanding organisations and we also made the list of finalists for the ‘Energy Efficiency’ category with our client Schroder Real Estate Investment Management.

Our Founder and Managing Director, Chris Bennett is also one of the finalists for ‘Energy Management Leader of the Year’ and will be presenting to the panel of judges later in the year.

Chris said, “This is an amazing accomplishment for EVORA. We have doubled in size over the last year and have built a really forward-thinking team, we’re also very fortunate to be working with some great clients. It’s wonderful to be recognised for the work that we are doing in the real estate sustainability sector and we have some really exciting plans on the horizon.”

The team looks forward to meeting fellow finalists and judges at the awards ceremony on 6 February.

There were a record-breaking number of entries this year for the awards, which have undergone a major revamp, with a new judging panel and additional new categories for 2019. The awards are a celebration of organisations who are embedding sustainability in their operations, business models and products, the winners are in the vanguard of sustainability and are driving demonstrable results through innovation, engagement and a commitment to doing business better.

You can find the full shortlist here.

EVORA’s Associate Director, Oli Pye, selected to join WELL Portfolio Advisory

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Oli Pye, Associate Director has been invited by the International WELL Building Institute™ (IWBI™) to be part of the 2018-2019 WELL Portfolio advisory.

Oli joins a select group of leading industry professionals who will guide the continuous evolution of the WELL Portfolio Pathway pilot, a new streamlined pathway for WELL Certification for multiple new or existing buildings and tenant spaces in a single portfolio.

Being released as part of the WELL v2 pilot, the latest iteration of the WELL Building Standard (WELL), WELL Portfolio is part of a suite of enhancements to WELL that addresses growing demand across the building industry for a program that helps owners, developers and tenants streamline and scale health and wellness upgrades to their real estate assets.

“Since we launched WELL, we’ve seen an explosion of interest from global companies to bring the same health and wellness benefits across their portfolios,” said IWBI Chairman and CEO Rick Fedrizzi. “The commitment of our early adopters who are now sharing their knowledge in this advisory role is what will make this process realizable for more companies and positively impact more people in every corner of the globe.”

The WELL Portfolio advisory includes a collection of professionals, practitioners and experts across a range of industries and sectors who will help shape and advance the implementation of the WELL Portfolio program.

Advisors will work with IWBI throughout the year to help ensure that WELL Portfolio continues to align with the latest industry research, meets user needs and raises the bar for healthy, high-performing buildings around the world.

Oli said, “I’m delighted to have been invited onto the panel with my fellow WELL Portfolio Advisors and I’m looking forward to supporting the programme.”

You can read more here.

Do sustainability professionals ever ‘switch off?’

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It’s official: despite my best efforts, I cannot switch off from work.

It has slowly been creeping into my life away from the office without me even realising it. Don’t get me wrong, as a sustainability professional I am more than happy to recycle at home, switch off lights, nag my friends into action, and do various other things as part of ‘my bit’ for the environment. But lately it has been entering other areas of my life unannounced. I thought it would be interesting to share my experiences in the hope I’m not the only one!

Example 1 – Watching TV. I had a bit of a binge watch of the series ‘Mad Men’ on Netflix recently (for anyone who watched it first time round you will realise I am about 10 years late to this programme!). It has been described by some TV experts as the most historically accurate portrayal of the era out of any show which has made it to the small screen. The sexism and racism is, at times, jaw dropping, the costumes are spot on and everyone smoking and drinking heavily throughout the day is a well-established norm.

And yet, for all the things they got right (I am having to base this on other peoples’ opinions as I was born in the 80s!), there is one glaring error which ruins the show…..the lighting. The camera is regularly angled upwards to show row upon row of perfectly illuminated square LED panels – a major oversight for a show set in the 1960s/1970s!

Example 2 – The shopping experience. Long do I yearn for the days when I would simply walk into shops to buy things. Now however, my first thought is always the temperature. 98% of the time, shops do not take into account the fact that customers will be wearing clothes suitable for the external weather conditions. For example, if it’s 0ºC outside, they will be wrapped up appropriately, and the last thing they’ll want is to walk into a shop which is reminiscent of a sauna and be baked like an arctic explorer in the Amazon. Cue me walking into a shop and swiftly leaving after five seconds (which happens regularly!).

Example 3 – Going for dinner or drinks. Currently, the trend seems to be for bars and restaurants to be fitted out in a ‘vintage’ style, including filament style lightbulbs. My first thought when I walk into these places is whether they are actually old high wattage filament bulbs or a sneaky LED alternative (which can be very realistic). Cue my attempts to try and touch the lights to see how much heat is being given off, prompting some very shifty looks from the bar staff.

So, it seems that I am destined to never ‘switch off’ from the job. However, I take solace in the fact that the above scenarios are not life threatening and do not keep me awake at night (like some jobs must). Instead it has formed an integral, albeit mildly annoying, part of my sub-conscious that will likely never fade.

GRESB Results 2018: EVORA supports Hines to achieve Sector Leader status and top global ranking in Health, Wellbeing and Resilience

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PRESS RELEASE – 12 September 2018
Download the full press release here.

Hines Pan-European Core Fund Recognized as Sector Leader by GRESB for Sustainability Performance

We are delighted to congratulate our client, Hines Pan-European Core Fund (HECF), for their absolutely stellar GRESB 2018 results:

  • GRESB Global Sector Leader
  • GRESB Europe Sector Leader
  • Ranked 1st Globally in the supplementary Health & Wellbeing module.
  • Ranked 1st Globally in the supplementary Resilience module.

It’s testament to their historic investment in and ongoing commitment to sustainability/ESG, plus their ability to respond quickly to emerging trends and topics such as health, wellbeing and resilience.

We have thoroughly enjoyed providing HECF with sustainability consultancy (including GRESB submission support) during the past two years and look forward to continuing our collaboration during the year(s) ahead.

Ed Gabbitas, Director, EVORA said: “The EVORA and HECF teams have worked incredibly hard over the past year to maintain Sector Leader status. It is great to see our high performing ESG strategy contribute to an equally high performing overall fund strategy, which has seen occupancy at 99.4% (as at Q2 2018), and doubling of assets under management (to €1.2bn GAV) since we first started working with Hines.”

You can read the full Hines press release here.

GRESB Premier PartnerWe are perfectly positioned to provide GRESB support. View our official Premier Partner profile.

We can work with you to complete the submission and understand your scoring, as well as develop a sustainability plan that will improve your future GRESB performance and align with your organisation’s key environmental objectives.

Sustainable cities: innovative “hubs” and battlefields against negative change

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Only ten years ago, knowing about sustainability meant that you might have accidentally read a piece of avant-garde research, speculating about harmful changes in our climate. In the blink of an eye, sustainability has gained wider momentum, and today has established itself as a global goal for our future and that of our planet.

However, years have passed but we still have a long way to go: threats to our environment and humankind haven’t disappeared as quickly as we’d hoped, and industrial production has largely been favouring short-term interests over environmentally-sound long-term benefits. Hence, the war against negative environmental impact is still on. What better battlefield than cities today?

Cities are expected to be home to over 70% of the world’s population by 2050[1]. In Europe, urban areas account for 75% of the population already. It is anticipated that US350 trillion are to be spent on urban infrastructure over the next 30 years[2]. How can we use those monetary resources effectively and sustainably?

Real Estate is a sector with one of the most comprehensive sets of tools and practical standards aiming to improve sustainability and resilience in cities. And thankfully so, as buildings account for almost 40% of carbon dioxide emissions globally, and in bigger cities up to 80%[3]. Ensuring that buildings are sustainable means finding ways to use resources efficiently, without compromising their overall purpose. Buildings should be designed with the best solutions and ideas at stake and should be a grounding element of future-proofed cities.

Great theory, great lesson, but what has been done so far?

Practical learning n 1: Business for sustainability, or sustainability for business?

A lot of initiatives and developments have taken place in the real estate sector to advance sustainability holistically. More and more, environmental standards and certifications such as BREEAM, LEED and many more have set out criteria to measure buildings’ sustainability and determine which actions can contribute to better results. Along this line, the GRESB sustainability survey has become a turning point for real estate investors’ business-wide future decisions. The speculative market environment can therefore easily be influenced by what investors believe to be future risks. This means that sustainable cities and structures are at the core of the international agenda, and they have the power to steadily shape what is next.

Practical learning n 2: All that glitters today is not gold tomorrow

Industries such as Real Estate, which deal with infrastructures that need sustainable (re)development, have started rewriting their founding lessons, with an eye for long-lasting value, rather than short-term benefit. Why is business, often the enemy to our environment, suddenly turning towards more sustainable solutions?

Industries such as Real Estate, which deal with infrastructures that need sustainable (re)development, have started rewriting their founding lessons, with an eye for long-lasting value, rather than short-term benefit.

Sustainable cities mean resilience, hence resistance to future risks and challenges. This means better stability and reward for the years to come as well as a greater understanding of how to peacefully live within our environment, rather than harming it or feeling threatened by it.  More in cities than anywhere else, where consumption patterns are the direct cause of environmental degradation, there is a need for enduring value, which can only go hand in hand with an increasing respect and understanding of how to treat our urban surroundings. What glitters today is not going to be the gold of tomorrow, if it cannot last until tomorrow!

Practical learning n 3: The happier, the better

Cities are a hub of production, which means innovation, creativity, financial reward, increasing services and ambitious professional, social and cultural opportunities. As a result, however, cities can also be stressful environments, filled with people, vehicles, infrastructure, but with little space and resources to support them. This does not only affect the resilience of businesses and infrastructures, but also of the people contributing to them, who increasingly suffer from psychological distress, anxiety and hence lower productivity. Sustainable cities and their infrastructures can only achieve enduring value if they become healthier environments for their people.

The Real Estate sector has recently made advancements in establishing health and wellbeing as a part of the sustainability agenda. Not only do sustainable buildings mean good management of resources, which inevitably meet future human needs, but research has shown that proximity to more natural elements within our urban spaces is fundamental to advancing our well-being, and as a result our productivity[4][5]. Standards such as the WELL, RESET and Fitwel have taken health and wellbeing as their main focus to aspire to resilient and thriving communities within urban spaces. Similarly, GRESB recently introduced a health and well-being module in their annual survey and it will likely gain wider coverage in future years. It seems that if you feel great within your environment, you will be happier, healthier and will reach your full potential. Isn’t this what we are all looking for?

If you agree, then you have reason to believe that because our current cities are the major obstacle to improving sustainability and finding enduring value, they are also the inherent solution.

This blog post was originally written for and published on GRESB Insights.

[1] Neij, L., Bulkeley, H. & McCormick, K. (2015) Cities and climate change: The great decarbonisation challenge, Climate in Focus, 1-4.

[2] WWF (2012) Reinventing the City: Three Prerequisites for Greening Urban Infrastructures, p. 6

[3] WF (2012) Urban Solutions for a Living Planet. P.10

[4] WF (2012) Urban Solutions for a Living Planet. P.9

[5] Ryan, C., Gaziulusoy, I., McCormick, K & Trudgeon, M. (to be published) Virtual City Experimentation: A Critical Role for Design Visioning. In: Evans, J., Karvonen A. & Raven, R (eds) The Experimental City. London: Routledge.

Monitoring and visualising indoor air quality with Foobot

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With the rise of the health and wellbeing agenda, monitoring and visualising the indoor environmental quality (IEQ) of the workplace is emerging as a key objective for many.

Some smart buildings already have expensive state of the art IEQ monitoring in place. But what if you don’t find yourself in this situation and need to set up a system from scratch? You could go out and procure said ‘state of the art’ system at significant expense. However, if you are budget-constrained, you may find yourself looking toward the more cost efficient, ‘consumer-grade’ end of the IEQ monitoring spectrum…

Measuring IAQ

Now, we know there are considerable limitations with certain consumer-grade IEQ monitoring devices – including their level of calibration and, ultimately, accuracy. However, for this blog we would like to set this issue aside and focus on the practicalities of installing and monitoring indoor air quality through a popular consumer-grade monitoring device: Foobot.

With an interest in air quality, one of our consultants found Foobot. Foobot is a low-cost air quality monitoring tool which can interface with internet-based apps to log air quality and also help you to do something about it.

Setup

Setting up Foobot is easy. Once you’ve unboxed and plugged the monitor in, you need to download the Foobot app to an Android or iPhone smart phone.  After registering on the app, it will then allow you to connect to the monitor. Once connected, you can then monitor Foobot readings wherever you are.  For easy comprehension, Foobot gives you a headline air quality score, which is made up of several readings including carbon dioxide, particulates, and humidity.

The main Foobot phone screen, showing an air quality score (50+ is poor)

Data and API

As well as the app, Foobot supplies an API, which can be used to extract data from your monitor for your own use. To get the data you basically fire various URLs to the API, which include an API key supplied by Foobot, that will return data. This is quite advanced stuff for those who want to build their own mini applications. An easier way to do this would be to use something called IFTTT.

Connect Foobot up to other apps using IFTTT

A useful website www.ifttt.com (If this then that) has lots of applets; readymade code snippets that are based on a trigger (this) and an action (that). Handily there’s a few setup already for Foobot. For our Foobot (named Evorabot) we have used two – one to log readings to a google spreadsheet and the other to message a reading when you physically tap the monitor twice.

The Foobot applets listed on the IFTTT website.

To use IFTTT, first you need to register as a new user on the site. This can be done using a Facebook or Google login or a login specifically for IFTTT. Once registered you can then set up applets.

To setup an applet is simple.

  1. You choose the applet you want to use (Foobot/Twitter/Instagram).
  2. You then click on the trigger part of the applet (The ‘this’).
  3. This will prompt you to connect a Foobot device.
  4. To connect your Foobot to the IFTTT site, you just need to enter the login you created when you registered your Foobot using the mobile app.
  5. Once it is registered you can use any of the Foobot triggers for the ‘this’ part of the applet.
  6. For the ‘that’ part, we first used a connection to a Google drive account to log each reading made by our Foobot to a google sheet. This graph is a google sheets graph, plotting CO2 output in the Evora office.

An example Co2 graph of the Evora office

Using Slack

We now use an IFTTT applet which logs a reading to one of our Slack channels (the app we use for internal communications with the team). The Foobot reading is triggered by someone tapping/knocking on the device which then posts a message in the appropriate conversation.

The knock knock Foobot app in action

Hacks to the future

The great thing about Foobot is that its already collaborating with other technologies to create complete solutions. This includes linking to Nest to enable more ventilation if air quality gets too bad. These hacks enable both offices and homes to create Smart ventilation, keeping poor air quality in check.

We may well explore this solution for our office. For now, when the air quality gets bad, we open some windows!