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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 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.

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.

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.

The Sustainability Case for Business

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Upon reading a number of recent sustainability articles; “2018 will be fourth hottest year on record…”,  “Humans are damaging the oceans in profound ways”, “Earth’s resources consumed in ever greater destructive volumes”, I am left pondering what priority is this critically important issue being given at a time when – more than ever – the evidence is right before our eyes?

There is now more pressure on organisations, companies and individuals to act as ‘Sustainability Stewards’ for society and the environment. Especially with a UK government lost in the quagmire of Brexit, dealing a serious blow to real sustainability policy, legislation and leadership.

Over the past decade or so, I have witnessed some improvement in the nature of organisation and client conversations in this space; however, challenges on making the business case for sustainability do remain.

My hope is that energy efficiency practices, environmental standards and initiatives become default best practice in every organisation…  Don’t get me wrong, there are some very pro-active organisations leading the charge. However, wider adoption is needed to really embed the levels of sustainability required to reduce and mitigate the impact of climate change.

The built environment is rapidly expanding. It is critical that a genuine understanding of how these buildings perform and impact the environment throughout their lifecycle is developed and disseminated to all. Surely it makes sense to futureproof property assets, securing their long term value and sustainability? At the same time, these solutions will deliver on wider sustainability goals that protect the planet and our finite resources.

To help lead the charge, EVORA focuses on using accurate data to benchmark and track performance across various types of real estate. This forms the basis of an holistic approach to develop definitive end to end solutions for our clients to support their strategies, through feasible initiatives that enhances the operation of their assets and the wellbeing of their occupants .

I will finish on a positive note, there are signs of positive action where EVORA have helped clients: “Monitoring & Targeting delivers 30% energy savings”, “16% increase in recycling & zero waste to landfill”, “Ground breaking approach to BIM results in proposal to reduce CO2 emissions on all new developments by 20%”.

If we can continue this trajectory then we are certainly heading in the right direction. We just need to up the momentum and reframe the conversation to make the “sustainability case for business!”

To speak to a member of the team about how we can support you, please contact us.

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.

EVORA achieves Planet Mark Certification

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We are proud to announce that EVORA has achieved the Planet Mark Certification for the 4th year running!

The Planet Mark is an internationally recognised certification based on sustainability standards. It represents an organisation’s sustainability programme to actively reduce environmental and social harm.

EVORA is committed to continuous improvement in sustainabilityClick To Tweet

In order to achieve the Planet Mark certification, EVORA had to submit data and evidence on a number of its business activities, such as its utilities (energy and water), waste (recyclable and landfill) and business travel. The Planet Mark then takes that data and puts it through ‘rigorous carbon footprint measurement and reporting’ to ensure we are acting responsibly and limiting our environmental impact.

Total carbon footprint per employee - decreased by 17.3%Click To Tweet

Highlights from the report:

  • Total carbon footprint – decreased by 8.6%
  • Total carbon footprint per employee – decreased by 17.3%

EVORA is committed to continuous improvement in sustainability and aims to reduce our carbon footprint even further next year!

EVORA to Manage Real Estate Sustainability Event for Over 100 Delegates

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On Wednesday 7th February 2018, we are delighted to be running an event for over 100 commercial real estate and sustainability professionals.

Real Estate Sustainability: Planning for 2018 & Beyond

What started out as an idea in November for a small workshop-style event for up to 30 people quickly escalated into something much larger when we received over 30 bookings before Christmas. Thanks to our client, Schroders, who are hosting the event for us in the auditorium of their Gresham Street office, we are now able to accommodate up to 130 attendees.

With six guest speakers and panelists including Sander Paul van Tongeren, Managing Director of GRESB, Debbie Hobbs, Head of Sustainability at Legal & General Investment Management, and Murray Birt, ESG Thematic Research Strategist at Deutsche Asset Management, participants have been eagerly booking onto the event to hear from such industry experts.

We’re currently at 105 registrations, meaning we still have some spaces remaining! So, why not join your peers and kick-start your yearClick To Tweet

We’re currently at 105 registrations, meaning we still have some spaces remaining! So, why not join your peers and kick-start your year by learning the answers to the following questions:

  • How can you make 2018 your best year yet for meeting your sustainability goals?
  • What are the new risks and opportunities you should be aware of this year?
  • What changes are on the horizon for GRESB?
  • How can social value be measured?

We firmly believe this is set to be one of the biggest and best consultancy-organised events that the UK commercial real estate sustainability sector has seen to date. Don’t miss your opportunity to be a part of it. We expect the remaining few places to go very quickly!

Enquire now by completing the form on this page

Introducing EVORA Giving – Our New Series of Charitable Initiatives

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“No one has ever become poor by giving.”
― Anne Frank, diary of Anne Frank: the play

Charity: we all know that this is the concept of ‘giving back’, but how many of us can say that the business we work for is actively involved in doing good and promoting social responsibility? Well, I am proud to announce that EVORA has implemented its own charity initiatives, which we are calling EVORA Giving.

EVORA Giving logo

For us at EVORA, when deciding which approach we wanted to take, we had to think about what we are passionate about collectively and individually, as charity means something different to all of us. We also had to consider how our approach will not just benefit humanity but also the business and our employees.

Below I have listed the four main initiatives of EVORA Giving:

1. Employee Volunteering Days: All employees have been allocated 2 days per year that they can take off work to volunteer for a charitable cause of their choice. Volunteering makes a difference, you can see real changes based on your actions, and this not only makes the recipient feel good but makes you feel good also.

2. Payroll Giving: EVORA will offer each staff member Payroll Giving to a charity of their choice. Payroll Giving, also known as Give As You Earn and is a way of giving money to a registered charity in the UK through PAYE without paying tax on it. Therefore, the charity gets the maximin benefit. The Employee decides on the amount and the charity/charities that should receive it.

3. Ad-hoc Fundraising: We will be holding one-off fundraising events for various charities throughout the year. This can be anything from Macmillan Coffee mornings, wearing red for Red Nose Day, or joining an organised event such as Race for Life.

EVORA Giving BetterBanksideThis December we have already kicked things of by getting involved in Better Bankside’s (business improvement district) Together at Christmas campaign. This involved hosting a collection box where our lovely employees donated warm clothing, festive foods and toiletries to the homeless. Once we had collected the gifts we decided to host an in-house gift wrapping session where we had some yummy mince pies, mulled wine and wrapped all the gifts to some cheesy Christmas music. The gifts are then collected by Better Bankside and go out for delivery to a variety of charities.

Next week, we will be getting involved in Christmas Jumper Day by donning on our ugliest, silliest and woolliest jumpers in order to raise money for Save the Children. Keep an eye on our social media channels for photos of our staff in their festive attire.

4. Corporate Sponsorship: Corporate sponsorship of a chosen charity for a 12-month period. Starting in January 2018, we will be sponsoring one UK registered charity through corporate sponsorship for a 12-month period. We have put together a working group to help set up fundraising events and come up with some fun and inventive ideas to raise money for a worthy cause. At the end of the year we will then choose another charity that we can support and keep this going on rotation basis.

After the Christmas holidays, we will be announcing our chosen charity in a new blog post, so please stay tuned for the big reveal!

I hope you have enjoyed this post. We will keep you updated with all our fundraising events so please watch this space for more information…!

How to Achieve Great Collaboration in a Growing Company

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EVORA has been growing fast, with over 100% team growth in the last 18 months alone. While such growth is exciting, we also had to overcome some challenges in order to keep and nurture our positive office culture. In this series of blog posts, I will take you on a journey about the creation of an engaging workplace in a growing company. This first article focuses on communication and collaboration.

Here are my 3 top tips:

1.     Bring the Team Together More Frequently

There is so much going on in a growing company. Your sales team might have won three new projects, the technology team wants to release a new software update – not to mention an after-work drinks social to welcome new employees. How can you keep everyone in the loop? How can you make sure every single employee is aligned with the big vision of the company? It might seem obvious to founders and directors where the ship is headed, but the newest member on the ship might have no clue! That is why we introduced the weekly stand-up.

EVORA Global Monday meetingOnce a week, we all come together – from the newest recruit to the Managing Director. Staff in the main office gather around the breakfast bar, while remote workers dial in via Skype. And that in itself is already quite important: to come together as one team on a regular basis fosters the bond between co-workers and builds a sense of community. We then update each other about the latest news and events happening in our world. Everyone can speak up, will be heard, and can ask questions. We are all – from top management to entry level employees – on top of what is going on and promote transparency within the company and support the alignment of people with the company’s goals. As you don’t want the meeting to be too long, I recommend keeping the stand-up to an absolute maximum of 30 minutes. That way you make sure that people give a short and snappy update which is relevant for everyone. Pro tip: use an alarm to signal when time is up.

2.     Give Everyone a Voice and Promote Innovation (one of our Core Values!)

As Albert Einstein said: “Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving.” The same applies to a business. Not only should you be on top of what is going on in your industry, but you should also endeavour to drive your sector forward with new ideas and innovations. To create a culture of engaged employees, and to promote participation and innovation throughout parts of the business, we launched our so-called lunchtime briefing sessions.

EVORA Global lunchtime learningOne speaker per session prepares a presentation of around 15 minutes. It can be about anything business related such as a legislation change relevant to the industry, an idea for a new client service or how to create an internship position within your organisation. Based on our experience, a lively Q&A session will follow each presentation. With lunchtime briefing sessions, you not only promote knowledge exchange, but you also empower your staff to contribute and have their voice heard. The cherry on the cake:  employees also have the opportunity to practise their presentation skills. We reinforce the last point by handing out post-its and pens to all participants at the beginning and ask them to write down constructive feedback for the speaker. One last tip: record the sessions and upload them to your Intranet. In doing so, you will have an internal library full of knowledge and ideas from which not only current but also future employees will benefit.

3.     Share Knowledge and Boost Employees’ Development Through Reading

Picture this: during lunch you are engaged in a casual conversation with your colleagues and one of them refers to that fantastic book she read about how to run a target-oriented business, which really opened her eyes. You ask for the book title, maybe even manage to make a note of it and then…well, that was it, you forget about it. Sound familiar? It has happened to me so often! This led to the idea of creating a book sharing corner in the main office.

EVORA Global book cornerHere is how it works: if someone has a book at home that they recommend others to read as well – and it can be anything from the Agile software development methodology to a book about how to run a sustainability-focused organisation – they can bring it to the office. All books are gathered above our fireplace and anyone can borrow it simply by checking the book out in a list (you don’t want books to get lost, do you?). It is such an easy project, bringing many advantages: employees widen their horizons and learn new things, they develop their skills by discovering new ideas and approaches, it boosts their creativity, and reading has even been proven to reduce stress. Plus: you gain a bit of extra space at home by having one book less in the shelf! Our next step might be to implement a ‘Book Club’ – a voluntary programme where a group of employees read the same book and meets regularly to discuss its content and relevance to the company. This could foster collaboration between employees who might not interact with each other very often and provide employees an opportunity to learn and grow. I’ll keep you posted on how this goes here at EVORA.

Creating an engaging workplace is always a work in progress. What is applicable for other companies might not work for your team, so the best approach is learning by doing. Give it a try and see if it is well received by your employees. Feel free to get in touch with me if you face similar challenges – I am always open for exchanging experiences and ideas. In my next blog post, I will write about how to make your office a pleasant and productive environment. Stay tuned!