Smart & Sustainable Building Masterclass: ESG in real estate – From talk to action
31st October 2023 @ 8:30am, Haysmacintyre LLP, 10 Queen St Place, London, EC4R 1AG

Factoring in ESG in real estate is gradually becoming a requirement across the sector but there’s a long way to go. The challenge for many companies is how to move from strategy to practice. The aim of this panel discussion is to make sense of ESG across the sector, touch on new and emerging market, policy and regulatory priorities and provide suggestions on how to start embedding ESG practice into business as usual.

This discussion – the third in our Smart & Sustainable Buildings Masterclass series – will be of benefit to building industry professions, as well as employers, contractors and suppliers of goods and/or services to the sector. And there will be plenty of opportunity for discussion as well as networking.

Our panellists:

Rakesh Vaitha, Director, haysmacintyre

Rakesh is the Head of Risk Assurance & Advisory Services team at haysmacintyre. Rakesh’s role is to help clients identify, assess, and mitigate their risks and provide pragmatic advice in relation to governance, risk management and internal control arrangements. Rakesh is also CISA qualified and provides technology risk services, such as IT risk assessments, IT general controls, IT application controls, information security, cyber security and service organisation control reporting.

Rakesh shares a passion for all things ESG, having taken on the role if coordinating ESG internally at haysmacintyre and speaking on the topic at industry events, including the 2023 ESG Imperative Conference.

Dr Sophie Taysom, Founder & Director, Keyah Consulting

Sophie is Founder of Keyah Consulting, working across the built environment to develop approaches to ESG and speaking on national and international platforms.

Sophie’s career spans central government, business and academia bringing a range of expertise to her roles as a member of the Institution of Engineering and Technology’s Healthcare Sector Executive, as a Trustee for Groundwork London, and as a NED with Trustek.

Sophie’s passion and expertise is focussed on the social side of businesses and real estate, working as a Senior Associate for The Good Economy and using her public-sector background to set businesses’ ESG strategy apart from the competition.

Hannah Durden, Founder & Director, CNZW

Hannah has worked in real estate for 20 years in the private sector and for clients across the UK. Based in the UK she advises on sustainable development strategy: considering carbon, waste and wider ESG opportunities across every element of the business and property life cycle.

Her background on both the advisory and client side gives her a wide range of experience across all asset classes but fundamentally she has practical experience delivering developments and is insistent on providing advice that is both realistic and commercial.

Having trained as a Chartered Surveyor, Hannah went on to do her EDGE Expert training in sustainable design and construction. She is a co-founder of Circular Community UK and her passion, aside from waste and recycling, is connecting people and companies to generate both profitable and sustainable business opportunities.

Mark Jenkinson, Director, Crystal Associates (Panel moderator)

Mark is Founder of Crystal Associates, an independent consulting company, helping cities, communities and businesses on the path to be smarter and more sustainable.

Mark chairs the London Chamber’s ‘Environment, Sustainability & Green Growth’ committee, is on the Board of the South East London Chamber of Commerce and co-leads the Tech London Advocates working groups on Education and PropTech.  Mark is also a contributor to the new UK Net Zero Carbon Building Standard, leads a LETI workstream developing a retrofit guide for Local Authorities and is a member of the Worshipful Company of Constructors.

Prior to setting up Crystal Associates, Mark spent over 25 years in senior global roles at Siemens with a focus on sustainability and the digitalisation of city infrastructure and industry.

By signing up to this event you are agreeing for your data to be shared with Crystal Associates, Keyah Consulting and CNZW for the purpose of this event.