Get Sust! Issue 34

Achsah's swimming in a bigger pond — and loving it

Achsah Carter joined sustainability consultant Upstream in August 2007 as an intern. Here she tells Get Sust! what life’s been like in the past six months, and how she sees the future, now that the Upstream team is swimming with the very big fish, namely Jones Lang LaSalle the second largest global property consultancy.

“I’ve just been looking back through all my ‘to do’ lists for the last six months since I joined Upstream,” writes Achsah. “I thought they might give me an idea of what to write in this article. What I didn’t expect was a reminder of exactly how much I’ve learnt through this job!

“Since August 2007, when I first joined as an intern (I’m now a project assistant) I’ve been involved in everything from designing employee travel surveys, researching the world’s most sustainable companies and going on a tour of eco-homes in Dorset, to transcribing interviews from a stakeholder engagement project and organising a seminar on new technologies for extracting energy from waste. I’ve taken part in the Urban Buzz sustainable design review panel where twelve leading academics are reviewing planning applications submitted to London boroughs, and I’ve taught recycling workshops in a South London primary school.

“So what kind of a job gives me such diverse opportunities?

“I have a degree in social anthropology from Cambridge, and I was looking for a role that combined my interest in social issues and my growing awareness of the urgent need for environmental improvements. I heard about Upstream – a sustainability consultancy with a specialist focus on the property industry – just after I returned from Chongqing, China, where I’d been working with the British Council on a ‘Climate Cool’ initiative aimed at engaging university students. Sustainability seemed the perfect field for combining social and environmental concerns. So I applied to Upstream and was lucky enough to become part of a relatively small team, 30 people, in a professional yet laid-back office in Chancery Lane, Central London.

“Upstream had been going for ten years and had built a very strong reputation throughout the property sector for giving quality sustainability advice. Upstream’s clients include some of the biggest property companies in the UK – Land Securities, British Land, The Berkeley Group, Hermes and so on. We help companies develop their corporate sustainability strategy – their policies, targets and KPIs – so that environmental and social issues become embedded into everything the company does. And we keep our clients up-to-date with sustainability news, write sustainability reports, and develop industry-wide benchmarks of best practice.

“When I say our approach is ‘laid-back’ that doesn’t mean we’re not dynamic! I mean that this is all achieved in an office with free organic fruit, senior management dressed in jeans and flip flops if they don’t have client meetings, subsidised yoga lessons on Tuesday lunchtimes and where every second Thursday we take it in turns to cook a big team lunch for each other. (This has been known to get a little competitive – we’ve had the highs of sustainably sourced sushi, home-made Russian salads and Moroccan couscous, and the lows of exploding banoffee pie, and moussaka dropped on the tube!)

“Just as I was beginning to adapt to this little company, everything changed. In November 2007, Upstream agreed to acquisition by Jones Lang LaSalle, the world’s second biggest global property consultancy, one of the Sunday Times ‘100 Best Companies to Work for’ 2007 and with 28,000 direct employees in offices worldwide. The sustainability sector is changing fast, more companies want more advice more quickly, and by joining with Jones Lang LaSalle, Upstream (which is now the Upstream business unit within professional and advisory services at JLL) will have better access to property information, experience and resources.

“So what’s changed? Our founder, David Cadman, has taken a more backseat role, though is still available for advice and consulting while our two joint managing directors, Sarah Ratcliffe and Julie Hirigoyen (both Forum for the Future graduates who started Upstream with David), retain overall control in the day-to-day running of the business. We’ll be moving to Jones Lang LaSalle’s Hanover Square offices later this spring but staying together as a team. Many of Jones Lang LaSalle’s global clients have expressed strong interest in the acquisition of Upstream and there’s plenty of new work in the pipeline. We’ve been recruiting for around ten new posts and are likely to expand further later this year. There are suddenly lots of new people who want to learn about what we do and plenty of others who can teach us more about property. Our potential scope of influence has mushroomed.

“It’s been quite a lot to digest along with all our previous work which is continuing. Fortunately next week is our annual Away Day (or two or three) where we’ll be escaping the office and taking a bit more time to reflect together on where we’re heading and how we’ll achieve our aims (nothing less than global world sustainability, or course!) The fact that the Away Day is in a gorgeous converted barn in the countryside where we’ll be cooking meals from local organic ingredients and going for inspirational walks is just an added extra!”

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Visit www.upstreamstrategies.co.uk.