The Developers Perspective: Greener, Healthier, Smarter Buildings

Basil is managing partner of FORE, a pan-European social impact real estate investor and developer set up by Jeff Skoll, the billionaire co-founder of Ebay, to invest in property and drive positive social and environmental impacts.FORE is a family office, and now invests the money of more than a dozen wealthy individuals and families from around the world, who share a commitment to sustainability and social value. FORE is one of a very small group of UK social impact real estate investors –and is active in London and key regional cities including Manchester and Glasgow, as well as Germany.FORE’s main focus is on offices, transforming outdated buildings into modern workspaces that cater for the next generation of occupiers, with a rigorous focus on carbon reduction and positive social impact.Recently completed projects include Windmill Green, the most sustainable new office building in Manchester. FORE is also bringing forward two sustainable offices in Glasgow as well as TBC, a major new project at Tower Bridge, in London.

Roxana Isaiu is Director Real Estate for GRESB. Roxana holds an Msc in Corporate Finance and is responsible for the development and implementation of the ESG standards, as well as the benchmarking methodology for the real estate sector. Since joining the company in 2012, Roxana has been working with institutional investors, real estate companies and industry groups to help develop reliable and consistent data collection and analysis tools. In her position, Roxana focuses on the promotion of transparency in the real estate sector through systematic reporting on ESG indicators of performance. She helps shape data quality processes and manages a team to support stakeholder engagement across industry bodies.

Robert launched investment and development company Trilogy Property in 2015 to specialise in repositioning tired or overlooked assets to create contemporary workplaces and mixed-use destinations in the UK. Robert has a well-regarded reputation for area regeneration and for the benchmark re-invention of the modern, creative office building. He has been closely involved with some of the most innovative developments in London and has collaborated with Britain’s most respected architects, designers and investors. During his ten years at Resolution Property, Robert was integral to the team which developed many of London’s standard-setting workplaces, most notably the Ampersand Building in Soho and the Alphabeta Building on Finsbury Square. Prior to joining Resolution Property, Robert was a director at Jones Lang LaSalle. Robert has a degree in Architecture from the Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL and a qualification in Chartered Surveying (MRICS), as well as a diploma in Finance from the Securities Institute.

As Vice President of Sustainability at Harrison Street, Stephanie is responsible for managing the ESG strategy for the firm, including portfolio efficiency strategy, annual corporate responsibility report, and GRESB submissions for investment entities. She is also responsible for enhancing business processes across the firm and at assets to improve sustainability performance. Prior to joining Harrison Street, Stephanie was an independent sustainability management consultant and supported a variety of real estate-focused clients in designing and managing sustainability programs. Her experience includes green building certification management, deploying efficiency strategies across large portfolios, consumption analytics and benchmarking, ESG reporting through GRI and GRESB, and resiliency planning. Prior to independent consulting, Stephanie was an Assistant Director at the Institute for the Built Environment at Colorado State University where she managed research and consulting projects focused on green building and organizational sustainability. She has published numerous academic white papers and spoke at conferences on sustainability planning and management. Stephanie holds a Bachelor of Science in Design from Oklahoma State University, a Master of Science in Sustainable Design from Colorado State University, and is a LEED accredited professional.