To mark the 20th anniversary of CIOB’s chartered environmentalist designation – the qualification available via the Society of the Environment – CM spoke to a range of CEnv members on how it has helped them with their work, and in spreading the sustainability word
‘A minimum demonstration of professional competence’
Hero Bennett MCIOB CEnv
Director and sustainability partner, Max Fordham
I received my chartered environmentalist (CEnv) designation 11 years ago, two weeks before going on maternity leave. My previous career was in fuel cell development – the product development industry did not care about designations; instead, you were judged by your PhD, the patents you had your name to, or the products you had helped release.
Moving into construction was a shift. I found myself surrounded by chartered professionals where safety and professionalism are personal responsibilities that can cost lives if not adhered to – and yet sustainability as a burgeoning profession was ill-defined, and I often found I was pushing to be recognised as an essential professional to be in the room.
For me, becoming a CEnv was a way of showing that sustainability was not an optional extra or a matter of personal interest. It was an essential part of responsible construction delivery, requiring the same seriousness, competence and accountability as other disciplines.
I see it slightly differently now. As a director, I expect people in my group to work towards professional recognition as part of their development. I see chartership as a minimum demonstration of professional competence: evidence that you can do your day job well, developing your skills and meeting an external standard.
The process also encourages a more rounded set of skills. That matters in sustainability – judgement, communication, influence and responsibility are just as essential as technical expertise.
‘Look beyond the building to the bigger sustainability picture’
Taylor Boutin MCIOB CEnv
Retrofit coordinator, Ridge and Partners
I work primarily on social housing retrofit, with our team currently involved with around 48,000 properties. I became a CEnv after achieving my CIOB chartership because sustainability is central to my work. As a lecturer in retrofit, I also felt it was important that my students could see I had professional recognition for the subjects I was teaching.
CEnv has encouraged me to look beyond simply retrofitting a building and think about the bigger sustainability picture. That includes educating residents about how they can reduce energy and water consumption and, importantly, their costs. We can’t expect communities to adopt more sustainable behaviours if we don’t give people the knowledge to do so.
A fundamental principle in retrofit is fabric first. Before installing technologies such as air-source heat pumps or solar PV, we need to make sure the building is properly insulated. Otherwise, a heat pump has to work much harder, increasing both its size and running costs. I also encourage colleagues to consider embodied carbon and the whole-life impact of the products we specify.
CEnv is invaluable for career progression in a sector where demand for skilled retrofit professionals continues to grow.
‘Credibility to influence sustainable outcomes’
Brian Howard MCIOB CEnv
Project manager, TAFE Queensland, Australia
The primary benefit of the CEnv designation is that it gives me credibility when discussing, influencing or implementing sustainability initiatives on projects or in the workplace.
That’s important when engaging with clients. We’re currently working on a proposal for a government-backed rooftop solar programme across Queensland, supporting the state government’s net-zero commitments. CEnv demonstrates that sustainability is a genuine part of my professional practice.
The designation also demonstrates to peers an expertise in sustainability which is recognised professionally worldwide.
‘Embed sustainability into decision-making from the outset’
Mania Alabadla CEnv
Associate sustainability consultant, AtkinsRéalis
I’ve worked in sustainability for around 20 years and currently lead and manage sustainability performance on major, complex projects around the world. I became a CEnv after moving to the UK. I was already chartered with CIOB, and CEnv felt like a natural next step.
It has helped me develop my leadership skills in sustainability. One example from my work is the introduction of a sustainability governance framework on a major infrastructure programme.
Rather than sustainability being considered as an afterthought, we embedded it into existing processes and project decision-making from the outset. That created clear accountability, improved collaboration between disciplines and meant sustainability opportunities and risks could be identified much earlier.
The CEnv qualification process also encourages you to think beyond purely technical sustainability issues to areas such as ethics, risk, compliance and management. It helps you plan your professional development.
‘Helped me get a sustainability role at the Olympics’
Emma Nicholson FCIOB CEnv
Net zero delivery manager, Connect Housing Association
I’ve been a CEnv for 16 years and I acquired this accreditation when I was chair of the CIOB’s sustainability strategy group. A couple of years later I was accepted for a role with the sustainability team at the London 2012 Olympics and Paralympics, and I think the qualification demonstrated I was serious about a career in sustainability.
Since then I have worked in many different sectors of the built environment and now I work for a housing association in West Yorkshire where I am helping to reduce carbon emissions, drive the sustainability agenda and introduce a new biodiversity strategy. Green spaces are important for resident wellbeing, flood risk reduction, as well as biodiversity development.
I am a voluntary assessor for the CEnv accreditation and have helped a couple of CIOB professionals successfully achieve the accreditation. It’s not just a valuable accreditation for your personal career; it’s also important for the organisation you work for.
‘Helped embed decarbonisation into military engineers’
Peter Egan FCIOB CEnv
Head of sustainability and innovation, Vinci Facilities
I spent 28 years in the Royal Engineers, delivering projects around the world and seeing first-hand both the positive and negative environmental impacts of engineering. That encouraged me to think about how we can design differently, reduce carbon and cut the energy demands of buildings.
When the opportunity arose to become a CEnv through CIOB, I took it because I wanted my competence to be independently assessed and recognised.
Soon afterwards, I became a principal engineer for the United Nations in South Sudan, where I was involved in decarbonisation, redevelopment and humanitarian projects. Later, at the Royal School of Military Engineering, I helped embed sustainability and decarbonisation into the way military engineers are taught.
Today, I lead sustainability and innovation at Vinci Facilities, principally across its defence contracts. One of our priorities is making projects “sustainable by design”: considering carbon, climate resilience, biodiversity and other requirements from the very beginning, rather than trying to add sustainability later.
We are also asking our supply chain to demonstrate professional competence in sustainability and environmental management.
Professional registration demonstrates more than knowledge of sustainability principles: it shows you can apply them. Having your competence peer reviewed can also give you confidence that your knowledge and experience have been independently tested.
‘Sustainability has moved from the margins to the mainstream’
Michael Naughton FCIOB CEnv
When I started in the industry, environmental matters were not a priority. In the 1990s, I became interested in emerging technologies such as ground source heat pumps, solar energy, improved thermal performance and mechanical ventilation with heat recovery. These are normal now, but at the time there was an element of experimentation and trial and error.
When I heard about the CEnv qualification, I felt it aligned well with my work and would demonstrate my knowledge and commitment to integrating environmental considerations into construction. I became a CEnv in 2006 – the first year CIOB introduced the qualification.
Over those 20 years, I’ve seen sustainability move from receiving little consideration to becoming a core part of the design and delivery of construction projects. In the early years, CEnv was not well known and there were relatively few of us, so there was an element of making your own way and developing your own processes. Today there is much more guidance and expertise available.
The buildings I am involved with now are being designed to achieve net zero carbon, with further innovation aimed at improving their performance over their whole lifecycle.
We need environmental specialists, but sustainability also needs to become part of everyone’s job. If that becomes the norm over the next 20 years, while we continue striving to improve, we will be succeeding.
