Title: Sustainability Consultant
Location: London
Working Pattern: Hybrid and flexible working
Business Area: Sustainability & ESG – UK & Europe
Why RLB?
At RLB, we live by four simple ideas: Truth, Trust, Together, Tomorrow. Four values that live at the heart of RLB. A place where People Make Progress.
We value your skills, talents and unique perspectives – we think they are priceless.
Bring them to RLB and you’ll be empowered to shape our future and your career in new and meaningful ways.
We’ll give you opportunities to work on some of the most ambitious and exciting projects currently being designed and developed in the built environment sector.
You’ll continue to learn and advance as everyone who works for us is provided with a tailored training programme. Our mentoring and reverse mentoring schemes will enable you to share your expertise while gaining fresh insights.
What makes RLB unique is our inclusive culture. As an independent, employee-owned business, teamwork and collaboration lies at the heart of everything we do. Hybrid and flexible working arrangements and family-friendly policies are just some of the ways we invest in employee wellbeing.
Join us and you will thrive personally as well as professionally.
We are looking for a Sustainability Consultant to take genuine ownership of client relationships and deliver technical ESG advisory work across a portfolio of institutional real estate clients.
This is a role with more direct client contact and a broader remit than an equivalent position at a very large platform. You will be visible to your clients, you will run your own workstreams, and you will have real influence over how our service offering develops. In return we expect self-sufficiency, commercial awareness and a willingness to get into the detail.
The core of the role is GRESB advisory and BREEAM In-Use, but we have a broader ESG capability and there is significant scope to develop into adjacent service areas.
Key Responsibilities:
Client management and delivery
- Act as day-to-day contact for a portfolio of institutional investor, fund manager and asset manager clients, owning the relationship at working level.
- Present findings and recommendations to fund managers, asset managers and investment committees, translating technical detail into commercial decisions.
- Coordinate with managing agents, property managers, occupiers and third-party assessors to secure the data and evidence required for delivery.
- Manage client expectations on scope, timescale and achievable outcomes, escalating appropriately.
GRESB advisory
- Deliver annual GRESB Real Estate Assessment submissions for fund and entity-level clients, covering both the Management and Performance Components.
- Run gap analyses against the current scorecard and build multi-year improvement roadmaps prioritised by point return against cost and effort.
- Own the data workstream: energy, water, waste and GHG data collection, coverage improvement, like-for-like development, whole-portfolio reporting and treatment of acquisitions and disposals.
- Design and operate QA processes so every reported figure is traceable to a primary source and survives validation and assurance scrutiny.
- Interpret results against peer group and benchmark reports, and prepare the post-results narrative for fund managers and LPs.
BREEAM In-Use
- Advise clients on BREEAM In-Use strategy: scheme scope, Part 1 (Asset Performance) and Part 2 (Management Performance), target rating and sequencing.
- Manage evidence gathering across single assets and portfolios, including credit-by-credit evidence registers, responsible-party mapping and gap tracking.
- Liaise with licensed BREEAM In-Use Assessors through to certification, and support clients through the audit and quality assurance process.
- Undertake site surveys and building reviews to verify in-situ conditions and identify improvement opportunities.
- Advise on the capital and operational interventions required to move an asset between rating bands, working with RLB cost management colleagues to price them.
Practice development
- Contribute to bids, proposals and fee submissions, including scoping and pricing your own work.
- Help develop tools, templates and methodologies that make delivery more efficient and consistent.
Essential Requirements
- Approximately 4 years' experience in a client-facing consultancy role, ideally within real estate, sustainability, or the built environment.
- Demonstrable experience working directly with institutional investors, fund managers or asset managers — you understand how a fund is structured, what an asset manager is accountable for, and what an LP cares about.
- Strong, hands-on GRESB experience, having contributed materially to multiple submissions. You understand scoring architecture, data coverage, the landlord/tenant boundary, like-for-like reporting and validation.
- Strong BREEAM In-Use experience, with practical knowledge of the current scheme version, evidence requirements and the certification process.
- Track record of managing your own workstreams and deadlines with limited supervision.
- Excellent client management skills — credible in the room, comfortable holding a technical position under commercial pressure, and able to judge when to concede and escalate.
- Strong data handling ability, including advanced Excel and confidence working with large, imperfect utility datasets.
- Clear, concise written communication: reports, memos and board-level summaries that a non-technical reader can act on.
- Absolute integrity around evidence and data. Our advice has to survive assurance, audit and investor scrutiny.
- A degree in a relevant discipline, or equivalent demonstrable experience.
Desirable
None of the following are required, but each will strengthen an application:
- Licensed BREEAM In-Use Assessor status.
- Experience with other certification schemes: Fitwel, SKA, BREEAM New Construction / Refurbishment & Fit-Out.
- Net zero carbon and decarbonisation work: net zero pathways, CRREM analysis, stranding risk, transition planning.
- Embodied and whole-life carbon assessment, particularly aligned to RICS methodology.
- Climate risk and TCFD/ISSB-aligned physical and transition risk assessment.
- Regulatory and disclosure fluency: SFDR, EU Taxonomy, CSRD, UK SRS.
- ESG transaction due diligence for acquisitions and disposals.
- Familiarity with ESG data platforms and with ESG components of INREV DDQs.
- Professional membership or progression towards it: IEMA or RICS.
- European market exposure or a second European language.
What We Offer
- Genuine client ownership at an earlier stage than a larger platform would offer, with the support to do it well.
- Breadth: exposure across the full ESG advisory spectrum rather than a single reporting niche.
- Commercial grounding: direct access to RLB's cost management and project management expertise, so your recommendations come with credible numbers attached.
- A practice where you can shape the service offering, not just deliver against it.
- Competitive salary, discretionary bonus, pension, and a flexible hybrid working arrangement.
Our culture is built around enabling you to fulfil your potential, so you can look forward to benefits that include:
Hybrid Working - Working patterns to support your work-life balance. As well as competitive maternity and paternity packages.
Well-Rewarded - A competitive salary and generous holiday entitlement. As well as the opportunity to purchase up to five extra days.
Focus On Wellbeing - We offer a number of health and wellness options, including gym membership and cycle to work schemes.
Healthcare Packages - Private healthcare insurance and medical support, including dental insurance and eyecare vouchers.
Personal Development - A continuous learning and development programme, including established APC and in-house mentoring schemes.
Additional Benefits - We offer a wide range of benefits including a season ticket loan and professional membership subscriptions.
Exceptional Exposure - You’ll have the opportunity to work on diverse projects across different sectors and regions.
Social Responsibility - We hold team and social events as well as charity fundraising and volunteering activities.
We believe in building a diverse and inclusive environment where each person can be themselves, feel valued for their contribution and be challenged and supported to reach their full potential. We have a responsibility to support the communities in which we live and work, and that our workforce should reflect these communities and our clients. Our talent strategy should enable us to overcome bias in the construction industry by recruiting, retaining, developing, and promoting a diverse and inclusive workforce. Find out more here: Diversity & Inclusion - RLB | Europe
If you require any reasonable adjustments to support you during any stage of the application or interview process, please contact our recruitment team at:
[email protected]
With a network that covers the globe and a heritage spanning over two centuries, Rider Levett Bucknall is a leading independent organisation in cost management and quantity surveying, project management and advisory services.
Our achievements are renowned: from the early days of pioneering quantity surveying, to landmark projects such as the Sydney Opera House, HSBC Headquarters Building in Hong Kong, the 2012 London Olympic Games and CityCenter in Las Vegas.
We continue this successful legacy with our dedication to the value, quality and sustainability of the built environment. Our innovative thinking, global reach, and flawless execution push the boundaries. Taking ambitious projects from an idea to reality.
