Montagu Evans hires EVORA director as sustainability lead

In his new role, Oliver Pye will set the “overall sustainability and environmental ambition” for the development consultancy.

Pye has more than a decade of experience in real estate sustainability and ESG. Before joining Montagu Evans, he spent six years at ESG and energy management consultancy EVORA Global, advising global real estate investment clients on their green strategies and implementation.

Montagu Evans, whose clients include the Crown Estate, Network Rail and SEGRO, said it expects the appointment to generate “considerable change” at every level of the business.

Prior to his role at EVORA, Pye was a senior ESG consultant at ARUP, where he advised a range of blue-chip property companies and public sector clients.

Rob Bower, managing partner at Montagu Evans, said that Pye’s work will “form a golden thread”, driving a strategic approach to sustainability in the firm’s planning and development work.

He added: “Not only should we, as a business, continuously challenge ourselves to do better across all areas of the ESG continuum, but we must bring the same thinking and commitment to daily engagement on projects and with clients.

“With government targets and market-wide appetite continuing to grow, this is a role that should generate considerable change at every level, and we are looking forward to seeing the impact Oli will make across the partnership.”

Pye said: “This role presents a huge opportunity to support the firm and its clients on their sustainability journey and to deliver significant positive impact across the full trinity of sustainability objectives (economic, social and environmental) for our clients, wider society and ourselves.

“Naturally, carbon is going to be a major priority, including advising on decarbonisation of existing buildings and carbon reduction strategies during design, planning, construction and operation, but I will also have a wider-reaching brief across a range of other areas.”

“On top of this, there is a culture here that should lend itself especially well to making any new initiatives successful – strategic thinking, cross-team working, open dialogue and a focus on L&D already happens very successfully, and I’m seeing some very exciting opportunities even in my first week.”