Sustainability Consultant - Intern Review

Sustainability Consultant (intern) working on projects across several departments including ISO14001, BREEAM In-Use, Strategy, Climate Risk, Social Value, Utility Data Platforms, Water & Waste Management.
My day-to-day schedule included attending meetings, researching, creating and delivering presentations, writing reports, completing social value assessments, completing audits and compliance checks (BREEAM In-Use & ISO14001), on-site visits to complete ISO14001 audits, working with data e.g. Met Office. I was also introduced to the sub-departments across the sustainability consulting team and spoke with the ESG strategy team as well (separate department).
I also engaged in several departmental overviews (i.e. Savills Earth, Affordable Housing, Property Management, Affordable Housing, Valuation etc.) and networking events with directors and graduates from across the company.

A reasonable amount of responsibility was given to me. I was completing audits for BREEAM In-Use and ISO14001 (onsite) and handled manageable data sets. I certainly felt a sense of responsibility over the work I was completing for clients whether it was to write up a report, complete a compliance check or validate the report findings to proceed to certification.
There is definitely a step up in the responsibility given to graduates as they are working here for a longer time; a month is not really enough to handle serious data sets or delve into immense projects.

Developed skills: team work, time management, organisation, communication, networking. ArcGIS
Learnt: environmental management and compliance and audits (ISO14001), building certifications and audits (BREEAM In-Use audit), Met Office & climate data, Health & Wellbeing assessment,

Overall, I received thorough guidance and support during my placement. My mentors and colleagues were more than happy to help me with tasks, inquiries and very welcoming! My inquiries were answered or I was redirected to a more suitable team member, very helpful. Everyone was so helpful and generous in sharing their knowledge and advice.
One point to consider is that there is always room to ask further questions. After completing a task having consulted my colleagues, I received feedback from a senior team member that the work was not correctly aligned with its objective/target audience. My questions were acknowledged and I am/was able to properly understand the task at hand.

The company culture and general atmosphere at Savills and the Sustainability Team left me pleasantly surprised! Pre-internship I had preconceptions of the 'typical' real estate atmosphere as quite formal, serious, professional, and sometimes dull. Although everyone maintains upmost professionalism, they were all genuinely very friendly, welcoming, and generous. I was able to reach out to members from across my team for help and chats, as well as from across the company, without a problem. Savills was more than happy to allow me to engage with other departments (ESG) despite working under different departments. Team members are generous with their time to help with personal development and work-related inquiries, sharing and signposting to resources.
Besides he team, Savills has actively promoted diversity and inclusion in a lovely manner. There is a dedicated multi-faith room as well as health and wellbeing facilities. The canteen is a great place to socialise and the open floor plan is good for working with/catching up with others.
I thoroughly enjoyed my time here and would love to return in the future!

9/10. I thoroughly enjoyed the placement and would have wished for it to be a little longer i.e. minimum 6 weeks. I feels as though my time here has gone by very quickly. I was able to get involved in lots of projects but the last week feels very short preventing me from getting stuck in longer projects. Also, the hybrid working culture means I do not feel like I've had enough time with everyone, nevertheless, I've met lots of lovely people. I really enjoyed the Savills Office BBQ despite the weather meaning a low-turn our. Would have loved to get involved in more social events that got rescheduled or were held outside of my internship schedule,

Yes