1. Business Scope and Scale: Bidwells, founded in 1839, is based in Cambridge, United Kingdom. The company's expertise spans commercial, residential, and rural property. Key services include advisory, planning, development, and strategic consulting.
2. Sustainability Strategy and Goals: Bidwells is a B Corp in the real estate sector, which "demonstrates our social and environmental responsibility commitment, with its underlying belief that business can be a compelling force for good," the company asserts. Roughly 2,000 businesses in the UK have earned the designation. The overall Bidwells sustainability strategy seeks to achieve net zero by 2030. Key leaders driving the sustainability strategy include Chief Operating Officer Kelly Bream.
3. Executive Experience: Newman most recently was director of sustainable investing at Fabrix, a real estate investment, development and management company in the United Kingdom. Earlier, she an executive director and head of sustainable capital at CBRE. In that role, she advised on ESG throughout the investment lifecycle. While at CBRE, Newman also led the development of Barclays Bank’s first Sustainable Residential Development Framework, Bidwells said.
4. Role at Bidwells: Newman will "focus on providing industry-leading, sustainability-related consultancy services, working closely alongside Bidwells’ clients to drive the creation of a more inclusive and sustainable built environment to serve the dual goal of future-proofing investments and delivering positive outcomes for communities and the environment," the company said.
5. Executive Perspectives: In a prepared statement, Newman said: “We are at a point where global warming is expected to exceed the 1.5C target and we have overstepped 6 of the 9 planetary boundaries, and clients increasingly understand the imperative for commercial performance to be delivered alongside positive environmental and social outcomes. At this critical time, I am delighted to join Bidwells’ with the opportunity scale our integrated solutions across real assets including portfolio decarbonisation and sustainable development, energy and renewables infrastructure, optimising place-based social impact, urban regreening and practical BNG delivery, and landscape-scale habitat and nature restoration from peatlands to woodlands. Bidwell’s track record across these areas and more, enable our market-leading clients to future proof investments and realise dual returns – positive sustainable impact alongside financial. "
Newman continued: "This is a really exciting time to be joining the firm as it embarks on the next stage of its expansion, both within its well-established presence in the Oxford Cambridge Arc as well as further afield across the country to help our clients become truly regenerative businesses and planet positive enterprises.”
Nick Pettit, senior partner, Bidwells
Concluded Nick Pettit, senior partner at Bidwells: “Helen is an industry leader in sustainability and will be a massive asset for the firm as we build out our offering across all our service lines. She wields vast experience, having advised some of the biggest names and firms in the industry to improve their environmental and social performance. As Group Head, Helen will lead on our client-facing sustainability offering, as we build out a market-leading offering to support our 2030 growth plan.”
Chief Sustainability Officers (CSOs): Why Technology Partners Should Care
By 2027, 25% of Global 2000 companies will have assigned a chief sustainability officer (CSO) responsible for meeting their organization’s ESG goals and making ESG-related IT purchasing decisions, according to IDC.
The bottom line: Technology partners need to extend their sales, marketing, engagement and support strategies to successfully fulfill those CSO customer needs, Sustainable Tech Partner believes.
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