Knight Frank has recruited ESG expert Amira Hashemi from Frasers Property for a newly created role.
Hashemi will become the firm’s UK ESG lead for property and asset management, having been UK ESG lead at Frasers Property UK for the past four years. Prior to that she spent four years with Frasers Property Australia.
She will work closely with Knight Frank’s energy and sustainability department, as well as its property and asset management department.
Hashemi has been credited with forging Frasers UK’s sustainability strategy, taking it from not reporting into GRESB to being a four-star GRESB award-winner and first in the peer group within two years.
In her new role, Hashemi will lead ESG strategy and implementation across Knight Frank’s asset management, property management and facilities management businesses across the UK.
Michael Lewis, Knight Frank’s head of property and asset management, said: “We have ambitious plans to grow our PAM business across the UK, and ensuring that our approach to ESG is market-leading is essential. As a business we are committed to playing a leading role in decarbonising commercial real estate, and one of the areas in which we can have most impact is through the assets we manage. Our recruitment of Amira is a step-change moment in how we address ESG as a firm, and we are excited for the impact she will have.”
David Goatman, the firm’s head of energy and sustainability EMEA, added: “Our PAM business is one of our most important service lines, and it is absolutely right that we have industry-leading ESG individuals in that business driving our ESG client interactions and offer. Amira has had a stellar ESG career client-side, and we are very pleased that she has chosen to join Knight Frank to take the next step in her ESG career.”
Hashemi said: “The opportunities for us to enhance our property and asset management ESG client services and to further establish a market-leading position in this area are huge. Coming from a client-side position I feel I am well-placed to help shape how the Knight Frank PAM business embeds ESG into all practice areas and supports our clients on their ESG journeys.”
The recruitment of Amira complements Knight Frank’s wider expansion of ESG advice and expertise across the business, with Jonathan Hale joining as head of ESG consultancy and Harriet Hix as senior ESG consultant in 2022, as well as the recent formation of a new ESG research team led by Flora Harley.
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