The EEA Technical Committee oversees the development of EEA-BREEAM standards, metrics and methodologies, embracing all lifecycle stages of a hotel or apart-hotel from design, construction and operations to redevelopment or decommissioning.
Formalisation and adoption of scientifically evidenced standards will ensure asset owners and managers can mitigate climate risk, access green finance, increase the value of their property and comply with current and forthcoming regulation.
EEA/BREEAM Sustainability Standards and Metrics for the Hospitality industry will:
- provide a credible and rigorous definition of sustainable value
- measure and manage performance at assets within portfolios
- provide assurance through certification
The Committee also monitors and evaluates existing and future trends in technology that may affect the Hospitality industry’s ESG performance, including monitoring of overall technological trends and specific technologies introduced to the sector.
The Technical Committee
Neil Andrew
Head of Hospitality
Perkins&Will
Neil Andrew
Growing up, Neil was hugely influenced by his family’s work in music, art, and design, having a mother and sister who were both music teachers and a father who was a structural engineer. Neil has absorbed all of these influences into his own life, with three of his main passions in life being creative outlets: design, music, and cooking.
Over the course of his education and career as a designer, his collected experiences from a range of cultures and countries have continued to mould his work and design philosophy. For Neil, design is a medium for communicating a story, something that triggers emotions and memories in those that experience it.
Specialising in hospitality design, Neil has been able to bring together his passions and his design ethos. Because, to him the ultimate hospitality experience is enjoying a meal – eating fantastic food, against the back drop of a beautifully designed space, accompanied by excellent music.
Nadeem Boghani
Owner, Splendid Hotel
Group
Nadeem Boghani
An ’old boy’ of Merchant Taylors’ and a graduate of the London School of Economics, Nadeem qualified as a Chartered Accountant from the stables of PriceWaterhouseCoopers gaining exposure to both listed companies and owner managed businesses in a broad spectrum of industries.
Nadeem is Vice Chairman of The Splendid Hospitality Group, an owner, operator and developer of a portfolio of 20 hotels with over 2000 bedrooms located in London and across the UK, ranging from limited service to luxury. The group enjoys the support of major franchisors such as IHG, Accor and Hilton. Further sites are at various stages of development.
Nadeem founded Splendid Restaurants in 2016 with the aim of establishing a strong food and beverage platform in the UK. The entity has now grown to include over 40 KFC with more in the pipeline.
Nadeem spends much of his time working in a voluntary capacity for the Ismaili Community in the UK. Nadeem served 7 years on the community’s Grants and Review Board, where he was heavily involved in budget and strategy reviews and management audits and served a further 7 years on the Community’s Economic Planning Board, whose mandate is to improve the economic well-being of the community by providing assistance, advice and support in the areas of business, employment and personal finance. Nadeem was also the Project Manager overseeing the redevelopment of community centres in Stanmore, Birmingham and Edinburgh. He also serves as a Governor of St Helen’s School in Northwood, Middlesex, one of the pre-eminent school for girls in the country.
In 2018, Nadeem successfully co-project managed The Aga Khan’s Diamond Jubilee visit at Excel where over 15,000 participated (including 2000 volunteers). In 2019, Nadeem was short-listed for Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year Award for the London/South region.
Krishma Singh Dear
Product Design Manager,
Edwardian Hotels
Krishma Singh Dear
Krishma Singh-Dear, is the Product Design Manager for Edwardian Hotels. Krishma is a project manager with a skill to craft sophisticated interiors.
She joined the team in 2015, upon returning to the UK after completing an interior design degree from the Parsons School of Design in New York. Whilst in the US she also interned at the award-winning design firm Yabu Pushelberg alongside her studies.
Prior to moving into the design sector, Krishma spent more than four years successfully carving out a career in investment banking as part of HSBC’s real estate investment banking team after graduating with a Bsc in Economics and Management from the University of Bristol.
It is this combination of experience which she credits for giving her a critical eye to not only improve customer experience through design, but also crucially increase the value of a property.
Kristian Dijkstra
Director, C1 Capital
Partners Limited
Kristian Dijkstra
Kristian has over 20 years of hospitality experience. Originally working in hotels for a number of years before transitioning to hotel advisory, advising on over 50 hotel developments throughout the Europe. Over the last ten years Kristian has been involved in asset management of hotels with a capital value of over £1 billion. Kristian has extensive experience in acquisition underwriting, overseeing multimillion pound refurbishments, obtaining planning permission and creating exit strategies.
Asif Din
Sustainability Director
Perkins&Will
Asif Din
Asif is Sustainability Director at Perkins&Will. He has raised the profile of carbon proficiency in the practice which includes a costed Zero Carbon Report at the end of concept design for all projects. He has also been involved in expanding the sustainability remit within designs as part of the ‘Living Design’ initiative both within the company and working in collaboration with clients.
He has over 20 years’ experience in delivering Zero Carbon design projects. Notably BedZED and Jubilee Wharf in Penryn, Cornwall. He has worked in the UK and abroad in China and the Middle East. He has designed components as well as buildings that make sustainable buildings work this has included heat pump systems, solar facades and zero fan power heat recovery systems.
Asif has always been interested in efficiency in Architecture and is reflected in his education firstly at Nottingham University with Robert and Brenda Vale and then at Oxford Brooks for his RIBA part II with Sue Roaf. He has a PhD in Life Cycle design of buildings from Cass school of art and design at LMU.
Frazer Durris
Chief Executive Officer
Businesswise Solutions
Frazer Durris
Frazer is co-founder and Director of the Energy & Environment Alliance.
He has been in the energy industry for over 10 years, as founder and Chief Executive Officer of Businesswise Solutions, an award-winning disruptor in the energy management consultancy space. Businesswise Solutions mission is to help corporate businesses eliminate energy waste, achieve NetZero and make energy management simple.
Businesswise use cloud-based tech solutions developed in-house and are leading the way in becoming the first fully managed, digital energy management service provider, to serve the needs of modern energy clients globally. This approach recently led to Businesswise being placed amongst the UK’s top 100 tech disruptors in two national awards in 2020.
In 2018 Businesswise launched the sectors first ‘Energy Centre’. The inspiring modern office building educates clients and others alike by taking them on a visual and interactive journey of energy through the ages to the modern-day. It demystifies the complex nature of energy, demonstrates the latest technology, live energy trading floor and client energy control centre, from with they manage their proprietary ‘Energy-Management-As-A-Service’ (EMaaS™) solution.
James Fisher
Strateg. Relationship Lead
Real Estate Bre Group
James Fisher
James is an experienced ESG and Real Estate Sector Professional with a strong background in built asset sustainability, certification, and consultancy,
James possesses a balance of both technical and commercial skills ensuring that client relationships are at the heart of everything he does.
James’s focus areas, in particular, are low carbon and net zero strategies for existing portfolios, benchmarking and performance KPIs for real assets. In parallel, he has a broad and deep understanding of the full range of ESG matters impacting on the built environment.
Dr. Shamir Ghumra
Head of Building
Performance Svc, BRE
Shamir Ghumra
Dr. Shamir Ghumra leads the global BREEAM portfolio of sustainability standards which has been driving global improvements in buildings and infrastructure for over three decades. Shamir is an experienced ESG and sustainability leader with a strong belief in empowering others for commercial success. In his current role leading the Building Performance Services Division at BRE, Shamir supports the BRE mission “to be the world-leading innovation, science and data hub for the built environment.” Shamir is a Fellow of the Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment, a Chartered Environmentalist and a Visiting Professor at the School of Architecture, Building and Civil Engineering at Loughborough University in the UK.
Robert Godwin
Managing Director,
Lamington Group
Robert Godwin
Robert is a trained economist and entrepreneur with a background of sporting excellence, and a passion for design and experience.
Robert heads up Lamington Group, an established group of companies investing and developing real estate in the residential and commercial sectors. He is also the founder and MD of award-winning room2 Hometels, an innovative and creative hospitality brand and operating business which bridges the gap between Airbnb and hotels. room2 currently has 2 open sites with 5 in the pipeline, as part of an ambitious roll out plan of 5000 keys by 2030.
Robert used to compete at the highest international level representing Great Britain in sailing for 10 years in a fiercely competitive, performance-orientated environment. He brings these skills to business today, actively targeting market shares of the hotel giants with a more relevant business model built for the future.
Johnathan Hubbard
Head of Hospitality EMEA,
Cushman & Wakefield
Johnathan Hubbard
Jon leads the EMEA Hospitality team at Cushman & Wakefield, a global real estate advisory business. The Hospitality team has around 80 professional staff based in 13 countries across Europe, focused on investment transactions, development, valuation and advisory service lines, as well as supporting clients on debt, project management, building surveying and sustainability services. Jon has over 30 years’ experience of the hospitality sector across EMEA, dealing with a wide range of hotel assets, from budget to luxury.
Ricky Kapoor
UK Managing Director of
Palm Holdings
Ricky Kapoor
Ricky Kapoor is the UK Managing Director of Palm Holdings (visit www.palmholdings.co.uk ) which is an established and successful family-owned group of companies within the hospitality and real estate sectors built on heritage and community values. The group has hotels in the UK, US and Canada. The group has grown by acquiring under performing assets and investing and repositioning them providing creative, innovative and sustainable solutions which forges long term value for staff, guests, members of the community and partners.
Ricky has strong operational, commercial and financial management experience. He has also over the years been involved in a number of charities in helping raise funds for many great causes. He has recently become a Trustee of Binti (visit www.bintiperiod.org )having supported them for a number of years which helps eliminate the stigma attached to menstruation helping provide girls and women with menstrual dignity. This means facilitating access to pads to ensure menstrual health, providing education and awareness and dispelling stigma, taboos and myths and negative perceptions around menstruation.
Eddie Keelan
Group Head of
Procurement, Shiva Hotels
Eddie Keelan
Eddie is a Procurement & Supply chain professional with a proven track record of achievement across Hotels, Hospitality, FMCG, Logistics, and Energy, over a period of 20 years.
He is an expert at bringing Procurement to life for stakeholders and showing them how Procurement can positively impact them. He has successfully built new teams and driven new approaches to Procurement in existing organisations delivering change and significant value.
Currently employed with Shiva Hotels as Group Head of Procurement, Eddie has responsibility for managing the central Procurement function of 7 operational hotels, including 3 new future openings.
In the past Eddie has spent over 5 years at The Doyle Hotel collection, where he had overall responsibility for the overall management of the central Procurement function for 8 hotels located in the UK, Ireland and the US. The scope of his role included the building of a ‘best in class’ Procurement function, implementing world class Procurement strategies, as well as managing key contractual relationships across the Group.
Eddie was also a member of the Energy Advisory board, where he provided input around energy concerns, challenges and cost saving tactics, with tax breaks and rewards for meeting carbon reduction targets across the hospitality sector.
Alexi Khajavi
President of Travel &
Hospitality, Questex LLC
Alexi Khajavi
Alexi Khajavi is President of Travel & Hospitality for Questex LLC, a global business intelligence company that informs and connects buyers and sellers across five key sectors; hospitality, travel, healthcare, wellness and technology. Alexi is responsible for the overall management and development of the company’s global hospitality and travel communications properties and events including notable flagship assets like the International Hotel Investment Forum (IHIF) Summit Series, The Bar & Restaurant Expo, Ultra Travel Summit, Luxury Travel Advisor, Hospitality Insights, HOTEC and the Destination Develop investment promotion arm.
Khajavi, who brings more than 20 years of travel, technology, hospitality, media and aviation experience to his position, joined Questex in 2014 as head of Hospitality and Hotel Investment.
Prior to joining Questex, Khajavi was senior vice president, global strategy, for MercuryCSC, a creative agency specializing in the travel industry where he helped
designed global marketing campaigns for hotel companies, tourism boards and active lifestyle brands. Prior to MercuryCSC, he was one of the founding team members of the travel consortium Nature Group based in Costa Rica and helped lead the airline and hospitality portfolio to be awarded the fastest growing travel company in Central America between 2003 and 2010 and the world’s first carbon neutral airline in 2005.
Khajavi has been a board member and advisor to a number of non-profits and tech companies including the Center for Responsible Travel at Stanford University, The Center for Health and the Global Environment at the Harvard School of Public Health, Sustainable Travel International and KERBspace an early stage startup in the revolutionizing the electric vehicle charging stations for the built environment.Khajavi holds a B.A from the University of California Santa Cruz, graduating Magna Cum Laude, with distinction and honors.
Gregor MacNaughton
Chief Technical Officer
RBH Hospitality Management
Gregor MacNaughton
With approx. 20 years’ experience in the hotel industry, Gregor MacNaughton, Chief Technical Officer at RBH Hospitality Management is responsible for all property and technical related functions.
In addition to overseeing all capital and new build projects, facilities management and health and safety, Gregor is also passionate about the environment. Gregor chairs RBH’s Sustainability Committee and he has been fundamental in developing the business’ ESG strategy, with the goal of becoming a carbon neutral management company.
Xander Bueno de Mesquita
Founder, Amsterdam’s QO
Hotel
Xander Bueno de Mesquita
Entrepreneur Xander Bueno de Mesquita creates places, experiences and communities that treat life well through the harmony of community, care and circularity. He has proven that infusing ecologically conscious design, generosity and curiosity into the hospitality industry can not only alter the way people travel, but also create a balance between the local community and travellers. He is the founder of Amsterdam’s QO Hotel: https://www.qo-amsterdam.com/about/.
Xander Bueno de Mesquita is the founding father of Treating Life Well©, a concept built on the sweet spot between three primary ideas: Circularity, Place-Making and Hospitality. All three concepts redefine how human beings interact with the world, and how that interaction can produce positivity and energy, instead of waste and isolation.
Xander is not just a visionary, but also a man of action. He initiated and developed the QO hotel. It’s Europe’s most sustainable hotel, and its first LEED Platinum-certified Living Building. By aiming to close the loops of water, energy, CO2 and waste, Xander proves that respect for humans and respect for planet can go hand in hand. By creating a flexible, elegant and innovative space, Xander illustrates that consciousness does not need to come at the expense of comfort or community.
In everything he does, Xander heralds his core values: Good Energy, Humble Food, Fresh Thinking, Beautiful People and Local Creativity. These core values support his work and secure his legacy. His goal is to spread the Treating Life Well mantra to every project, community and city that aims to make more human connections with more respect for the planet. He aims to help others create legacies of their own.
Deepak Ohri
Chief Executive Officer,
lebua Hotels & Resorts
Deepak Ohri
Deepak Ohri (born February 9, 1968) is an Indian business executive. He currently serves as the Chief Executive Officer of luxury hospitality company lebua Hotels & Resorts.
He earlier worked with Kempinski Hotels, Oberoi Hotels and Taj Hotels before founding lebua in 2004. lebua operates hotels and resorts at Thailand, New Zealand and India and has won numerous travel awards.
Ohri has been a speaker and a panelist at the Forbes Global CEO Conference, the Financial Times Business of Luxury Summit, the World Travel and Tourism Council Global Travel and Tourism Summit. In 2012, Ohri began writing a weekly column in India’s The Financial Express newspaper.
Bryan Oknyansky
Architect & Senior Designer
Dexter Moren Associates
Bryan Oknyansky
A Los Angeles native, Bryan Oknyansky moved to London in 2009 to study at the Architectural Association and has since embarked on a career path embracing architecture, design and technology. This combination of expertise enabled Bryan to broaden his disciplinary boundaries to work in fields include architecture, product design and academia at schools including the Royal College of Art and the London College of Fashion.
Since 2019, Bryan has worked at Dexter Moren Associates and is a senior designer leading the planning and design process for a range of residential, hotel and aparthotel projects across the UK. He specialises in leading clients, stakeholders and design teams in incorporating design and building technology innovations to deliver projects that meet present and future commercial and sustainability briefs. With his extensive experience in digital design practice, Bryan supports DMA’s constant growth in the fields of sustainability and technology.
Bryan brings a wide range of sector expertise covering residential, hospitality, mixed-use, high-rise and masterplan developments, in addition to a CV that includes lecturing at design schools around the world and product design. Bryan is currently leading the design of a hotel redevelopment scheme including refurbishment and new build in London.
Jonathan Raggett
Managing Director, Red
Carnation Hotels
Jonathan Raggett
As Managing Director of Red Carnation Hotels, Jonathan Raggett, is responsible for the operation of eighteen 5 and 4-star hotels across the globe – six in London and others in Dorset, Guernsey, Ireland, Geneva, Palm Beach, Botswana and South Africa.
In 2009 Jonathan was named Hotelier of the Year by The Caterer and Hotelkeeper, in 2012 he was included in Caterer and Hotelkeeper’s Top 100 – The most powerful people in hospitality and listed at number 8 in the Top 10 Hoteliers. Jonathan is a Trustee for the industry’s benevolent fund, Hospitality Action and a Master Innholder.
After almost thirty years in the industry, Jonathan remains passionate about the opportunities that it offers to anyone who is prepared to work hard. Formal qualifications are not always necessary; a friendly personality, the right attitude and a willingness to learn are the keys to success.
Armando Raish
Joint founder and CTO, City
Air Technology
Armando Raish
Armando is a trained architect originally from Australia, moved to the UK in 2006. With over 20 years background and experience in landscape design and construction Armando Raish launched Treebox limited in 2009 a company geared to creating and installing sustainable living walls around the UK.
At the time it was one of the first companies to introduce this new and novel method of implementing much needed greening into confined city spaces. He is now actively involved in the running of the City Air Technology a company focussed on producing plant-based air purification systems, Armando’s key role is product innovation and technical development.
Robin Sheppard
Co-founder and President, Bespoke Hotels
Robin Sheppard
Robin has been an hotelier for 40+ years winning many Hotel/Hotelier of the Year awards. In 2000 he co-founded Bespoke Hotels which has grown into the UK’s latest independent hotel group with over 200 properties, including the multi-award winning Hotel Gotham. He has already won the Hotel Catey and then the Oxford Brookes awards for Outstanding Contribution to the Hospitality Industry. Most recently he won the AA Lifetime Achievement Award to the Industry. He is also the Government’s Hospitality Sector Champion for Disabled People.
His greatest achievement, though, has been to fight back from GBS, a totally paralysing illness. His slow recovery inspired him to launch the www.bluebadgeaccessawards.com in conjunction with RIBA encouraging better design and empathy from architects, interior designers and hospitality professionals alike.
Tim Smith
Head of Biz Development
Valor Hospitality
Tim Smith
Tim is a chartered surveyor with approximately 30 years experience advising hotel owners, operators and investors. He has worked in over 65 countries worldwide with extensive experience in Africa, where he lived for almost 5-years.
Tim is currently employed as head of business development for Europe and Africa for Valor Hospitality Partners, a third party management company with over 80 hotels under management across the globe.
Robert Stoutzker
Joint founder and COO,
City Air Technology
Robert Stoutzker
Robert spent 20 years working in corporate finance. Following 2 years running the UK arm of an international business intelligence network, Robert founded London Edible Gardens, a specialist sustainable garden design company, and has collaborated with Armando on a number of projects during the last 7 years. Robert’s key role is the day to day running of City Air Technology operations.
Peter Till
Chairman of the Advisory
Board, EEA
Peter Till
Till has spent his entire career in the hotel industry. Beginning in operations at hotels such as the Lygon Arms and the Hyatt Corporation, he then moved on to development consulting with Pannell Kerr Forster in London for 6 years, performing feasibility studies across EMEA and ending as a managing consultant. He then joined Marriott hotels for a 15-year period of developing hotels in EMEA for the Marriott, Ritz-Carlton, and Bvlgari brands, responsible for hotel projects including the Marriotts in Budapest, Bucharest, Prague and Berlin, the Ritz-Carltons in Dubai, Doha, Wolfsburg and Berlin, and the first Bvlgari Hotel in Milan.
Till set up a development consulting firm in 2002 and for the next 14 years provided development services to firms such as the Delancey Group, De Vere Hotels & Resorts, and Carlson Rezidor. From 2016 to 2021 he was the Managing Director of Choice Hotels Europe, responsible for the United Kingdom and Western Europe. Till has a BSc in Hotel Administration from Cornell University.
Tim Wheeldon
Managing Director
Zeal Hotels
Tim Wheeldon
Tim has been involved in the hotel industry for 40 years, the last 10 of which have been focussed on establishing Zeal Projects and Zeal Hotels.
Zeal Projects is a Project Management & Cost Consultancy company specialising in hotel and aparthotel construction. Zeal Projects has been involved with various brands including Hampton by Hilton, Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express, Ibis, Travelodge, Staycity, room2 & Quest Aparthotels.
Tim founded Zeal Hotels and in April 2019 opened the 138 bed Holiday Inn Express, at M5 J24 Bridgwater. This continues to be recommended as the benchmark going forward for the development of the Gen 4 HIX brand. Zeal’s 2nd hotel, the 144 bed Ibis (Plaza) Hotel & Keepers Restaurant & Bar at M5 J23 Bridgwater successfully opened in April 2021.
Tim is a fellow of the Institute of Hospitality and in 2019 attained distinction on the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership course (CISL).
Reducing our carbon footprint in non-negotiable and Zeal Hotels is committed to developing and operating net zero carbon hotels. Tim is looking forward to collaborating with others in the hospitality industry who share the passion for a cleaner and more sustainable world.