EAL Consult

F ounded in 2008, EAL Consult provide BREEAM assessments, energy and sustainability reports, daylight, sunlight and overshadowing reports, SAP/SBEM calculations for the construction sector. Supporting a wide range of clients, including architects, developers, M+E consultant and financial institutions, and as such it has to work hard to ensure it provides the very highest standards of service at all times, as Monique emphasises.

“Here at EAL Consult, building is in our blood. We have 25 years’ experience in the property sector that we apply to our architect and developer friendly approach. We understand the importance of design meeting compliance whilst following the client’s brief. We understand the developer’s perspective and look to facilitate the sustainability compliance process with a practical and pragmatic approach.

“Our mission statement says it all: ‘We love buildings because they are a universal symbol of accomplishment and community.’ The reason we are focused on sustainable buildings is so that we help develop lifetime comfort and security, encourage natural, affordable, energy efficiency and to nurture the establishment of sustainable legacies. It makes economic sense to reduce energy consumption by adopting renewable technologies. Property becomes more marketable and buildings
become more comfortable places in which to live and work.”

Since the firm’s inception Monique has been on a mission to unite Part L compliance, the conservation of fuel and power, and sustainability with the construction industry so that they can co-exist to mutual benefit. When EPCs were going to be introduced in October 2008 and on one knew about it yet with only a few short months to go Monique was speaking to hundreds of estate agents across the UK informing them of the imminent changes that lay ahead due to the new EU directive.

In 2010, when these changes started to affect building regulations she was helping architects understand the significance of this to their designs. Between 2010 and 2014 She spearheaded further information sharing to even more industry professionals with EAL stands at Eco build, Grand Designs and the Energy Expo.

Later, in 2014 EAL teamed up with Vega Ingenieria to provide LEED assessments in the UK. Monique went on a fact finding tour of their award winning LEED project, Lucia Building in Valladolid University, that had the highest score in Europe and was second in the world to the Pixel building in Sydney.

In 2015, by invitation of the Austrian Chamber of Commerce she was invited to be part of a delegation at the international Vienna Congress on Sustainable Building 2015 Vienna and a study trip to Aspern, Europe’s largest Passivhaus standard Urban Development, built for a community of 100,000 inhabitants.

In 2015, in light of the further changes to Part L in the 2013 Building Regulations she was delivering in house CPD training to Mitsubishi Electric. In 2016 She held CPD seminars with the EAL panel of experts in central London on the latest building regulations Part L compliance for domestic and commercial buildings. These seminars attended by approved building inspectors, architects, developers, housing associations and facilities management companies were also engineered to encourage networking and collaboration for the construction industry within a sustainability forum.  Monique is currently working to bridge the gap between the study of Energy and sustainability at  higher education level and realistic job opportunities in the sustainable construction industry for graduates. She is exploring this with the Leeds University Sustainability Research Institute and will be speaking to Phd students in order to create a better understanding of what employers  are looking for and what value a graduate with innovative research can bring to commercial energy, sustainability and construction consultancy.

At the end of 2016 EAL was awarded Best Sustainability and Energy Boutique in South of England by Corporate Vision. Monique has attended executive workshops in the UK and USA and has won numerous business leadership awards for training local business communities in networking and marketing. She herself has passed
close to two million pounds worth of business by referral whilst reaching out to a global network of businesses with her energy and sustainability consultancy.

Moving forward, EAL Consult are seeking to continue to inspire its clients to push to engage with new ideas and technologies as Monique concludes.

“Looking ahead, our biggest challenge is to help our clients meet the sustainability targets set by the government in a very busy market. The key issue is working towards 2020 where zero carbon emissions will be expected of all new buildings. This entails helping our clients with the mandatory transition from traditional building habits to embracing new technologies and we are excited to work with our clients to achieve this.”