Name: Dan Jestico
Job title: Director in Sustainable Design, Savills Earth
What were you doing before you joined Savills: I worked for Formula 1 for what is now the Mercedes F1 team (BAR back then), using computational fluid dynamics to optimise the aerodynamics of racing cars. It was pretty exciting to be part of a team focussed on one singular objective – making the car go faster. But after a while I realised it was life with blinkers on and I wanted to get involved in something with more stakeholders and of greater public benefit, which was buildings!
My greatest achievement/proudest moment to date: I’m so proud of the team we’ve built at Savills. In July 2021, there was just three of us in the Sustainable Design team and now there’s 16. They’re talented, passionate and they constantly surprise me with new ideas and I love working with them.
My biggest bugbear about the industry/the one thing I would change about the industry: The public perception is that the industry doesn’t care about people or the environment. There are so many people I work with who understand that development can create improvements for people’s lives. This is partially our fault – we’re very good at creating lengthy, impenetrable technical documents for a technical audience but if we sift out the key features of development that will lead to direct benefits in social and environmental issues, we will do a better job at demonstrating that the sector can be a force for good.
When I became interested in ESG: When I realised that the planet has been here for billions of years and that humanity has effectively made it a lot worse in less than 200 years. In geological terms, it’s the blink of an eye. It’s a testament to our collective hubris and short-termism to assume everything will be fine. It won’t be, unless we take action now.
What I do in my downtime: I ride bikes. Not wholly uncommon in the property industry, granted. Getting out for a few hours on the weekend definitely improves my mental health though; it’s a great way to find some headspace, unwind and get into nature. I ride with Lee Velo, a club with a tremendous heritage of doing daft challenges, such as riding to the Suffolk coast and back overnight during the pandemic (following government guidelines), when no shops were open and we all ran out of food and water.
The job I’d be doing if I was not doing this: Probably some sort of gardening or landscaping work, as I enjoy being outside, being active and helping things grow. I’m a rubbish gardener though, so it’s probably for the best I stick to the day job.
My advice for someone just starting out: Make notes. Lots of notes. Even if you never look at them again, the process of writing stuff down helps you retain information. It also makes it much easier to remember processes and techniques so you can teach others.
My motto/mantra: The best time to plant a tree is 15 years ago. The second best time to plant one is today.
