Envision Consultancy

Bringing sustainability into infrastructure decisions

In an infrastructure investment, resource use, the natural environment and affected communities can influence the same decision in different ways. Our Envision consultancy considers these relationships alongside sustainability and resilience objectives. AECO connects objectives with project decisions and organises team responsibilities and verification evidence within a traceable workflow.

The service supports clients and project teams developing a sustainability approach for infrastructure investments or preparing for Envision verification. The project stage determines when decisions concerning planning, design, construction and operation will be assessed. We begin with project boundaries, available information and stakeholder expectations. This connects the work with the infrastructure's actual function and decision processes.

The preliminary assessment examines relevant criteria, strengths in the current approach and areas for improvement. Envision v3 comprises five categories: Quality of Life, Leadership, Resource Allocation, Natural World, and Climate and Resilience. We assess how these topics connect with project decisions. Priorities reflect both design opportunities and the information and evidence available.

We translate this assessment into a sustainability roadmap the project team can use. It clarifies which team addresses each issue, which decisions need to be recorded and which documents must be prepared. The roadmap helps disciplines work towards shared objectives and track matters that remain open.

We coordinate responsibilities and information flow between teams involved in design, construction and operation. Improvement recommendations are linked to project decisions, and progress is recorded. We maintain the connection between addressing an objective in the design and documenting that approach for assessment. Records of criteria, responsibilities and evidence provide the basis for this follow-up.

For projects pursuing verification, we review the completeness of evidence and coordinate the technical submission package. During review, we help route questions to the relevant teams and support consistent responses. The final assessment takes place through the programme's independent verification process; consultancy supports preparation for that assessment and coordination between teams.

The work follows the Envision Sustainable Infrastructure Framework provided by the Institute for Sustainable Infrastructure. Our founder Taygun Yüksel holds the Envision Sustainability Professional (ENV SP) credential. How the framework applies is assessed according to the infrastructure's type, scope and stage. Independent verification can lead to recognition at Verified, Silver, Gold or Platinum level according to the result achieved. Applicable programme resources establish the relevant criteria and evidence expectations. As the design develops, we also track how changing decisions affect the objectives.

Deliverables include the preliminary assessment, sustainability roadmap, responsibility, criteria and evidence tracking matrix, and technical package for a verification submission. We organise findings so the project team can see its priorities and open matters. For an introduction to assessment systems for building projects, see our green building certificates article.