Rayan Azhari

Education (The “Collection” Phase)

Azhari’s educational history is characterised by a distinct refusal to leave academia. After completing a Bachelor of Science in Architecture at Tishreen University, he seemingly decided that one degree was insufficient and proceeded to collect three Master’s degrees in rapid succession:

• MSc in Sustainable Building Performance & Design (Oxford Brookes)

• MRes in Built Environment (UCL)

• MPhil in Energy Demand (UCL)

• Building Information Modelling (BIM) certification (University of Cambridge), collected in 2020, presumably because he had a free weekend.

Not content with this list, he eventually committed to a PhD in Energy Demand at the UCL Energy Institute. His doctoral thesis, titled “London and UK Office Buildings: Investigating energy use and landlord/tenant influences” (2025), involved the high-octane thrill ride of analysing utility meters and interviewing landlords about why they generally prefer not to speak to their tenants.

Career

Azhari describes himself as a “seasoned professional,” a term usually reserved for spices or cast-iron skillets, but in this context refers to his 15+ years of experience across the academic, private, and public sectors.

Policy and Strategic Frameworks

Azhari has played a role in defining the rules by which other people must build. Since 2024, he has served as a Task Group Member for the UK Green Building Council (UKGBC), contributing to the update of the Net Zero Carbon Buildings Framework.

Prior to this, he worked as an Energy Data Analyst at the UCL Energy Institute, funded by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS). Here, he helped develop the non-domestic building rating scheme, modelling energy use for the government, essentially ensuring that commercial buildings in the UK are judged fairly, if harshly.

Sustainability Consultancy and Management

Currently a Senior Sustainability Consultant at Verco, Azhari leads strategic initiatives on Net Zero Carbon and ESG compliance. His work involves complex gap analysis and advising on Science-Based Targets (SBTi).

In 2020, he served as a Project Manager for the Better Buildings Partnership (BBP), where he managed the Real Estate Environmental Benchmark (REEB) project. This role involved wrangling data for major real estate portfolios and automating analysis for energy, water, and waste, proving that spreadsheets can indeed save the world, one cell at a time.

Architecture and Early Design

Before pivoting to the invisible world of carbon data, Azhari designed actual visible buildings. His architectural career spanned the UK, Syria, and Saudi Arabia:

• RM Architects (London): Specialised in high-end residential refurbishments and listed buildings, including work on a Grade II listed conversion in Cobham.

• Al Azhari Architects & CONSER: His early portfolio includes work on a 4,000m² palace in Riyadh and the refurbishment of the Saudi Embassy in Copenhagen, a career trajectory that took him from designing palaces to analysing damp British office stock.

Academic Research

Between 2013 and 2014, Azhari was a researcher at the University of Nottingham (Environmental Physics and Design group), where he investigated thermal discomfort in UK housing, a study that likely concluded that British houses are generally quite cold.

Selected Research Themes

Azhari’s publication history covers a range of topics designed to make property developers anxious:

• The WFH Paradox: In a 2021 paper, he delivered the unpopular news that working from your sofa might actually be worse for the planet than commuting, depending on how aggressively you use the central heating.

• Australian Ambition: A comparative analysis suggesting that Australian non-domestic building policy might actually be doing something better than the UK.

• London’s Leaky Housing: Contributing to the analysis of energy use intensities in London houses.

• Workplace Net Zero: Co-authoring guidance for the British Council for Offices (BCO).

Honours & Awards

Azhari’s shelf is not just filled with degrees; it occasionally features awards that suggest he has a creative side, much to the surprise of his data analyst colleagues.

• Said Foundation Scholarship: A prestigious award that enabled his academic collecting habit.

• Photography: Azhari is an accomplished photographer, proving he is capable of looking at the built environment without immediately calculating its U-value. He won the Annual Middle East in London photo competition (besting over 500 participants) and the London Eye Photo Competition.

• Architectural Competitions: Before fully pivoting to spreadsheets, Azhari won national design competitions in Syria, providing evidence that he could once design buildings without a calculator:

  • Residential Complex in Tartous: Winning design for a 2.5-hectare site featuring 276 flats and a civic centre.

  • Engineers Syndicate Building in Latakia: Winning design for a G+10 tower spanning 4,500m².

Personal Life

Azhari is based in London, where he enjoys the British weather and the sensation of finishing a degree only to immediately look for another prospectus.

Bibliography

Thesis

• Azhari, Rayan; (2025) London and UK Office Buildings Investigating energy use and landlord/tenant influences. Doctoral thesis (Ph.D), UCL (University College London). URL: ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10204821

Journal Papers & Reports

• Bunn R, Mavrogianni A, Azhari R, Burman E. (2022). Delivering Net Zero Carbon in the Workplace. The British Council for Offices (BCO), London, UK. URL: cibse.org/policy-insight

• Santos, G., & Azhari, R. (2021). “Can we save GHG emissions by working from home?” Environmental Research Communications. DOI: 10.1088/2515-7620/ac3d3e

• Mallaburn, P., Azhari, R., Fawcett, T., & Topouzi, M. (2021). “Australian non-domestic buildings policy as an international exemplar.” Buildings and Cities, 2(1), 318–335. DOI: 10.5334/bc.114

• Liddiard, R., Godoy-Shimizu, D., Ruyssevelt, P., Steadman, P., Evans, S., Humphrey, D., & Azhari, R. (2021). “Energy use intensities in London houses.” Buildings and Cities, 2(1), 336–353. DOI: 10.5334/bc.79

• Azhari, Rayan. (2012). “A simplified analysis method to predict the impact of thermal insulation on the heating and cooling loads in residential buildings in Syria.”