About us
Our background
We are a versatile partnership underpinned by rigorous and often ravenous research.
Although our individual expertise and backgrounds cover conservation, land management, civil engineering, and sustainability, our partnership was founded on our overlapping interests and doctorates in air quality.
Air pollution is the greatest environmental hazard to human health and is intertwined with climate change and social inequality. The communities most vulnerable to air pollution and climate maladaptation are those that can least afford advice, with poorer communities, care homes, schools, and hospitals often situated near busy roads or in areas of poor air quality. Although generic guidance exists, air quality management is profoundly site-specific, with targeted consultancy often required for workable, effective interventions. Our for-profit, consultancy business model has a charitable or non-profit function for such vulnerable communities. Our scientific backgrounds and ties to research institutions ensure that our services reflect contemporary evidence, supporting our mission to enable best practice in practice.
We want to prove that an environmental consultancy can be profitable, ethical, and charitable, by leveraging commercial value to provide research-driven services equitably and sustainably.
To achieve this vision, we've evolved and determined that our services should not be limited to a focus on air quality. Instead, we will additionally exploit and encompass our complementary expertise in land management and sustainability. This reflects the triple planetary crisis of which air pollution is an inextricable part.
Co-Directors
KVB is founded on friendship. We completed our PhDs together, spending late nights and weekends exploring research challenges. Alongside and beyond our PhDs, we’ve worked together on international research projects, travelling and presenting at conferences, and co-writing scientific papers. We’ve hiked together, been climbing together, and played semi-friendly games of squash together, through ups and downs and momentous life events. We’ve built a bond around curiosity, integrity, and the belief that work should have a positive purpose. Over time, we realised that these shared drives (as well as our complementary strengths) could be channelled into a business that helps other organisations and individuals thrive.
Dr Abhijith Kooloth Valappil, MIEnvSc, MIAQM
Director
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Dr Yendle Barwise, MIEnvSc, MIAQM
Director
Yendle has a PhD (Sustainability, Civil and Environmental Engineering), an MSc (Conservation and Land Management), and over 15 years of hands-on land management experience, having worked as a self-employed tree surgeon and forestry contractor, a county ranger in North Wales, a forest craftsperson in Lincolnshire, and a community forester in Merseyside. He is a Full Member of the Institution of Environmental Sciences and an Associate of the Institute of Air Quality Management.
Alongside consultancy work, Yendle is the Environment and Sustainability Manager for West Horsley Place Trust and a Board member of Surrey Nature Partnership. When he's not working, he's spending time with his wife and two young children, making music, or hiking with friends.
Partner with us
Partnering with us means committing to high-integrity, sustainable practices that benefit both your projects and the environment. Let's explore important problems and create impactful solutions together.