Ascend Strengthens Team with Appointment of Joe Cooke as Group Sustainability Manager

Ascend – the UK’s leading manager of institutional living assets and largest third-party operator of single-family rental (SFR) homes – has recruited Joe Cooke as Group Sustainability Manager.

Joe’s arrival at Ascend highlights the firm’s ongoing commitment to sustainability, and further strengthens a team that continues to deliver the sector’s leading living portfolio management capabilities.

In his new role, Joe will be focused on all aspects of sustainability across Ascend’s operations and the platforms that it manages. Joe will also be working with the wider Alvesta Living Group to help build sustainable practices into its activities. He arrives from Net Zero Group, where he was a carbon consultant, and has over six years’ experience in sustainability.

Ascend’s latest sustainability strategy, outlined in 2024 and running to the end of 2026, comprises a series of 20 commitments across three pillars of Ascend’s activities: residents & homes; operations; and communities. The firm has been recognised for its achievements to date, with sustainability highlights including partnering with United Utilities to pilot a Green Living Programme and establishing an initiative that plants a tree of every letting it makes.

Ascend holds management mandates with leading institutional investors and oversees around two thirds of the entire UK SFR asset class, alongside wider living sector instructions. Ascend Living, its unique ‘white label’ resident-facing brand, is one of the largest operators of institutional living assets, providing investors with a turnkey identity for over 4,000 homes across the UK.

Lee Hill, Commercial Director at Ascend, said: 

Building sustainability into our business – not only our operational activity, but the homes and communities where we work – is a key part of Ascend’s approach, and we are proud to have pioneered best practice in this area for the property management sector. Joe’s arrival highlights the importance we place on this issue, and his expertise will be central to what we can offer our clients, partners and residents alike.