I chatted to Ian Fletcher, Director of Policy at the British Property Federation about how to influence housing policy. I found it fascinating to hear about: The latest on hot topics like Renters Reform Leasehold Reform and the up-coming election  How policy-making actually works, from consultations with Civil Servants to lobbying Members of Parliament What next for housing policy Guest website: https://bpf.org.uk/ Guest LinkedIn:...

Deepa Deb is Head of International Real Estate Investment at law firm Watson Farley & Williams, with accolades including regularly being ranked in Chambers & Partners as a leading lawyer in real estate and being rated as one of the Hot 100 most influential lawyers (The Lawyer). We chatted on the podcast about: What innovations (in particular the use of AI) can improve efficiency and reliability of legal work in transactions What UK residential can learn from other parts of...

I had the chance to chat with Katherine Russell, Director of Build to Rent at the John Lewis Partnership about retail, real estate and Build to Rent. Topics included: The journey that the John Lewis Partnership - better known for homewares than housing - has been on with real estate generally, and residential property specifically, from owning ‘tops above shops’ to Build to Rent Lessons learned through John Lewis’s Real Estate Portfolio, the New West End Company’s (a partnership of...

My good friend Andrew Teacher grilled me in my capacity as CEO of GreenResi on unlocking responsible UK residential investment at scale. Topics include: The residential market opportunity: scale, growing income and resilience underpinned by demographics How to deploy rapidly at scale: acquiring granular existing rentals for faster, less risky, less carbon intensive access to residential vs Build to Rent How processes can be optimised to improve efficiency and reliability...

I loved chatting to Cath Webster, CEO of Thriving Investments, the fund manager with a social conscience backed by Places for People, the UK's leading Social Enterprise which owns or manages over 240,000 homes for 500,000 Customers across the UK. We covered: The different segments in residential such as Affordable Rented, Social Rented and Private Rented How Build to Rent has evolved, from ‘Gen1’ to today, including the rise and fall of amenities Investment yield valuations, why...

I chatted to Simon Scott, Lead Director, Living Capital Markets UK at the second largest global property advisor, JLL, about the future of ‘living capital’ (which is essentially the institutionally-funded segment of the real estate market which people live in). Topics include: What we can learn from 2023 around the resilience of residential investment Factors influencing investment valuations, from fire safety to operating companies Will 2024 be the worst year yet for new housing...

It’s been a while since I didn’t have a high powered guest on the podcast, and a lot has been happening in the market and in my world.  So this week, I thought I’d take the opportunity to share some of that (read: talk to myself!), answering some of the questions I get asked frequently about the market and my business. Topics include: Key social, environmental and investor trends in the UK Private Rental Sector Developing tools to scale, including acquisition pipeline management and...

I had the chance to chat with Jessica Pilz, Head of Sustainable Investing at £90bn Asset Manager, Fiera Capital. Topics included: How to integrate Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) considerations into commercial investment decisions, and when to say no to attractive financial returns Innovation and ‘insetting’ instead of offsetting How to use partnerships to address complex environmental and social challenges whilst achieving commercial success Guest website:...

I chatted with Emma Long, Head of Business Strategy, Legal & General Investment Management (LGIM) Real Assets Equity about how one of the largest asset managers in Europe, with global Assets under Management of £1.2 trillion, makes sound investment decisions and adapts to market changes. Topics include: The implications of a changing investor landscape with Direct Benefit pensions buyouts and Direct Contribution pensions growth How asset management is increasingly about customer...

I had a wonderful chat with Sadie Malim, Head of ESG and Legal at Moorfield, a £3.9bn specialist investor, on the podcast.  Key topics included: The democratisation of real estate What ‘alternative’ and ‘operational’ really mean (when UK residential is 8 x larger than UK commercial property and 4 x larger than the FTSE 100!) Advice for investors exploring ESG integration in residential to rent  Real life examples of the most exciting alternative real estate strategies including...

Alex Notay is Placemaking & Investment Director at Thriving Investments, which aims to be the most socially responsible asset management company in the housing sector, and is part of Places for People.  She’s an internationally recognised expert on Build to Rent and ESG in residential, and she has helped lead residential and ESG committees for leading industry bodies ULI, BPF and AREF. So she was the perfect guest to explain how we should be measuring ESG risks and impacts in...

I chatted to Phil Mason, Head of Regulatory Engagement at Trustmark, the government endorsed quality scheme for home improvements, an organisation that is critical for the urgent retrofit of UK homes, about the impact of regulations on retrofit and the path to Net Zero for homes. We covered: What Net Zero means for UK homes  The path of least resistance for achieving Net Zero 2050 - avoiding inefficiencies and just ‘retrofitting once’  How policies, practices and grant funding...

I had a great chat with Polly Ogden Duffy, Managing Director at prime sales and lettings agency, John D Wood & Co. We covered: How to achieve your buying, selling or renting goals in the current market  How upsizers are winning in 2023 What has caused the time taken to complete a sale to double since 2019 How establishing pregnancy loss and menopause policies - as well as being vocal about such real staff issues - improves staff loyalty and so boosts long term...

I had the chance to chat with Imogen Ebbs, Head of UK Real Estate Funds at £223bn asset manager Aviva Investors, on the podcast.  We covered: How to become a fund manager, and how Aviva Investors are helping the next generation of fund managers onto the ladder What ‘good’ looks like in the current market, and how this has changed - including macroeconomic factors, pricing, microeconomics and ESG The most exciting emerging investment strategies (spoiler alert: lots in ‘living’!)...

In this episode I share my thoughts on the scrapping of proposed Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards of EPC C+ for properties to be legally rented out.  The tables were turned and I joined Rod Turner on his Property Business Investment ‘Rodcast’ in my capacity as CEO of GreenResi, which helps residential investors with portfolios worth £100m+ to make efficient, reliable buy, sell and upgrade decisions at scale, so that they can future proof and grow portfolios in the context of the urgent...

I had the chance to chat with Avinash Rajan, Proposition Director for TrustMark, the UK Government-Endorsed Quality Scheme for home improvements, and an organisation that is critical for the urgent retrofit of UK homes. We covered: Innovations and policy changes in home comfort and the path to Net Zero  How to ensure quality delivery and protect consumers How to adapt your retrofit approach when policy objectives conflict, for example when changing from gas to electric brings...

I had a great, very informative chat with Carl Jabbour, Head of Investors and COO of £1bn+ property and SME  lender Fiduciam, for the podcast.  We talked about:  Why family offices and institutional investors are so keen to lend, and the non-cyclical growth of non-bank lending How macroeconomic shifts like high inflation, high interest rates and low economic growth/confidence define what works for Family Offices and institutional investors Why lenders are swallowing profit margin...

I chatted to Emma Fletcher, Homes Director at Octopus Energy, the UK's most awarded energy supplier. Emma is also a renewable energy pioneer herself, having led the UK’s first green district heating system, which we have talked about in past episodes. In this episode, we talked about: Using technology and innovation bridge the gap between traditional housing infrastructure and the demands of a more environmentally conscious society Pioneering products like ‘Zero Bills’ - where...

I chatted to Rayhan Rafiq, serial founder including of Unmortgage, which became Wayhome - a ground-breaking institutionally-backed shared ownership scheme for aspiring owners of existing homes letting people buy as little as 5% of a home and rent the rest. We talked about ‘the human side of business’, including: What key performance indicators ‘customer-centric’ businesses really need Building trust and rapport in low trust, emotionally-charged industries People, politics and the...

I chatted with David Pierpoint, CEO of The Retrofit Academy, the leading retrofit skills training provider on a special podcast demystifying retrofit standards, certifications and training. Highlights include: How PAS 2035 emerged, and why it’s so important The relationship between PAS 2035, ECO4 and EPC recommendations Maintaining quality in a race against time The Retrofit Rap Guest website: https://retrofitacademy.org/ Guest LinkedIn:...

Jon Dweck, Founder of Space32, a leading office flexspace marketplace joined me on the podcast to discuss how flexible office space is evolving, from location choice to days per week.  Highlights include: The extent to which office demand has fallen The future of the office sector - from flex space to Build to Rent conversions What businesses paid for in the last 12 months, including less time in the office, and higher quality Shaking up the office leasing sector with a new...

I chatted with the wonderful Rajeev Nayyar, UK Managing Director of Aareon Group (the largest property management software group in the UK, including Arthur, FixFlo and Aereon UK) and Co-Founder of FixFlo, the leading repairs and maintenance software used for more than 1 million properties in the UK.  Highlights include: The late shift to focusing on customer wants and needs in real estate The three types of asset maintenance, and how tech can be used to make them smoother across...

I really enjoyed chatting with Paul Clark, Stories Co-founder & CIO, Sophie White, Sector Head for Regeneration at Aviva Capital Partners about their £100m joint venture in purposeful, socially responsible development.  Some highlights included: Measuring social responsibility  Using the right capital for long term projects  How trust and fear really show up in development partnerships Paul Clark LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulrichardclark/ Website:...

On the pod this week I talked about what I’ve been working on: a new tool to help residential investors and managers to navigate the current environment, including: Current and planned regulations  The urgent need to improve the quality and energy efficiency of homes in the UK Making better, cheaper, faster decisions at scale. We’re running pilots with portfolio investors and managers looking to: Add value to their portfolios in the current environment and  Help solve the...