Estates Gazette Property Podcasts

COLLABORATORS: How laziness has given real estate a bad name

So-called ‘poor doors’, segregated playgrounds and unwanted gentrification: it is not hard to find negative headlines about the property industry.

Developers regularly face accusations of putting profit before people, of building poorly designed and poorly constructed buildings which do little to serve the community they are in.

But how much of this is true? The industry seems to be suffering from a fundamental image problem, but how much do the wider headlines reflect reality? And what can the people who work in the sector do to change the perception of an industry which ultimately exists to improve the places we live and work?

Listen in as Martyn Evans, creative director at U+I, Virginia Blackman, principal at Avison Young, Tim Lowe, founder of guardian firm Lowe, and Jason Hawthorne, managing director of Vu City discuss how laziness has given the real estate industry a bad name when it comes to collaboration.

 

Who owns the UK's high streets?

EG's latest findings, which analysed 3,200 retail premises across 22 of the UK's busiest high streets, have revealed that 17.3% of these are owned by overseas investors, including international banks, investment funds and wealthy private individuals.

Meanwhile the public sector were the third-largest owners of the UK’s high streets, behind both international investors and the traditional property companies and REITs, which led the pack with a 21.4% share.

In our latest retail podcast, we take a look at which cities have gained the highest levels of overseas investment (spoiler: it's not London) and why these destinations have attracted this capital. We also discuss whether fragmented ownership has compounded the ongoing woes of the physical retail sector.

Bricks & Mortar: Developing your career in a sustainable way

“I remember walking out of my APC the first time around and phoning my dad. I couldn’t focus. I couldn’t think about where I was. In that moment I knew that I needed to sort myself out and get some help.”

Natasha Collins had been working at a frenetic pace – juggling the demands of a busy job in asset management with the academic rigor of her APC and a lively social life – when she began to experience symptoms of burnout.

A call to LionHeart helped her to regain her perspective and to make the necessary adjustments to her work / life balance. She now works as an ambassador for the charity, alongside managing a property investment business and lecturing for UCEM.

Hear her discuss the highs and lows of her career in property and how, ultimately, that telephone call was transformative in helping her to adopt a more sustainable approach to work.

Future of Real Estate: Hyperloop One has the power to transform cities

This week’s Future of Real Estate podcast will transport you to your destination at 600 miles per hour with an episode that focuses on what might be the first new mode of mass transportation in over 100 years. And, as Harj Dhaliwal, Managing Director, Middle East and India Field Operations, Hyperloop One, it’s one that has the power to transform cities and connections between cities.

Can the fourth industrial revolution fix the housing crisis?

In the wake of the public accounts committee inquiry into planning and the broken housing market, Sue Chadwick, strategic planning adviser at Pinsent Masons LLP joins us in the EG studio to discuss how the fourth industrial revolution holds the answers.

Chadwick discusses how accelerated planning for housing could work in the context of a digital revolution, the legal hurdles and opportunities around modern methods of construction, and what the government must do to adapt the planning regime so it is ready to reap the rewards of the fourth industrial revolution.

 

Is beauty in the eye of the developer?

At EG’s latest Peter Wilson lecture last month, Dame Fiona Reynolds, former head of the National Trust, said: “Beauty can often be a means to deliver a better outcome, rather than a choice between no development and development. Beauty is not just aesthetics, it is a way of looking at the world. Understanding the qualitative bit as well as the quantitative bit really does matter.”

Many developers get it. But not all.

“Developers have got to realise that there is more to development than bricks and mortar,” says Capital & Centric’s John Moffat. “I don’t think it’s necessarily that you have to be philanthropic to take the view of development that good commercial sense and community social impact sit hand-in-hand. If we’re not delivering a positive social impact from what we’re doing, then even if it’s made a profit that’s still not a successful development. That is a step change in mindset that we need to see.”

Here, Moffat, alongside Rob Sadler, head of Savills’ Cambridge office and Ami Kotecha, co-founder of AREP and managing director of AmroLiving, discuss how the regional development market is slowly – but perhaps reluctantly – embracing the change.

EG editor-in-chief Damian Wild hosts.

Bricks & Mortar: An introduction to the conveyancing process - part 3

Katharine Fenn returns as this week’s guest on Bricks & Mortar for the third and final instalment of her series on the basics of the conveyancing process.

In this episode she discusses what needs to be registered; how to record transactions with the Land Registry; title deeds and what might crop up on them; and covenants in their various forms.

She also talks listeners through preliminary enquiries and the various searches available as part of the due diligence process. She concludes with a look at the tax and lender positions.

 

 

 

The Gym Group's chief exec on limbering up for expansion

Low-cost gyms have powered their way into the spotlight of the UK’s £5bn health and fitness market.

Budget gym operators were highlighted as the fastest-growing segment of the industry in the latest findings by PwC, having increased their market share to 12% of total revenue in 2018, up from 3% in 2012.

The Gym Group, which commissioned the research, is among those that are looking to beef up their presence by opening more sites.

In this podcast, Richard Darwin, chief executive of The Gym Group, joins EG in the studio to discuss how the low-cost fitness industry is faring and how the company plans to take advantage of empty retail spaces.

Evicting section 21: what scrapping "no fault" evictions will involve

The government has announced plans to end "no fault evictions" under section 21 of the Housing Act 1988. 

EG's deputy legal editor, Jess Harrold, joins Jeremy Stephen, associate director at Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP, to discuss the controversial proposals set to go under consultation.

Stephen considers the issues raised for tenants and landlords, the need for a clear vision on leasehold reform and the likely impact on the market  - including the potential opportunities the move might offer for build to rent.

 

Bricks & Mortar: Understanding the basics of the conveyancing process

EG's professional and legal editor, Sarah Jackman, is again joined by Katharine Fenn, professional support lawyer at City Law firm FieldFisher, to discuss the key concepts involved in the conveyancing process.

In this episode, Katharine delves into more detail on the steps involved in the process, forms of tenure, the difference between registered and unregistered land and how to identify if land is registered.