Estates Gazette Property Podcasts

Tomorrow’s Leaders: What is a brainery and can it fix property’s diversity problem?

“Some pretty disgraceful things have been normalised,” Nick Walkley, chief executive of Homes England, says, reflecting on diversity in property. But how do you change that?

Walkley and Tim Heatley, co-founder of regeneration specialist Capital & Centric, tell EG about Regeneration Brainery, a programme that connects 16-21 year-olds with mentors from across the industry. Consciously focusing on young people from diverse backgrounds who would not have family connections in property, Regeneration Brainery hopes to open up opportunities and give the next generation an "address book of contacts" to get ahead.

Listen to the latest Tomorrow’s Leaders podcast to find out why diversity matters to Heatley and Walkley and what the industry can do about it.

Workplace of Tomorrow: Design is important but location and price dominate

Workplace design can attract talent but tomorrow’s office markets will still be dominated by cost and location says Alex Lifschutz, director, Lifschutz Davidson Sandilands

Workplace of Tomorrow: Embrace change or be damned

Generational differences and their effect on the workplace rely less on age and more on the ability to embrace the unknown, according to Ray Richards of Do Something Different.

“Really what I am talking about is change” he said, speaking at the EG Workplace of Tomorrow Conference.

“It’s not the strongest people who survive or the most intelligent, but the most responsive to change… the one thing we have to do is understand how to embrace change, otherwise we will struggle, we will not thrive.”

On the Case: Who pays for property fraud, post-Dreamvar?

The Court of Appeal has given judgment in two much-discussed cases that raise important questions over who should be held liable to victims of conveyancing fraud: Dreamvar (UK) Ltd v Mishcon de Reya and P&P Property Ltd v Owen White & Catlin LLP – each of which involves a fraudulent “seller” making off with a would-be purchaser’s funds.

In the latest episode of On the Case, Owen Talfan Davies, partner at Fieldfisher, analyses the court's findings, and what they mean for conveyancing solicitors going forward.

 

 

Meet Bidwells managing director Catherine Spitzer

In this EG Property Podcast we meet Bidwells managing director Catherine Spitzer. Spitzer, who was promoted to the role in July 2017 after joining the Cambridge-based agent in 2014 as chief operating officer, is refreshingly un-property.

With a degree in politics, philosophy and economics from Oxford, she first became a lawyer bringing the likes of Amazon and eBay to the UK, then a consultant and then took a year off.

In this conversation we talk about her journey into property, Bidwell’s fresh approach to workspace, mental health, diversity and mountains.

The Agenda: Is the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 a complete waste of time?

The Landlord and Tenant 1954 Act offers commercial tenants the important rights to remain in occupation after their lease comes to an end, and apply to court for the grant of a new lease - but landlords and tenants can "contract out" of these provisions before they sign the lease. 

As a result, Jonathan Seitler QC's latest Agenda is this: the 1954 act is a complete waste of time.

Roger Cohen, partner at Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner, disagrees. Whose side will you be on in this episode of the Agenda?

 

 

Pull of Crossrail and rise of WeWork reshaping South East occupier demands

Knight Frank's head of national offices Emma Goodford discusses the hottest office markets tipped for 2018, changing occupier demands and the lure of Crossrail.

Why we need need to talk about mental health

One in four people are suffering from some sort of mental health issue. Last year more than 12.5m working days were lost to stress, depression and anxiety. Collectively, those lost days of work cost businesses some £16bn.

All this week at EG we are supporting mental health awareness week. Mental health, as the stats show affects pretty much all of us. We will either be that 1 in 4 that is suffering personally, we will have a family member or other loved one who is suffering or we may be working with someone who is suffering.

This EG Property Podcast features two interviews talking about what firms are doing to support employees and how wellness should be a vital element of any businesses responsibility to staff.

The first interview is part of a longer interview with Bidwells managing director Catherine Spitzer – look out for that on the EG Property Podcast channel soon. A keen adventurer and savvy businesswoman, Catherine knows all about the importance of being able to slow down, to find space and to switch off from the constant barrage of information.

In our second interview, we meet Melanie Olrik, head of HR at Malcolm Hollis who shares what it is doing to create a more open atmosphere  and some top tips about how you can set up a successful mental health initiative and why it is always good to talk.

 

Elections will not be the end for property’s battle with politics

Concerns from property bosses over the local elections may have been mollified after Labour failed in its attempt to take key councils, but uncertainty still remains.

London’s mayor Sadiq Khan is at the halfway point in his term and is still falling short of his target of building 60,000 homes per year in the capital. The differing ways to hit that target will be central to discussions to debates between developers and newly elected local councillors will be key.  

Martin Bellginer, Ian Fletcher is director of policy at the British Property Federation; Dean Clifford, co-founder of central London residential developer Great Marlborough Estates; Martin Bellinger executive chairman of housing developer and contractor Guildmore and one of the founders of PRS developer Essential Living and EG’s London residential analyst Paul Wellman joined EG editor Damian Wild to discuss the battles ahead.

CBRE: Serviced office sector to become a core part of the office market

CBRE'S head of research Kevin McCauley, head of investment properties James Beckham and Stewart Smith, head of CBRE's occupier business discuss the renaissance of serviced office providers, which last year acquired 17% of take-up in the central London office market.