Katrina Davis is the head of communications for Civic Engineers, while Dino Moutsopoulos is the managing partner and head of commercial at Place North. Between them, they’ve delivered business development and marketing strategies for businesses in the music industry, the professional football world, and the NHS.

Delving into their decades of experience, the two share their insights into not only developing a great marketing playbook but also how to make the most out of events like MIPIM and UKREiiF and what the rise of AI means for the industry.

Listen to the podcast at the top of this page to hear their thoughts. If you want to learn more about how Place North can amplify your brand’s message, explore our media pack or get in touch with Dino directly by emailing dino@placenorth.co.uk or calling 07803 988112.

Don’t miss a single Place podcast episode. Subscribe to our series on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts. 

Stay up-to-date on the latest in the property industry by subscribing to our free newsletter, delivered to your inbox just in time for lunch every weekday. 

The post PODCAST | Marketing best practice for the property industry appeared first on Place North West.

On this episode of the Place North West podcast, McCormack, Garratt, and Sadek reflected on a frank and honest discussion with industry leaders that law firm Winckworth Sherwood hosted during the Chartered Institute for Housing’s annual conference, Housing 2023.

During the podcast, the trio discussed with Place senior reporter Dan Whelan the industry’s biggest gripes, why the planning system should be left alone, and what the future of housing delivery might look like. 

Listen to the podcast at the top of this page to hear McCormack, Garratt, and Sedak’s insights into how the way houses are delivered in the UK could be streamlined.

To find out more about Winckworth Sherwood, visit wslaw.co.uk. 

Don’t miss a single Place podcast episode. Subscribe to our series on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts. 

Stay up-to-date on the latest in the property industry by subscribing to our free newsletter, delivered to your inbox just in time for lunch every weekday. 

The post PODCAST | How to build more homes in uncertain times  appeared first on Place North West.

Livingstone is the executive director of Onward, a housing association responsible for 35,000 homes in the North West. White is Manchester City Council’s executive member for housing and development. Together they were able to bring a social housing provider and local authority perspective on the factors hindering us from achieving net zero and affordable goals and how these obstacles can be overcome.

On this latest Place podcast episode, the two were joined by Place North West editor Julia Hatmaker who chaired a discussion that covered everything from retrofit and brownfield land development to social value.

Listen to the podcast at the top of this page to hear Livingstone and White’s insights into how we develop the homes of the future.

To find out more about Onward, visit onward.co.uk.

Don’t miss a single Place podcast episode. Subscribe to our series on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

Stay up to date on the latest in the property industry by subscribing to our free newsletter, delivered to your inbox just in time for lunch every weekday.

The post PODCAST | Homes of the future: how do we build sustainable communities? appeared first on Place North West.

On the latest episode of the Place North West podcast, senior reporter Dan Whelan asked Gordon about the key challenges facing housebuilders in 2023.

They include negotiating the demands of nutrient neutrality, the sluggish planning system, and central government’s decision to scrap the mandatory 300,000-a-year housing target.

While there are undoubtedly obstacles to be overcome, it is not all doom and gloom, certainly not for Genesis Homes.

Gordon founded the company in 2017. During that time the housebuilder has gone from building 10 homes a year to more than 170. He is now eyeing 300 properties a year by 2028.

In addition, the developer is rising to the challenge of sustainability, launching its EcoGen home. These homes are filled with smart technology and solar-assisted heat pumps and are designed to be energy efficient and net zero carbon emitting.

Listen to the podcast at the top of this article to hear Gordon’s views on the proposed changes and how the planning system could be altered in a way that could help to address the housing crisis.

To find out more visit Genesis Homes.

Don’t miss a single Place podcast episode. Subscribe to our series on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

Stay updated on the latest in the property industry by subscribing to our free newsletter, delivered to your inbox just in time for lunch every weekday.

The post PODCAST | What next for housing in Cumbria? appeared first on Place North West.

Hosted by Place North West editor Julia Hatmaker, the podcast goes into the real problems councils and developers are facing when it comes securing a reliable supply of renewable energy and the steps they are taking to solve them. Both guests are experts in the field. Holmes is an associate utilities consultant of smart energy and sustainablity at Hydrock, a multidisciplinary engineering design consultancy. Culley is Manchester City Council’s deputy chief executive, treasurer, and the lead for the council’s zero carbon action plan.

Listen to the podcast at the top of this page to hear Holmes and Culley’s insights on the state of the energy supply today and the changes being made to secure its future.

To find out more about Hydrock, visit hydrock.com.

Don’t miss a single Place podcast episode. Subscribe to our series on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Stay up to date on the latest in the property industry by subscribing to our free newsletter, delivered to your inbox just in time for lunch every weekday.

The post PODCAST | Why is reliable energy the hottest commodity around? appeared first on Place North West.

Hosted by Place North West senior reporter Dan Whelan, this podcast delves into the implications of scrapping S106, and the continued politicisation of the planning system, as well as offering up solutions that could help the affordable housing sector.

At present, more than 75% of all S106 contributions are spent on the delivery of affordable homes. Under the proposed levy, all developer contributions obtained through the planning process would go into a single pot, to be spent as councils see fit.

Registered providers are rightly concerned that this new approach could be to the detriment of affordable housing delivery and are lobbying for a rethink. 

Listen to the podcast at the top of this article to hear Loughenbury’s views on the proposed changes and how the planning system could be altered in a way that could help to address the housing crisis.

To find out more about Onward Homes, visit Onward.co.uk.

Don’t miss a single Place podcast episode. Subscribe to our series on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Anchor, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Stay up to date on the latest in the property industry by subscribing to our free newsletter, delivered to your inbox just in time for lunch every weekday.

The post PODCAST | What policy reform could mean for affordable housing   appeared first on Place North West.

Southworks, MiddleCap’s first development in the UK, completed in 2021, bringing 70,000 sq ft of tech-enabled, BREEAM ‘Outstanding’ office space to the market. Now, the developer is looking ahead to its second UK project – Seal House – which aims to push the boundaries of tech even further.

Listen to podcast

Takeaways

• The main goal for Southworks was to collect all the data possible at a reasonable price and level of complexity. MiddleCap installed a “digital backbone” of sensors that collect all the environmental and occupancy data in the building
• Southworks was based on the idea of “API-based architecture”: each system or sensor should be able to send its data to other parts of the building or consume data collected by other systems. In other words, all the tech needs to talk to each other
• Flexibility is key. The design allows sensors to be moved or replaced and there are no physical thermostats or light switches, which means tenants can change the physical space however they want
• Proptech companies need to be able to not just deliver, for example, a tenant engagement app, but also spell out a clear roadmap and build a standardised support system and take cybersecurity seriously
• MiddleCap expects to see consolidation among startups, leading to fewer – but more advanced – solutions in the coming years
• When thinking about smart buildings, start with asking what the ultimate goal is. Is it to understand how your portfolio behaves? Is it to lower operational emissions? Then figure out what data you need. Only once you know all that start to think about what tech can deliver that for you
• Starting to collect data to make better decisions doesn’t need to be complicated. For example, if you have an access control system, you can tap into that data to understand when people are in the building. That can help you start making decisions about things like heating, cooling and lighting.

The post LISTEN | MiddleCap’s Miloš Halečka on delivering innovative smart buildings appeared first on Place North West.

Global sea levels are rising. They’ve risen 10cm since 1993 and are projected to rise further still. What are planners doing to anticipate this watery Armageddon, asks Jeremy Hinds of Savills.

The conversation about rising sea levels focuses on low-lying countries like Bangladesh and the Maldives. But recent mapping reveals just how much land is projected to be underwater in less than 20 years if climate change continues on current trajectories.

Join me on a whistle-stop global tour in 2040:

Vietnam’s southern peninsula, right up to Ho Chi Minh City, and Bangkok, Thailand are both completely wiped out, along with Basra, Iran and the southern coast of Louisiana, USA.

In Europe, the entire coast of the Netherlands (perhaps less surprisingly), stretching through Germany and Denmark, also ends up under water. And in the UK, the wash consumes vast areas of Lincolnshire, Norfolk and Cambridgeshire, right up to the outskirts of Peterborough and Cambridge.

Let’s take a look at one UK town which is currently in the process of preparing a new local plan.

Warrington’s flood risk and emerging local plan

Source: Climate Central

Warrington Council is currently preparing a new plan for the period 2021/38. A lot of work has gone into it and, after examination took place in October, they’re nearly there.

The graphic above shows projected sea levels in the year 2040, two years after the end of the next local plan period. So, what does the emerging plan say about Warrington’s impending flood?

Well, the word flood is mentioned in the plan 114 times. So far so good. But it’s in the context of building in the existing flood plain (not the extent of the land in red above) and refers to river and surface water flooding. The impact of sea level rises? Not mentioned at all.

How many of Warrington’s proposed houses are allocated within land that will be underwater in 20 years’ time? Answer: 3,095.

The pace of plan making

Warrington isn’t a special case. The planners there haven’t dropped the ball. They’ve based their plan on evidence. But it does show a glaring problem with the current process of plan making.

Plans simply take too long to make and are not agile enough to consider new evidence as it emerges. Warrington’s emerging plan is informed by a strategic flood risk assessment. It’s just that that technical evidence doesn’t anticipate sea level rises.

The problem is that there isn’t a legitimate national – or regional – spatial plan that addresses the impacts of environmental change head on. If there were, a town like Warrington would use it to inform its own plan and avoid building in areas at risk.

The time lag is enormous between when we see changes in the science and when our planning system responds. But we can’t wait until the next plan: these mapped forecasts relate to the end of the current plan and when we get there it will be too late.

How must we respond?

Perhaps the simple answer is to build more flood defences.

But it isn’t just Warrington facing this problem, it’s significant areas of the UK. Vast areas of countryside and towns and cities on major river estuaries, namely the Mersey and Dee, the Humber, the Severn and, frighteningly, the Thames.

Don’t forget that defences only work for occasional floods, to protect from extreme weather events. But we’re not talking about extreme weather events anymore. It’s simply that our seas are rising and taking our land.

Flood defences are no mean feat. They’re expensive. Who will pay for them? Who decides which areas get protected and which areas are given over to the water?

We must face facts. Areas will have to be given over to water.

Rethinking our strategic plan making

The change in global sea levels will have huge implications on strategic plan making in every nation.

Where do we put the houses?

We can’t just plan for the identified needs in one area, we need to plan to also meet the needs of areas where people can no longer live.

What is the right flood defence solution?

How do we decide which areas we protect and which we allow to flood?

All these things have to be thought of at a greater scale than the local level. It will need coordination, difficult decision making and funding.

A national plan for a coordinated solution

Localism has been a huge string to the Conservative government’s bow, because it’s seen as the most democratic way to make planning decisions. That’s understandable; the impact of development is felt locally.

But when we’re dealing with the impact of climate change, the scale is so great it has to be dealt with at the macro level.

The UK government has again rejected the idea of regional plans on the basis that they’re not democratic.

That only supports the case for a national plan more. A national plan prepared by our elected government would be democratic. That’s the right scale to address this impending problem, with regional bodies that implement the objectives of the national plan.

Be more Canute

Trying to hold back the tide is futile.

But the alternative of watching the sea encroach our towns and cities, without a plan of action, is frightening.

What’s the answer?

Planners must come to the same realisation as King Canute; trying to hold back the tide is futile. The only appropriate response is a national plan that sees the big picture and plans for a future that expects significant changes in our flood plains.

There’s a clamour rising from the built environment profession saying that a local approach doesn’t work. Local planners from Bangkok to Baton Rouge are working hard to find solutions. But we cannot expect them to tackle this alone. We need a proper strategy. Every country needs a national, and regional, framework that identifies what land is going to be lost and what is going to be protected.

Until we have a more agile plan-making system and make decisions at the appropriate scale, we’re planning blind and building homes on land that will soon be taken over by the sea.

• Jeremy Hinds is planning director at Savills

The post Warrington to be underwater within 20 years, but where’s the plan? appeared first on Place North West.

Listen to podcast

Takeaways

• 20-30% people coming back to the office; but airports and sports arenas back to 100%. Offices have more work to do
• Hallway conversations before and after the meeting are important. People calling in remotely on video don’t get that level of information – there is an opportunity for tech to fix that problem
• LinkedIn is seeing that people want to be with their teams but they are not collaborating for eight hours
• Onboarding remotely means pieces of the process and culture have been lost compared to people joining a company in the office. We are going to see remote work affect performance. Community is going to be something employers look closely at and push forward on
• Sharry’s top tip for selecting tech partners: buy solutions that are cloud-based, not stored on premises in server racks. This will allow them to be more scalable, updated faster and produce better data analytics than on-premises versions
• LinkedIn found that the reasons why people want to come to the office are amenities, collaboration, and community

Sharry is a workplace experience platform that brings multiple touch points to redefine workplace experience, including mobile access with Apple Wallet support, smart parking, hybrid work, visitor management, and employee engagement. More than 40m sq ft is powered by Sharry’s software, including the iconic One Vanderbilt high-rise in Manhattan. To find out more, visit www.sharry.tech

The post LISTEN | Sharry + LinkedIn on workplace experience trends appeared first on Place North West.

Listen to podcast

Questions answered

• Why does ESG matter in corporate communications?
• How can tech enable businesses to meet green targets?
• How can companies cut through the noise and be heard on climate messages?
• What role does technology play in the decarbonisation of the property sector?
• Given the growth of the Greentech sector, how can communications enable tech companies to compete?
• How to approach ESG reporting and narrative development

Visit Social Tech

The post LISTEN | ESG comms advice from Social appeared first on Place North West.

Jonathan Shaw, managing director of AG Built Environment Consultancy, chats with Place about the role the media plays in the built environment, how to get news coverage, and all things MIPIM.

Julia Hatmaker, deputy editor (left), and Dino Moutsopoulos, commercial director of Place North West

This is the fifth episode in series one of AG’s ‘Let’s Talk about the Built Environment’ podcast. Previous episodes can be found on Spotify, and Amazon Music.

AG, previously known as Anderton Gables, is a project development and surveying consultancy with offices in Manchester and Preston.

As AG managing director, Shaw leads the company’s business development activities and strategic direction. He has worked for numerous national commercial building consultancies and was elected by the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors in 1999. Away from work, Shaw is an avid Preston North End fan and enjoys keeping fit.

The post PODCAST | AG interviews Place North West appeared first on Place North West.

Listen to podcast

Takeaways

• There is a lack of a consensus framework in which to discuss the problems and how to address them
• Without sufficient policy responses individuals will increasingly put forward radical ideas which prompt counter responses and only delay the forming of a consensus
• Requirements to do something about climate change are very challenging – this puts people off
• As timeframes to act become shorter, the responses needed become more radical
• Short-term outlooks of voter-obsessed politicians obstruct the consensus and avoid difficult solutions
• Climate policy should be outsourced and made independent and objective in same way as countries’ central banks often are

More from Savills on sustainability

• LISTEN | Implications of changing weather patterns for planning

• CREtech VIDEO | Is real estate prepared for the future of flooding?

The post LISTEN | Savills’ Jeremy Hinds + applied futurist Tom Cheesewright   appeared first on Place North West.

Listen to podcast

Takeaways

• “When we are at the beginning of the journey the most difficult part is spreading the innovation mindset, framework and skills across the organisation”
• “The challenge is to deploy innovation at scale through our portfolio in operation where it makes sense”
• “Data management is the next big revolution for real estate. If you look at other industries and benchmarks you can easily realise that real estate is quite behind on this transformation”
• “The problem is not about technology, which is already available. The difficulty is the upskilling we have to do to be able to produce value with data”

The post LISTEN | Gecina’s Antoine Geoffroy, head of R&D and innovation appeared first on Place North West.

Listen to podcast

Key takeaways

• Nexity acquired Morning Coworking in 2019 to roll out flexible workspace
• Nexity uses 3D configurators to allow customers to customise apartments
• The company’s strategy aims to find new offers for consumers; invest in ventures directly; improve the digital user experience and satisfaction
• Nexity has invested in a dozen firms directly and three venture funds
• Maintaining a startup mindset and culture is vital
• Startups working with Nexity gain access to a market leader; funding, capital and projects; each other as an ecosystem.

The post LISTEN | Nexity’s Fabrice Aubert appeared first on Place North West.

Sponsored by Hydrock, this podcast provides an innovative guide to adding value in ways you may not have considered before.

From dark kitchens and last-mile logistics to battery storage and EV charging, there are countless ways in which surplus space in a single building or entire shopping park can be used to increase a property’s money-making potential. 

As retail declines and the high street continues to change, landlords are looking at how they can maximise their assets in a way that responds to societal and environmental shifts. 

Listen to the podcast at the top of this article to hear Bowie-Hill and Lloyd discuss the options available to landlords and how they can be implemented. 

Find out more about estate optimisation with Hydrock.

Don’t miss a single Place podcast episode. Subscribe to our series on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Anchor, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Stay up to date on the latest in the property industry by subscribing to our free newsletter, delivered to your inbox just in time for lunch every weekday.

The post PODCAST | Innovative ways to maximise asset potential appeared first on Place North West.

Listen to podcast

With 1.3m members, the NAR is the largest trade organisation in the US. On this episode you can hear how a 100-year-old organisation got into digital transformation and its significant progress to date.

Takeaways

• NAR venture fund Second Century Ventures was an early investor in DocuSign
• SCV and its accelerator arm Reach are fully funded from returns on past investments
• Cream will rise to top as economic downturn bites over next 18-24 months
• Tyler wants SCV to help tackle affordability, how can tech solve the global housing crisis and help renters move towards owning property
• Property companies can take advantage of AI, using data and today’s sizable computer power to produce clear data points that are critical to success
• Dan says NAR wants to lead and not be reactive when it comes to spotting tech efficiencies in real estate
• Natasha’s companies to watch include Fyma – ‘unlocking data from video feeds’ – and Mökki – ‘logistics hubs for the circular economy’

The post LISTEN | Time to lead, not follow – NAR talks proptech investing appeared first on Place North West.

Listen to podcast

Today Mesaurabl employs 200 staff providing ESG data on more than 13bn sq ft of commercial real estate across 90 countries.

From Green to ESG is available to buy on Amazon

He is also a fine writer and his ‘From Green to ESG’ book sets a compelling argument for transparency in markets and casts doubt on the objectivity of green building certificates.

He sat down with Paul Unger to look beyond the doom and gloom that often surrounds climate crisis conversations and to focus instead on reasons to be cheerful.

Takeaways

• Corporate real estate is now embracing sustainability and the wider ESG as business priorities
• Climate legislation is finally arriving to incentivise companies to adopt green energy measures – but does it go far enough on carbon tax
• Climate tech = jobs, jobs, jobs. The way the industry works is being transformed and buildings will be procured in totally different ways in future, starting now
• Small and medium property companies face a ‘data competency’ vacuum they need to address, this is a struggle without extra resource to upskill management
• Large property holders are decarbonizing their estates and looking for solutions that are ready to plug into, this is a rapidly maturing marketplace and established suppliers are preferred, new entrants will be left behind

The post LISTEN | Measurabl CEO’s reasons to be optimistic about property + climate appeared first on Place North West.

Listen to podcast

Takeaways

• Grosvenor is a major developer operating in 60 cities globally
• O’Donnell joined four years ago after 17 years at Landsec
• Created a dedicated innovation team alongside group services director Ian Mair three years ago: to understand threats, create opportunities and add value
• Innovation team works with colleagues to understand what their needs are and find solutions
• Traditional way of making money by charging rent to tenants is at risk. Most value in future will come from relationship with end customer, users of space
• Value of real estate is changing. Landlords must protect the space they have and learn how to enhance that, by engaging with tenants more
• Focus: innovation can be a fruitless exercise, you have to be targeted: Grosvenor has scouted 450 startups this year. These enter a ‘funnel’, where they are rated and, if they are liked, an initial meeting is held. O’Donnell and his team have met more than one startup a day this year
• Priority areas
  • Committed to being net zero by 2030, ‘We are going to have to rethink completely how we do things’
  • Future of retail: 40% exposure to retail, rebalancing, oversupplied market
  • Tech to improve how Grosvenor operates as a business, especially using AI and machine learning
  • Beyond built environment: metaverse…‘starting to think about that – don’t learn if don’t try things out’
• Partners: Plug and Play in US; True Global in the UK for retail and consumer; F6S database of startups
• Investments: made five so far in techs, NearSt is one example, a local live inventory showing on a map the goods in stock near you – is the shirt available in your size before you go in store
• Budget often gets in the way of innovating, figure out what working capital you need for experimenting and, for everything else, if it’s a good idea find the money
• Retrofit is the right thing to do, looking at how it can make you money is the wrong starting point
• Real estate in UK and EU is ahead of North America on climate

The post LISTEN | Craig O’Donnell, Grosvenor’s innovation lead appeared first on Place North West.

Listen to podcast

Hazelview’s hot takes

• Established venture division coming out of pandemic as the group looked for ways technology could help improve energy efficiency, reduce waste, enhance customer experience and add value to properties
• ‘We are accelerating our thinking to improve our offerings through tech’
• Hazelview uses own its property portfolio to scale tech its invests in rather than investing in a separate VC fund
• More solutions driven than immediately financially results driven
• Will invest in fewer companies because of internal resource limitations for onboarding but will go deeper, ‘we really care about that company and that segment of the market’
• Three investments made so far:
  • Rhenti connects residential renters and landlords
  • SuiteSpot cloud software solution for operations
  • Augmenta automated building design
• Typical investment range between US$1m and US$4m
• ‘There are only so many things you can throw at your property management team at any given time, that’s the bandwidth issue, we can look at adding one or two companies into that process each year but no more’
• Construction materials and build-tech are priority number one – ‘When it comes to retrofit and new build we can look at many more applications [than property management] and that’s the focus for us right now’

The post LISTEN | ‘Fewer but deeper’ – Hazelview’s tech investing playbook appeared first on Place North West.

Civic Engineers is a Manchester-based company with expertise in designing and delivering sustainable and innovative buildings, structures and public spaces. Current projects include Mayfield Park in Manchester, Custom House Quay in Glasgow and 318 Oxford Street in London.

Listen to the podcast to hear Civic Engineers director James Bruce divulge his three top tips for retrofits and delve into several case studies to show what his tips look like in practice. If you are considering breathing new life into a beloved building, this is an episode you will not want to miss.

Civic Engineers recently reorganised to create a parent company, Civic Life. The parent company is headed up by chief executive Stephen O’Malley and chief operating officer Julian Broster. Civic Engineers has offices in Manchester, London, Leeds and Glasgow. Last year, the engineering company boasted a £10.7m turnover, generating approximately £1m in profit.

To learn more about Civic Engineers visit civicengineers.com.

This episode is part of Place North West’s Masterclass podcast series, which is dedicated to sharing best practices on key topics and issues within the built environment.

In each episode, guests will share actionable insights and practical advice drawing on professional experienced gleaned over many years. Past episodes include Fairhursts Design Group explaining how to design a commercial space for science and Buttress Architects exploring how to convert a listed building.

Don’t miss a single episode. Subscribe to our series on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Anchor, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

The post MASTERCLASS | How to retrofit – think more, use less appeared first on Place North West.