PropCast

By: PropCast: The Property Podcast
Listen for free

  • Summary

  • PropCast is a property podcast produced by Lauder Teacher Associates. PropCast covers issues across the whole of the real estate market; from finance and funding through to development and construction.
    All rights reserved
    Show more Show less
Economics
Show more Show less
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2
Episodes
  • Colm Lauder and Andrew Teacher on property’s operational future

    Colm Lauder and Andrew Teacher on property’s operational future
    Oct 15 2024

    PropCast host Andrew Teacher grills his former IPD colleague and renowned market analyst Colm Lauder on the future for listed property stocks and private investors. Lauder, formerly an investment banker at Goodbody, debates how real estate’s “operation game” is becoming an increasingly vital part of the mix and the duo explain why investors need to stop being so obsessed with NAV.
    Show more Show less
    29 mins
  • Successful regeneration needs time, vision, capital, and a little bit of flexibility, says Urban Splash Residential Fund boss

    Successful regeneration needs time, vision, capital, and a little bit of flexibility, says Urban Splash Residential Fund boss
    Oct 13 2024
    Listen on Apple, Amazon, Spotify, or SoundCloud. Hosts: Andrew Teacher
    In this episode of PropCast, Andrew Teacher speaks to Akeel Malik, co-architect behind the Urban Splash Residential Fund, on connecting capital and the regeneration of regional cities, how technology can keep communities connected, and why real estate must grow closer to its customers.
    Akeel Malik operates at the intersection of brands, technology and institutional investment, not just as a partner at SURE Capital – a new investment management business with a focus on sustainable urban real estate in the UK, and a partnership with Urban Splash Group on its residential strategy – but also as a technology entrepreneur and co-founder of a residential investment fund. Malik’s relationship with residential property was catalysed at an early age. Malik, of Pakistani and Irish heritage, grew up in Wilmslow on the outskirts of Manchester’s city centre within a family with some experience of residential development, mainly in “private rented sector and senior living.” Even as far back as school, this familial connection to property and the transformational effects that Urban Splash was having on his local neighbourhood “were definitely on the radar.” After studying Economics and Management at the University of Oxford, Malik worked in London for UBS in its Real Estate, Lodging and Leisure Team, advising on M&A and capital markets. It wasn’t long before he was drawn back to Manchester. Seeking to find quality rental accommodation post-university, Malik and his friends found that many regional city centres lacked decent properties. These personal, familial and professional experiences would converge around Malik’s vision for “using the physical landscape and creating branded, well-designed properties at affordable prices.” Malik found his ideal partner in Urban Splash and its founder Tom Bloxham, launching the Urban Splash Residential Fund together, along with Paul Gough from STAR Capital. The Fund now owns and operates 500 homes across the UK, with first look access over the £1.2bn pipeline of Urban Splash as well as working with other developer partners. It seeks to provide investors with the opportunity to co-invest in a branded, institutional quality portfolio of residential properties for rent. Malik attributes much of Urban Splash’s success to the close match between commitment and delivery. In his words: “Knowing what a company does and what sort of product they’re going to deliver over an extended period of time across different scenarios is what’s made Urban Splash what it is today.” This track record, for Malik, has fostered “trust between the public and private sector.” Because of its 20-year regeneration of inner-city district New Islington, Urban Splash is primarily associated with Manchester. But its next generation of schemes also include Campbell Park, where 1500 homes will be delivered in partnership with the Milton Keynes Development Corporation, while Port Loop in Birmingham is being delivered in a joint venture with Places for People. Malik says: “It’s an island site, 15-20 minutes’ walk from Brindley Place but it is a great opportunity to create an island community. The land was previously industrial, and we got to engage with the community at an early stage.” For Malik, the scale and type of these projects are more akin to major regeneration schemes, unlike “transforming unused mill and warehouse buildings in...
    Show more Show less
    28 mins
  • Going for growth means thinking long-term, say Bidwells bosses

    Going for growth means thinking long-term, say Bidwells bosses
    Oct 11 2024
    Listen on Apple, Amazon, Spotify, or SoundCloud.
    Hosts: Andrew Teacher
    Bidwells is one of the UK’s oldest property businesses, well-known for its focus on life sciences, energy and natural assets. Yet far from resting on its laurels, the firm has made recent moves to amplify its existing capabilities, including advising on the growing market interest in operational real estate. Andrew Teacher speaks to chief operating officer, Kelly Bream, and Iain Murray, head of operational living.
    Few businesses are able to celebrate their 185th anniversary, and still fewer make plans for their next 185 years, but real estate consultancy Bidwells is doing just that. To this end, it has launched a growth strategy designed to double the firm in size over the next five years. Steering this ambitious plan is chief operating officer Kelly Bream. Bream studied property estate management at university and brings to her role experience at Berkeley Homes and a third party build to rent operator, as well as from co-founding a number of startup businesses. Bidwells is perhaps best known for its work as the lynchpin of the science and technology clusters in the Oxford-Cambridge Arc. Bream says: “We created Cambridge Science Park back in the 1970s with Trinity College, so our experience in innovation real estate is certainly part of Bidwells’ DNA.” Since 2021, Bream estimates that Bidwells has advised on “probably 80% of the life sciences deals across the Oxford-Cambridge Arc.” Bidwells’ hire of Iain Murray and his Cortland Consultancy team earlier this year boosted its capabilities further, with Murray joining as partner and head of operational living. Murray brings with him a decade of experience in the sector having advised on over £6.2bn in assets, alongside a wider 30-year pedigree across asset classes, including advising on £8bn worth of schools and hospitals while a Partner at G&T. The move comes as part of a wider firm focus on services relating to operational real estate. Reflecting on the outlook for the living sectors, Murray says: “Of particular interest has been the sector’s adoption of whole life modelling and costing, with the industry gaining a longer view of procurement than it has traditionally had. Residential has been short termist, but we are now building a product that lasts.” Murray believes that the key distinction between the build for sale and the build to rent markets lies in the latter’s “focus on the income side” and on “quality, environmental sustainability and safety.” He sees the benefit of Bidwells’ integrated expertise meaning it is able to transcend some of the siloed disciplines, avoiding friction between, for example, parts of businesses that focus on customer experience, cost management and sustainability. He cautions against living sector operators focusing too much on the capital expenditure associated with meeting legislative requirements, such as the inclusion of second staircases: “What we are trying to do is make sure that people don’t focus too much on the capital side when really it is the revenue that generates the value in build to rent projects.” Beyond build to rent, Murray sees opportunity in specialist living sectors such as co-living and senior living. “They represent less than one percent of the private rented sector, but they have further to go in terms of their professionalisation, and the demand will increase owing to demographic tailwinds.” Murray also...
    Show more Show less
    25 mins

What listeners say about PropCast

Average customer ratings

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Audible.com reviews

Amazon reviews
No Reviews are Available