An Architect’s Journey: Designing for People, Sustainability, and Value 

In this episode of Bricks & More, Adrian Strittmatter sits down with Dicky Lewis, co-founder of White Red Architects, to explore how architecture can balance design, business, and impact.

Dicky shares the story of launching White Red, highlighting the importance of setting a clear vision and values from the start to guide both creative and commercial decisions. He reflects on the challenges of balancing innovative design ambitions with client expectations, budgets, and timelines, offering practical insights into navigating these competing demands.

This episode explores:
- How post-pandemic work patterns are reshaping office and workspace design
 - Using storytelling to integrate end-user experiences into architecture
 - Practical sustainability strategies in materials, energy, and adaptability
 - The role of architecture in expressing brand identity and values
 - Building strong collaborative relationships across clients, consultants, and contractors

The conversation also delves into the evolving role of narrative in architecture, showing how design can create emotionally resonant, functional spaces while addressing societal challenges. Dicky highlights how architects can foster inclusivity, resilience, and wellbeing, framing architecture as both problem-solving and storytelling.

Tune in to hear actionable lessons for architects, developers, and design professionals, and discover how thoughtful design can shape spaces that inspire, connect, and endure.

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Want more from Bricks & More: Unlocking Real Estate Value? Follow Adrian for more exclusive content, and get in touch with Saentys if you have a destination, real estate, or hospitality project of your own.  

Follow Adrian Strittmatter:

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/adrianstrittmatter

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Website: saentys.com     

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Instagram: instagram.com/saentys/

Follow Dicky Lewis:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dicky-lewis

Website: whitered.co.uk

In this episode of Bricks & More, Adrian Strittmatter is joined by Brian De’Ath, Managing Director of Sales & Marketing at Ballymore, to unpack what real value creation looks like in residential real estate – beyond pricing models, amenities arms races, and short-term gains.

At the heart of the conversation is Embassy Gardens and its final chapter, The Capston – a 21-year regeneration journey that reframes value not as a number to be maximised, but as a place to be perfected.

Key talking points:

🏙️ Why the best developments don’t start with price – they start with “the best place to live”

🧠 How buyer value has shifted from calculators to emotional conviction and lived experience

🎭 Why art, culture, and storytelling only work when they’re authentic – not decorative

🚪 How overlooked details (like lift cars, circulation, and arrival moments) quietly drive long-term value

🤝 Why trust, honesty, and human connection matter more than ever in selling off-plan

📉 What London’s stalled pipeline really means – and why scarcity will reshape future value

If you’re interested in how bold vision, obsessive execution, and long-term thinking turn developments into destinations – this episode is a masterclass in how value is felt, not just calculated.

Ballymore’s website: http://ballymoregroup.com/ 

Adrian’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adrianstrittmatter 

Saentys: https://saentys.com/ 

In this episode of Bricks & More, Adrian Strittmatter sits down with Tareq Fontane, SVP Investment Management at Kingdom Hotel Investments, to unpack what it really takes to generate long-term value in luxury hospitality.

From stewarding icons like The Savoy in London and Hôtel George V in Paris, Tareq offers a rare owner–operator perspective on how brand legacy, financial performance, governance, and guest experience must work in lockstep.

The conversation goes beyond design and prestige to explore the hard decisions behind renovations, pricing strategy, service culture, ESG, and why short-term cost cutting can quietly destroy long-term asset value. At its core, this is a masterclass in treating landmark hotels not as static assets, but as living brands that demand constant discipline, investment, and care.

Key talking points:

🏛️ Why landmark hotels require stewardship, not just asset management

📊 The delicate balance between short-term returns and long-term value creation

🛎️ How service culture and employee investment directly protect brand equity

💸 Why cutting costs in luxury hospitality can be far more expensive than it looks

🧭 What post-COVID demand shifts reveal about pricing power, experience, and time as the ultimate luxury

If you think luxury hotels are about marble, Michelin stars, and Instagram moments, this episode will challenge you to see them for what they really are: complex, high-stakes businesses where value is earned every single day.

Tareq’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tareqfontane 

Kingdom Hotel Investments: https://kingdomhotels.com/ 

Adrian’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adrianstrittmatter 

Saentys: https://saentys.com/ 

Bricks & More is back for Season 3 – and it’s our biggest season yet.

Following an incredible Season 2, Adrian Strittmatter returns with even more global voices, sharper insights, and bolder conversations exploring how real estate value is created, unlocked, and sustained. 

This season brings together international industry leaders, innovators, and thinkers who are redefining how places are designed, developed, operated, and experienced.

Season 3 also adds a new location to the journey: Paris – one of the world’s most influential real estate markets. Expect on-the-ground perspectives from the developers, investors, and advisors shaping the city’s future.

New episodes are coming soon.

Get ready to raise the bar – and unlock real estate value, one conversation at a time.

Season 2 of Bricks & More is officially a wrap.

This season took the conversation further than ever — more guests, more locations, and deeper insight into how real estate value is created, unlocked, and sustained. 

From London to Dubai, we explored the forces shaping the future of real estate through candid conversations with developers, designers, investors, operators, and industry leaders from around the world.

A huge thank you to our growing global audience for listening, subscribing, sharing, and engaging – your curiosity and energy continue to shape what Bricks & More is becoming.

Season 3 is already in the works – and it’s only going to get better.

Until then, let’s keep unlocking real estate value together.

In the third of our ‘Dubai Special’ episodes of Bricks & More, Adrian Strittmatter is joined by Dan Von Barloewen and Lindsay McGinn from Accor One Living to unpack one of the fastest-growing – and most misunderstood – frontiers in global real estate: branded residences and mixed-use living.

The episode challenges the idea that value is created at the point of sale. Instead, it reframes branded residences as living ecosystems where value is generated through day-to-day operations, brand authenticity, resale performance, and lifelong relationships with residents.

Key talking points:

🏙️ Why branded residences succeed (or fail) based on service, governance, and long-term commitment — not branding alone

🏷️ The difference between a “labelled residence” and a truly hospitality-led branded home

📊 How demographic insight, psychographics, and local culture determine the right brand for the right place

🔁 Why resale premiums, homeowner satisfaction, and operational discipline matter more than launch-day price uplifts

🌍 How wellness, longevity, community programming, and global brand ecosystems are reshaping residential demand

🚀 What’s next: build-to-rent, private members’ clubs, yachts, and new models of lifestyle-driven investment

If you think branded residences are just about luxury positioning – or if you’re curious how hospitality thinking can future-proof real estate assets – this episode offers a masterclass in how value is really generated, protected, and sustained.

Lindsay’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lindsay-mcginn-3859081/ 

Daniel’s Linkedin: https://ae.linkedin.com/in/daniel-von-barloewen-58b08024 

Accor One Living: https://accor-residences.com/ 

Adrian’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adrianstrittmatter 

Saentys: https://saentys.com/ 

In the second episode of our Dubai Special, Adrian Strittmatter is joined by Zeeshaan Shah – entrepreneur, founder & chairman of The One Group – to explore how visionary leadership and a human-centred philosophy can unlock extraordinary real estate value.

From selling mobile phone contracts as a student to shaping $2.5B of projects worldwide, Zeeshaan shares how his guiding belief has never changed: real estate should improve people’s lives. That means creating destinations that feel like mini city-states – safe, social, lifestyle-focused places with community, convenience and genuine hospitality at their core.

In a world where expectations have shifted post-COVID, and where safety, tax certainty and lifestyle are driving global demand, Zeeshaan argues that the real opportunity lies in designing for how people want to live, not just what can be built.

Key talking points:

🏗️ Why the most powerful definition of value is simple: solve real problems

🌅 How tiny design decisions – orientation, views, access, flow – create compounding value

🛎️ Why luxury today is less about marble and gold, and more about hospitality-grade living

🔐 How political polarisation, safety and tax regimes are reshaping where people choose to live

👥 Why community and wellbeing are now the real drivers of demand

💡 How management after handover is where long-term value is either protected or lost

If you think real estate is about floor plans and finishes – or if you’re serious about building places that are healthier, happier and more valuable – this episode will make you rethink how value is created.

Zeeshaan’s LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/zeeshah 

One Group: https://oneg.com/ 

Adrian’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adrianstrittmatter 

Saentys: https://saentys.com/ 

In the first of our Dubai special episodes of Bricks & More, Adrian Strittmatter sits down with Mark Eacott – Global VP of Design at Ennismore – to unpack how design, culture, brand and experience fuse to create lifestyle destinations with emotional depth and commercial longevity.

Together, Adrian and Mark explore how lifestyle brands evolve, how residents become ambassadors, why some markets respond differently to design cues, and what’s next for branded living as technology, service, and culture collide.

Key talking points:

✨ Why branded residences work when design, service and community all pull in the same direction

🏙️ How “sense of place” becomes a commercial lever, not just a design flourish

🔧 The amenity space race – and why smarter, flexible spaces beat bloated service charges

🤝 How global brands localise through storytelling, cultural programming and community integration

💡 Why the future of “residential” is actually “living”: mixed-use, lifestyle-led and emotionally resonant

🏠 Why success depends on long-term partnership – not selling, walking away, and hoping for the best

If you want to understand why some destinations feel alive, and others feel like branded ghost towns, this conversation with Mark will change how you think about design-driven value.

Mark’s LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/markeacott 

Ennismore: https://ennismore.com/ 

Adrian’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adrianstrittmatter 

Saentys: https://saentys.com/ 

In this episode of Bricks & More, Adrian Strittmatter sits down with Lorna Walker, co-founder of Camion Energy, to uncover a new kind of real estate value unlocker – your energy strategy.

Lorna explains how controlling consumption, electrifying portfolios, and leveraging onsite energy infrastructure can turn costs into ROI. Drawing on her experience at CBRE and her entrepreneurial ventures, she reveals why the real estate and energy sectors are no longer separate – they’re converging.

Key talking points:

⚡ Why electrification isn’t just an environmental move – it’s a financial one

🏢 How landlords can turn energy from a sunk cost into a revenue stream

📈 The overlooked NOI uplift hiding in onsite solar and storage systems

🧠 How data science and AI are transforming energy management at scale

🌍 Why future-proofing assets means merging real estate and infrastructure thinking

If you still see energy as an operating cost, this episode will change your perspective — showing how power can literally power value.

Lorna’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lorna-j-walker 

Camion Energy: https://www.camion.energy/  

Adrian’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adrianstrittmatter 

Saentys: https://saentys.com/ 

In this insightful episode of Bricks & More, Adrian Strittmatter sits down with Henry Lumby, Chief Commercial Officer at Auriens, to explore one of real estate’s most untapped frontiers: later living.

As populations age and expectations evolve, Henry argues that the UK’s senior living market is lagging far behind its peers – not because of lack of demand, but because of outdated models and limited imagination. 

He makes a compelling case for treating later living not as care, but as lifestyle infrastructure – blending hospitality, wellness, and community to unlock long-term social and investor value.

Key talking points:

🏡 Why later living could outscale both build-to-rent and student housing combined

💰 How the right incentives and regulation could unleash private investment and societal benefits

🌍 What the UK can learn from New Zealand and Australia’s mature retirement village models

🧠 Why “care” needs a rebrand — from reputational risk to value driver

💬 How Auriens built “the gold standard” in senior living by focusing on hospitality, wellbeing, and belonging

If you think later living is just about care homes, this episode will reshape how you see one of real estate’s most powerful opportunities for impact and value.

Henry’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/natasha-morris/
Auriens: https://www.auriens.com/

Adrian’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adrianstrittmatter 
Saentys: https://saentys.com/