Estates Gazette Property Podcasts

In this episode of the EG Property Podcast, EG editor Samantha McClary is joined by Louise Ellison, group head of sustainability at Hammerson and chair of the Better Buildings Partnership, Sophie Carruth, head of sustainability at LaSalle Investment Management, and Jon Lovell, co-founder of sustainability consultant and trainer Hillbreak, to take a look into the wide and widening sustainability skills gap in real estate and what measures are being taken to try and bridge that gap.

The trio are playing an integral part in helping to narrow the skills gap by their involvement in a new ESG training course led by the Better Buildings Partnership.

The course, which has been developed for the fund management and real estate investment community, aims to give participants better command of how to respond to the ESG risks and opportunities that will increasingly impact upon their decision-making, and have a better understanding of the principles, disciplines and tools required to develop strategies and solutions for their portfolios and assets.  

The development of the course was initiated and supported by BBP members Hammerson, LaSalle Investment Management, Legal & General Investment Management and Nuveen Real Estate with additional support from Derwent London, Great Portland Estates, Logicor, Picton, Royal London Asset Management and Savills Investment Management. 

To find out more about the course and how to take part, visit https://www.hillbreak.com/events/category/bbp-course/

To mark Mental Health Awareness Week’s nature theme, EG asked four real estate professionals to join a conversation about the industry’s role and responsibility in embracing nature through its schemes in order to support the wellbeing of people using them.

 

Sharing their views with EG deputy editor Tim Burke are:

Clara Dawson, HSE and wellbeing business partner, The Crown Estate

Katrina Kostic Samen, head of workplace strategy and design, KKS Savills

John Prevc, principal, HOK

Alex Robinson, development director for strategic land, Grosvenor Britain & Ireland

If listeners enjoy the latest episode of EG Like Sunday Morning half as much as Jess Harrold, Tim Burke and Emma Rosser did making it, then it should be the ideal weekend listen.

Co-living schemes, the future of flexible offices and nuclear bunkers up for sale vie for airtime with Star Wars, Emma's first bike and, of course, the quiz of the week. Can the combined might of EG's deputy editor and residential editor score 5 out of 5?

Ahead of the outcome of the mayoral vote, EG residential editor Emma Rosser and guests lay out the housing demands for London’s next mayor. The capital faces the biggest affordability challenges of any part of the country. Going into the next term, a new mayor will have to navigate planning reform, land shortages and tighter public purse strings than ever before. Liz Peace, former chief executive of the BPF and chair of the Old Oak Park Royal Development Corporation, Jonathan Seager executive director of policy at London First and John Walker, former Westminster planning director and executive director at consultancy CT Local, discuss planning, affordability and rent controls, among other topics. The conversation begins reflecting on the current mayor Sadiq Khan’s reluctance to engage with the industry and with John Walker explaining why that needs to change.

Andrew Small, partner at Russell Cooke, explains the Supreme Court decision in Rittson-Thomas and others v Oxfordshire County Council [2021] UKSC 13; [2021] PLSCS 78 - a hard-fought battle over the proceeds of sale of a former school site in Oxfordshire, donated long ago for educational use.

Small looks at the key provisions of the School Site Act 1841, and how they continue to apply in the modern day to land donated for school use, in particular when schools are relocated.

As well as describing how the case has seesawed through the courts, he analyses the definitive ruling of the Supreme Court - and goes on to consider how widespread its potential implications may be.

Offices reporter Alex Daniel and residential editor Emma Rosser prove the ideal pair to discuss the City of London's newly announced post-pandemic recovery plans that include 1,500 new homes in the Square Mile.

In addition, they round up more of the latest news - and Rosser faces the quiz of the week for the first time. Can she top the leaderboard?

Kim Clifford, senior associate at Ashurst, joins Jess Harrold to discuss the significant High Court decisions in Commerz Real Investmentgesellschaft mbH v TFS Stores Ltd and Bank of New York Mellon (International) Ltd v Cine-UK Ltd and others - in which landlords won summary judgment in their claims for unpaid rent during the pandemic.

In an under 25-minute podcast, Clifford explains how a procedure that was once a last resort for landlords became the only avenue for redress, as a result of the moratorium on other proceedings. She outlines how the process works and why, even once judgment is secured, that isn't the end of the road.

She offers a clear, straightforward rundown of the "kitchen sink" of arguments advanced by way of defence by the tenants, and how the High Court masters dealt with each of them.

And Clifford considers how landlord and tenant relations will evolve in the wake of these decisions, and the wider commercial background - including pending court cases on CVAs and restructuring plans, the impending end of the moratorium in June, and the government consultation on how to emerge from it.

The real estate industry has a crucial role to play in addressing the climate crisis – and the finance markets are increasingly offering ways to help companies through green bonds and loans, money raised specifically to back those efforts.

 

"It was a 'eureka moment'," says Derwent group treasurer Jay Joshi of the company's introduction to the green finance market in 2019. He now believes the industry is "one or two refinancings away from most financing in our sector being green".

 

In this podcast, EG deputy editor Tim Burke is joined by Joshi as well as LondonMetric finance director Martin McGann and Tritax Big Box finance director Frankie Whitehead to discuss the growth of the market and the initiatives it can support.

In this episode of EG's TechTalk Radio Samantha McClary is talking with Fifth Wall founder Brendan Wallace about the growth of the business from a single $200m fund to a $1.7bn business with more than 70 LPs around the globe.

In this hour-long interview the pair discuss the growth of proptech, the responsibility of the real estate sector to do more than just buy PV in the fight against climate change and how the sector is on the cusp of its biggest and most powerful transformation.

To read this interview make sure to pick up a copy of the 1 May EG Magazine or subscribe to Radius Data Exchange for online access to all of our news, data and EG Interviews.

Editor Sam McClary and news editor Pui-Guan Man join Jess Harrold to review the week, beginning with a focus on a pair of High Court judgments in which Sports Direct, Cineworld, Mecca Bingo and The Fragrance Shop have all been told they must pay up for the rent that has accrued during the pandemic. The robust decisions are good news for landlords, with many more claims waiting in the wings.

In addition, they discuss major areas of the new retail, leisure & logistics special and other headlines - and team up to take on the quiz of the week.