I had the chance to chat with Jessica Pilz, Head of Sustainable Investing at £90bn Asset Manager, Fiera Capital. Topics included: How to integrate Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) considerations into commercial investment decisions, and when to say no to attractive financial returns Innovation and ‘insetting’ instead of offsetting How to use partnerships to address complex environmental and social challenges whilst achieving commercial success Guest website: https://www.fieracapital.com/en Guest LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessica-pilz-483b1b1b/ Host LinkedIn: htt ..read more

I chatted with Emma Long, Head of Business Strategy, Legal & General Investment Management (LGIM) Real Assets Equity about how one of the largest asset managers in Europe, with global Assets under Management of £1.2 trillion, makes sound investment decisions and adapts to market changes. Topics include: The implications of a changing investor landscape with Direct Benefit pensions buyouts and Direct Contribution pensions growth How asset management is increasingly about customer (occupier) engagement not just assets, and what this means What asset managers look for including investme ..read more

I had a wonderful chat with Sadie Malim, Head of ESG and Legal at Moorfield, a £3.9bn specialist investor, on the podcast.  Key topics included: The democratisation of real estate What ‘alternative’ and ‘operational’ really mean (when UK residential is 8 x larger than UK commercial property and 4 x larger than the FTSE 100!) Advice for investors exploring ESG integration in residential to rent  Real life examples of the most exciting alternative real estate strategies including self-storage and single family rental, and critical lessons learned. Guest website: https ..read more

Alex Notay is Placemaking & Investment Director at Thriving Investments, which aims to be the most socially responsible asset management company in the housing sector, and is part of Places for People.  She’s an internationally recognised expert on Build to Rent and ESG in residential, and she has helped lead residential and ESG committees for leading industry bodies ULI, BPF and AREF. So she was the perfect guest to explain how we should be measuring ESG risks and impacts in residential. We covered topics including: What are the key trends shaping how we approach sustainability ..read more

I chatted to Phil Mason, Head of Regulatory Engagement at Trustmark, the government endorsed quality scheme for home improvements, an organisation that is critical for the urgent retrofit of UK homes, about the impact of regulations on retrofit and the path to Net Zero for homes. We covered: What Net Zero means for UK homes  The path of least resistance for achieving Net Zero 2050 - avoiding inefficiencies and just ‘retrofitting once’  How policies, practices and grant funding opportunities differ between tenures, and what finance is available for retrofit Guest website:&nb ..read more

I had a great chat with Polly Ogden Duffy, Managing Director at prime sales and lettings agency, John D Wood & Co. We covered: How to achieve your buying, selling or renting goals in the current market  How upsizers are winning in 2023 What has caused the time taken to complete a sale to double since 2019 How establishing pregnancy loss and menopause policies - as well as being vocal about such real staff issues - improves staff loyalty and so boosts long term profitability Guest website: https://www.johndwood.co.uk Guest LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/polly-ogden-d ..read more

I had the chance to chat with Imogen Ebbs, Head of UK Real Estate Funds at £223bn asset manager Aviva Investors, on the podcast.  We covered: How to become a fund manager, and how Aviva Investors are helping the next generation of fund managers onto the ladder What ‘good’ looks like in the current market, and how this has changed - including macroeconomic factors, pricing, microeconomics and ESG The most exciting emerging investment strategies (spoiler alert: lots in ‘living’!) and the death of the commercial property ‘40/40/20’ allocation strategy Why reporting is so important ..read more

In this episode I share my thoughts on the scrapping of proposed Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards of EPC C+ for properties to be legally rented out.  The tables were turned and I joined Rod Turner on his Property Business Investment ‘Rodcast’ in my capacity as CEO of GreenResi, which helps residential investors with portfolios worth £100m+ to make efficient, reliable buy, sell and upgrade decisions at scale, so that they can future proof and grow portfolios in the context of the urgent need to retrofit homes. We covered topics including  Why scrapping planned MEES is likely to ..read more

I had a great, very informative chat with Carl Jabbour, Head of Investors and COO of £1bn+ property and SME  lender Fiduciam, for the podcast.  We talked about:  Why family offices and institutional investors are so keen to lend, and the non-cyclical growth of non-bank lending How macroeconomic shifts like high inflation, high interest rates and low economic growth/confidence define what works for Family Offices and institutional investors Why lenders are swallowing profit margin in the face of higher base rates, and what distinguishes lenders who will survive, thrive or ..read more

I chatted to Emma Fletcher, Homes Director at Octopus Energy, the UK's most awarded energy supplier. Emma is also a renewable energy pioneer herself, having led the UK’s first green district heating system, which we have talked about in past episodes. In this episode, we talked about: Using technology and innovation bridge the gap between traditional housing infrastructure and the demands of a more environmentally conscious society Pioneering products like ‘Zero Bills’ - where customers with solar, heatpumps, batteries and smart meters pay £0 for five years  Testing then rolling ou ..read more