Recently in CBRE Category

Oh dear, me and my big mouth. The great Matt Black, Head of East London for CBRE, takes serious issue with my last blog on the Olympics Legacy.  He sent me an e-mail headed "Mr Grumpy here" and then goes on to demolish my position. Now I take Mathieu Le Noir very seriously indeed (see various previous blogs including 4th May 2009 and 10th October 2009) - not that I would ever admit that to HIM - as he is steeped in East London and frankly, what he doesn't know about the patch is not worth knowing. He is rigorously market-facing and (I'm afraid to admit) he always calls it like it is. So it looks like I was wrong....
 
And his reasoning is so very cogent and compelling that today's post is very nearly a guest blog by him. 
 
Yes, Matt accepts fully my point (and the common consensus) that Barcelona set the benchmark for the regeneration of future Olympic cities. But he also points out that the other key driver for the Barcelona Olympics was to promote the city as a tourist destination and demonstrate to the world that it was open for business. He goes on to say, "Unlike Barcelona, London is already an established world city and this is a significant advantage that should allow it to create a lasting legacy beyond the 2012 Olympic Games." 
 

There was a lot going on last night and it is a sad fact of life that you can't be in two places at once.  I was sorry to have to miss the Mishcon de Reya party, as it is always a stylish affair (and by all accounts this year was no exception).  However, by the same token, you'll appreciate I wasn't in the least bit sorry to be missing the Land Aid CBRE Property Peak Challenge, although I followed on Twitter (!) and was greatly amused by tales of the ambulance standing by (blimey, I'd nearly had a heart attack earlier in the day hiking up and down the hills of Sheffield with the ever-energetic Tim Bottrill of Knight Frank!)  But my huge congratulations to all that took part in that noble effort, I understand huge piles of wonga were raised for Land Aid and I trust you all enjoyed your beer at the summit.  Good on you, Joanna and team.  Well done to all.  
 
But I had a prior engagement to both of these. I was extremely privileged to be invited to an event at the Portuguese Embassy last night doncha know?  In one of the most elegant endeavours I have encountered, it was a joy to rock up and support Carolyn and Robin Butler (yes, that's right, our Robin Butler, Urban & Civic and ex-Chelsfield Robin Butler) who have launched a Portuguese wine importing business, with - but of course (doesn't everybody?) - a wine tasting at the Portuguese Embassy.  And what a glittery affair it was!  Despite the rival events last night, a huge number of the property crowd crammed in to taste the reds, the whites, the roses and the dessert wines. 

Rocked up to the Mishcon de Reya pre-MIPIM party last night where I did cane it a little (and am suffering rather as a result today; when will I ever learn? Don't answer that). Clever old Susan Freeman ("Oi!" she would say at this point: "Less of the 'old'!") had out-blinged herself, if anything. It was rather a spectacular affair yet again this year, with the extraordinary mix of establishment and slightly more, shall we say, outré characters from the industry, that Susan assembles in a sort of crazy creative mash-up.  Well, it all works.
 
I did my normal stunt of going around being very rude to people to see what would happen. Peter Bill and I had a bit of a giggle about him becoming a pimp for certain Tory politicians (well, it's true: he's meeting Tories at breakfast, lunch and dinner). Mathieu Le Noir and I had a bit of a giggle about all our old workmates at CBRE - as you do.  Andrew Pratt and I also had a bit of a giggle about whether he could continue to body-swerve MIPIM next week (my money is on him being there, you see if I'm not right) and what will Andrew do next?  Blimey!  The gorgeous Pratt has a right range of impressive offers on the table (although hardly surprising really, a bloke of his ability). Met the lovely Mark Collins, the new wunderkind for CBRE residential (he's got his work cut out there, I reckon, but he certainly seemed Up-For-It, although I told him he wouldn't last long at CBRE if he continued to drink elderflower juice). Had a giggle and a cuddle with Adam Gaymer (bless) who is as irrepressible as ever.
 
Truly wonderful to meet David Izett for the very first time, although knowing John Izett as well as I do, it did feel as if I'd known David all my life. And I could have picked him out from the crowd as being John's brother, they are so alike. (It's always a little double-edged this, my sister Fiona and I are very alike, both to look at and in our mannerisms, and it does spook folk a little, including the two of us!).

Sadly, I couldn't get to the Centre for Cities event the other night in "London's Living Room" (who the hell ever thought up "London's Living Room", d'ya reckon? I can't even say it with a straight face) but Dr Evans was much in evidence on behalf of UKR as, from what I can gather, were most of my friends and relations in the sector. And I've had consistently good reports all around of both a high-class event and a timely report: Cities Outlook 2011.

The formidable Alexandra Jones and her team there should be congratulated for once again providing a very helpful tool for making sense of the uneven condition of the UK economy. All towns and cities have all been affected by the downturn, but - and this is the key point - each has a unique story and, as a result, each requires a unique solution in order to reposition for the next cycle. The Centre for Cities report throws down the required gauntlet for regeneration practitioners to sift through these differences to develop workable solutions.
 
Very timely and appropriate for us, as UK Regeneration finalises its business plans this week. Informed by the work of Cities Outlook 2011, UKR will get into position to help shape and co-ordinate new ideas and best practice. These solutions will be regeneration's contribution to the Big Society (our UKR task force is ably headed up by Bernard Hughes, formerly of ASDA and Tesco - see 19 January blog), necessarily finding genesis at the grassroots level, but often needing to be fostered by experienced professionals that can convert them into deliverable projects. So, the platform has been ably set down by Cities Outlook 2011, but it is now the regeneration industry's turn to prove that it has the skills to effect real change, working alongside local partners.

Well, it's official. And it's all been announced. And everybody has been so very kind and supportive. And I feel very emotional about it all (and, no, that is not a euphemism). I am leaving CB Richard Ellis at the end of this year.

I've got to put my money where my mouth is, and forego the warmth and safety afforded by the bosom of Adrian Bunnis ("The Bunnii") and his team (Bunnis & Black: that well-known seaside double act) and never forgetting the formidable organisational skills of Scary Ange (whom I will so so so miss) to sail choppy waters of uncharted uncertainty, as I become chief executive of UK Regeneration. Hurrah! (er ... steady now...).
 
So... my mission to resuscitate regeneration for the UK has come to this, roughly: it's put-up-or-shut-up Sadek, if you think you're hard enough?
 
Martin Samworth at CBRE was so very kind to me about my journey. We had such a warm and supportive final meeting this week. He went on record to say: "We are grateful to Jackie for her unique contribution to CBRE in establishing our credentials in regeneration in the UK". What a lovely man (some of my colleagues would indeed describe my contribution as "unique", but perhaps they would not intend it in such a complimentary way).

And I've been there nearly four years, which was certainly a lot more than various cynical commentators predicted when I joined. My appointment was a brave one for the firm, I think, as I do come to the sector from the stance of lifting folk out of poverty and, conversely, as a true people-person, going into a real estate consultancy for the first time, mid-career, was a tough call for me.

So we all took a bit of a leap there. But blimey - and here comes understatement of the year - I've certainly learnt a huge amount! Having worked at least half the time in the private sector before I joined CBRE, I sort of understood the commercial imperative, but I'd never been truly truly market-facing before. CBRE did that for me. It was invaluable. It was a true education. And CBRE has been kind, and they've treated me well (very well indeed, as when the market was still buoyant, I was richer than I've ever been!).

But sometimes, as my sister would say, you've got to stand for what you stand for. Serious moment now: I may be simply terrified, but I believe this is now the crucial time to devote all of my focus and energy in building UK Regeneration. We need new approaches and I'm determined that UKR will lead the way. As the regeneration sector undergoes its fundamental restructure, in response to the recession and the public spending cuts, UK Regeneration has been created to attempt to address these devastating impacts.

We intend to be a commercial organisation working as a major partner to the government in rebuilding the economy. We will seek to provide those working right across the sector and in all parts of the UK with the indispensable tools they will need to deliver regeneration in this new context. Specifically, UKR aims to influence emerging policy, acting as the true voice for regeneration; to support practitioners in all aspects of their roles; and to provide a place where they can share experience and what works and what doesn't.

Finally, UKR will become actively involved in delivering regeneration projects working with partners across all sectors and with local communities. Influence. Support. Deliver.

I'll be working with CBRE again in the new world. Of course I will. The point is, I'll be working with ALL OF YOU again in the new world. The economic challenges we face could create remarkable opportunities - we aim to harness the energy of the entire sector and to seize these opportunities in 2011. UKR has a lot of friends and we intend to hit the ground running from 1 January.
 
That is, once I've had a bit of a kip and a regroup, over Christmas. Because I am seriously just knackered thinking about it.
 
ukregeneration.org.uk

The Loud Lanky Lad is studying economics at AS level and his teacher seems to have a rather marvellous off-the-wall take on the subject. I have been reading LLL's course books, one called "Free Lunch" is particularly enjoyable and - well behind the rest of you I do appreciate - I have finally caught up with "Freakonomics" where I have learnt the secret to a successful blog......

It's all about reciprocity and back-scratching apparently. Oh the parallels!

Talking of reciprocity and back-scratching, I was out on Monday evening hoovering up the Sauvignon Blanc (which is drug of choice, after all) in the Black and Blue with that old smoothie, Alistair Parker of Cushman and Wakefield, plotting and scheming - as ever - about the British Council for Shopping Centres (BCSC) Conference being held in Manchester 9-11 November.

He is currently chairman of the BCSC of course and puts a huge amount of effort in; the old rogue and his team are planning a really good bash up there at GMex. Alistair has the energy of 10 men and he does tell it how it is. I was picking his brains about retail-led regeneration and he confirmed my suspicions that most of the old models are past their sell-by dates and we will need a new paradigm. He says it could be TIFs. I threw in my usual quip (somewhat glib and irresponsible, I do concede) about how TIFs were only a new form of debt and he got very agitated with me. Told me to shut up in fact. How very rude!   

I was on the blower with my boss at CB Richard Ellis, Adrian Bunnis, (referred to, in genuine reverence, by his team as "The Bunni" - I think in some oblique cross-reference to "The Jedi"; actually and, I say this in all sincerity, the humour of surveyors is one of the very best things about them), anyway, we were having one of our immensely pleasurable rows about urban regeneration and the Royal Docks when he burst into fits of laughter.

Well, says I, in best huffy tone, "If you're just going to laugh at me then I'm going," whereupon he explained that, looking out of his office window at the Maplin across the street (you know, the one in Cheapside) he's seen two of our best boys-in-blue apprehend a shoplifter and retrieve a veritable pile of clobber from every pocket of this bloke's voluminous coat (which had clearly been designed for the purpose).

Well! I got a blow-by-blow account of every article of kit that was retrieved before blokey was carted off in the meat wagon and Adrian clearly enjoyed every minute of it (and I guess I did too, if somewhat at one remove). Nice to see a professional at work, we agreed (although couldn't be that much of a professional since he got caught).

Makes a change from our usual argy-bargy about the quality of the output from the housebuilder industry anyway.

I rather like that advertisement currently running with the bloke who is accompanied everywhere by his hair. There's a great shot of the bloke playing a duet with his hair at the piano (pictured below) and it makes me laugh. His hair looks just like a bush in my old mum's back garden and now every time I look at that bush it makes me laugh too. These days, you have to get your pleasures where you can.

And - as some smart media researcher has shrewdly identified - that advertisement reminds me a little of my own relationship with my hair. I have a lot of hair. A lot. And my hair certainly has a life and soul of its own.

My hairdresser, Vince, who happens to be a property developer (trust me to end up with some geezer who drops his comb at the slightest provocation to take some call about nine acres in Nuneaton), always says "Sadek's got s**t hair", which is a tad disloyal - to say the least! Well, as I say, I have a lot of hair, and he has to tackle it as Dr Livingston would hack through the jungle.

In the teeth of opposition from old Vince there (he was the one who did Columbia Road Flower Market - clever boy!), I have been growing my hair. Of course, the received wisdom from the salon fraternity is that it is not acceptable for - ahem - mature ladies to have long hair but, as my wise friend the lovely Lesley Fletcher says, rather robustly: "Take no notice of your hairdresser's views of ladies of a certain age and long hair - it's a conspiracy. They all do it to ensure you continue visiting them every six weeks. Work it out on an annual basis - it's a good regular income!" Oh wise words from a woman with immaculate hair.

Sometimes there are strange, slightly bizarre, pleasures to be had from being part of a global corporate such as CB Richard Ellis, with over 300 offices worldwide (as they say: "Two thirds of the world is covered by water. The rest is covered by us" WOW! You do get a sort of testosterone-surge don't you?)

I've been here over two years now, and am obviously now well-established on the e-mail system. Every morning I wake up to a fresh bout of company-wide e-mails clearly written in English (in the main) but, frankly, as opaque to me as those I receive written in German or Spanish.

This morning, alongside the "UK Debt Briefing" (and before the Research Department gets cross, I DO actually read these and learn things), is the inevitable: "The broker has elected to send this exclusive to the RCM1 broker database. This email is sent to the brokerage community at the request of our client. If you are not interested in receiving any future buy-side submissions, please unsubscribe below......".

Nearly at last knockings on the wretched examinations, and frankly the end can't come soon enough. I guess my adolescent kids will then find new ways of putting me through the wringer.

To have a sprog doing A levels at the same time as another sprog doing GCSEs this year is very bad planning on my part, by any objective analysis. My West London Princess and Prince seem to think that the way to pass exams is do nothing all year round and then become a bag of nerves the night before the actual paper. All of this, naturally, justifies them giving their mother a good kicking in the process. And it doesn't seem yesterday that they were bundles of heaving joy, screaming the house down and puking on my best suit before a job interview.

Well, even if they're not swotting, I certainly am! I am still trying to get my head around the emergency regeneration measures in the Pre-Budget Report 08 and Budget 09, both for BURA, and to support m'learned friends in CBRE. And I'm trying to get under the skin of the proposals and ideas put forward by other organisations, such as the lovely Dermot Finch's Centre for Cities and the British Property Federation.