A lovely guy came up to me after the Sheffield gig the other day and thanked me for being kind to him a few months ago, when he had on-spec approached me after he had been made redundant by St Modwen.
Nigel Cunis - who is clearly a very talented bloke - has now found gainful employment at Sheffield City Council in their property department. So that's great for him and even greater for Sheffield.
It was a delight to meet him, and his colleague, Nalin Seneviratne, a pair of complete charmers, both ex-private sector and both great appointments for any council badly needing professionals who bring a bit of business discipline and rigour to a challenging property portfolio.
I can see the two of these as being very proactive in this market; they clearly had not missed the fact that it could be land of opportunity out there, and this is a refreshing new mindset for a local authority.
There should be more opportunities for people to cross from the private sector to the public sector, and back, for the health of regeneration. This should not be the rarity, this should be the norm. I always encourage folk I meet from the private sector (like those made redundant in recent years from real estate consultancies) to have a stint in the public sector. And vice versa.
It's done wonders for the likes of Reg, who is now a fully rounded urban regeneration professional if ever you needed an exemplar (despite his slightly irreverent remarks on this blog) and I would encourage others to follow suit. Out of your comfort zone, you learn. You develop.
