What is your background and experience in the property industry?
I was 14 years old when we first moved house – something about this process triggered my interest in property. Perhaps, I am just nosy!
I studied Urban Estate Surveying at university. Graduating during the recession of the early 90s, I went on to do a Masters in Property Investment and Finance. I secured a graduate job at Grosvenor and spent the following 16 years working on their London Estate, culminating in leading the team responsible for the performance of the office portfolio across Mayfair and Belgravia.
My time there gave me fantastic insight to the key drivers that maximise returns on both residential and commercial property. I also saw the benefits of developing strong tenant engagement to drive advocacy and reduce voids, and how improving tenant mix and upgrading the local public realm can drive additional returns.
Can you tell us a bit about your business and what you do?
In a sentence, Vector Real Estate is a strategic asset management consultancy. I set it up ten years ago with the direct aim to give value-added advice to property owners and investors.
Just a few examples: we have helped reposition residential assets to generate enhanced income for University College London Hospitals Charity; provided wider asset management support for the commercial team at The Portman Estate; appraised an added value opportunity for The South Kensington Estate; acquired a new office for an accountancy and tax advisory firm; and overseen a portfolio of London assets for an overseas client to maximise its performance.
Who are your typical clients and how do you market your service?
I am not sure that we have a typical client, but at a push, I would say it’s high net worth individuals who own property in the UK that is secondary to their main businesses. However, over the years we have worked with quite a wide spectrum of organisations, all of which have come to us by word of mouth via our industry networks. Law firms have been a particularly effective source in this respect.
How did you first cross paths with Newmanor Law?
I have known the founders of Newmanor Law – Karen Mason and James Dakin – for many years. They were previously partners at another law firm which I knew very well, having worked with it on many transactions.
What trends do you foresee shaping the real estate industry in the coming years?
Meeting net-zero and sustainability targets will continue to be key for investors and developers with heightened disclosure and risk assessment requirements. Failure to meet these thresholds could mean that a high percentage of the existing office stock becomes unlettable leading to a two-tier market. We have seen increased demand, post Covid, for high quality office space with excellent sustainability credentials – a trend I believe that will continue.
Increased monitoring of sustainability targets will be accompanied by an ever-increasing use of technology in order to measure energy usage, carbon emissions and other sustainability metrics.
The AI revolution is in its infancy but already we are seeing its impact on our industry in areas such as data accuracy, decision making in supporting smarter investment choices, streamlining the production and review of legal documents, and sales/marketing.