Ben Copithorne is the Managing Director of Camargue and works with real estate clients in brand building and corporate communications, as well as helping clients navigate the planning system.
What is your background and experience in the property industry?
I’ve spent nearly 30 years working with clients across real estate to help them to build their reputations or to get things built. I’m a communicator first and foremost – shaping stories, creating narratives, aligning interests and finding the best ways to connect companies, people and projects with audiences and decision-makers. I love what I do. I joined Camargue as an Assistant Account Executive back in 1997 and I’ve worked my way through to now be group Managing Director. I’m really proud of that and what it also says about the culture, values and opportunities we have at Camargue.
Can you tell us a bit about your business and what you do?
We spend half of our time helping clients with brand-building and positioning – what you’d call B2B/corporate communications where we help companies to connect with the audiences that matter to their strategic business needs and objectives, whether that’s general marketplace positioning, building awareness of new teams, services or capabilities, or communicating professional expertise and insight. That’s typically about great content that connects a business with the people it wants to reach.
The second core strength of our agency is consenting – helping clients to navigate the complexities of the planning system and achieve the target of getting planning permission. Despite every government I’ve ever known saying that they’re going to streamline and simplify the planning system, we live in an active democracy where people rightly have strong opinions about land use on a relatively small island. Our skillset is in choreographing the conversations that bring all voices into the debate and find the best path towards securing permission. That’s all about systematic, smart conversations and clear stories for each and every development proposal. Working with the wider advisory team, we can bring all of the right people into the conversation, understand what people care most about, and shape a planning proposal that’s better because of the involvement of all parties.
Quite often – and not surprisingly – we’re blending these two skills sets to give clients an integrated solution that manages their brand carefully and responsibly while getting on with delivering the vital homes, infrastructure and commercial development the nation needs.
We’re an independent business working across the UK. Founded in 1987, we became employee owned in 2022 and have a team of more than 100 people supporting clients from five offices in London, Birmingham, Cheltenham, Cardiff and York.
Who are your typical clients and how do you market your service?
We’re fortunate to work with a really wide range of clients – across the public and private sectors and including developers, infrastructure providers and utilities, housebuilders, and professional service providers like architects, engineers and planners. We’re currently servicing more than 200 briefs for over 100 clients.
How did you first cross paths with Newmanor Law?
Quite recently and, as is so often the case, through a mutual contact. A planner I’ve worked with on a number of projects brought us together. I’m a firm believer in building relationships and it’s been great getting to know Newmanor Law.
What are the key challenges currently facing the real estate sector and how are you addressing them?
Where to start? As January opens its door and we look into 2026, we have everything from global events impacting the economy to the raft of new legislation that the Government put into play just as we all broke for Christmas (ie the Planning and Infrastructure Act, NPPF, business rates etc).
Couple those with AI, the ‘attention economy’, and the challenge to cut through and be heard in today’s ultra-fast and saturated media landscape and it’s tough.
But as with the law, complexity creates opportunity because clients want insights and advice.
I’m a glass half full kind of guy so I’m up for 2026 and all that it brings – just hopefully not a political car crash at the May elections…
What trends do you foresee shaping the real estate industry in the coming years?
Everyone wants flexibility and that’s hard to deliver if your currency is bricks & mortar. We’ve talked about ‘elastic buildings’ for a while and I think we’re all much better at building in adaptability to masterplans and proposals but I think this tension is going to remain one of the key things the sector has to confront. One of my clients talks about the benefits of ‘flexibility, not prophecy’ and I think he’s right.
But while trends come and go, I think what’s important is appreciating the things that are constant. In real estate, that’s typically creating places with character, quality, sustainability and positive social and economic impact.
From masterplanning briefs to smaller schemes and proposals, I really enjoy shaping and sharing stories that combine the best ingredients of place specifically with the communities in which they’ll be built. That trend will never go away – designing with communities and stakeholders not for them. And hear, hear to that.