MIPIM UK 2015: Collaboration in property should not always be partnerships “between friends” if the sector is to shake its exclusive reputation.
Ross Bailey, founder of pop-up retail start up Appear Here said that the industry needs to be careful it does not only join forces internally at this morning’s session Collaboration as a catalyst for investment.
“If can’t just be about existing friendships,” he said. “The worrying thing about the property industry is that it can be very closed to those outside.”
He added that the best collaborative relationships are the ones where there is confrontation: “You actually want someone to leave the room furious sometimes. Better that than a vanilla person who does not even care. Frictions show real passion. And that’s what you need.”
But Susan Freeman, partner at law firm Mishcon de Reya argued that “a shared vision” is required at the very least to ensure a successful partnership.
Clair Rickaby, senior underwriter at CRS, added that as well as partnerships between property and non-property firms, collaboration should also be more focussed on what the property industry can deliver for the general public but argued that for this to work “the outside world needs to see a benefit”.
The panellists agreed that social media is a powerful tool to air new ideas and communicate collaboration as long as it is authentic.
“People can tell very quickly when something is just propaganda,” said Stuart Anderson, head of commercial asset management at TfL.
Click on the podcast above to listen to Anderson, Bailey and Freeman talk to EG about collaboration.
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emily.wright@estatesgazette.com
Click below to listen to the full debate.
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