EDITOR’S COMMENT So here it is, my final editor’s comment of the year. Ordinarily, I’d be channelling my inner Santa, pulling together my naughty and nice list and clambering up on to my high reindeer to extol your virtues and iniquities.
But, as much as that is one of my most favourite things to do, I’m going to refrain and use this last opportunity of the year to write a thank you letter.
Thank you, first and foremost to the EG team for digging deeper, working harder, working longer and caring more than ever before this year. Thank you to them for making sure that we could still deliver the very best news, interviews, analysis, data and research for you. Thank you to them for enabling us all still to interact at events and celebrations, just a little bit differently. It’s been a year, and you’ve made it. In every sense of the word.
And thank you to every individual who has been willing to open up and share their stories. To each of our 37 EG Interviewees and 35 Lockdown Diarists who have given us access to what life this year has been like for them. To the innumerable people who have got on Teams calls with us and recorded events and podcasts (there are more than 1,200 recordings on the EG Property Podcast channel if you’ve watched everything on Netflix and need some other form of entertainment/education). And to those people behind the scenes, who never get a mention in these pages, who have facilitated those conversations.
Thank you too to those businesses that have supported us and continue to invest in our programmes and support EG in its mission to help the sector on its transformational journey. Special kudos this week to JLL and Taylor Wessing for being our cornerstone partners on our new Future Leaders programme, nominations for which are open until 31 December.
But my biggest thank you goes to the industry. To the real estate sector. Thank you for continuing to operate this year. For pivoting, for investing and for listening.
Unprecedented and acceleration are two words that have been overused in 2020, but for good reason. We have never experienced anything like this before – and let’s hope we don’t again – but boy oh boy has it forced us to change and to speed up that change. And real estate has been a leader. It found ways to communicate with its people, it found solutions so it could continue to operate. It continued to invest in the important things – people, the planet and purpose. It had to try and find some balance on an unlevel playing field. It has largely been accommodating to those in real need. And, from where I sit, has been kinder than I would have been to those that have played foul in the game.
As you’ll read throughout this week’s issue, the year has been unexpected. It has been a roller-coaster, with more downs than ups. But as the vaccine roll-out begins and a new year looms, there’s a valid excuse to start to feel more confident.
The ride is not over yet, however. Together we still have a lot of recovery to do and changes to make if we really are to build back better.
But what a year. While there has been inevitable loss and heartache, 2020 has also provided a unique opportunity for us to learn, to reflect, to dig deeper, to pause and to run faster. It has been an imperfect moment in time to figure out what really matters.
And for us at EG, that’s you. Thank you.
To send feedback, e-mail samantha.mcclary@egi.co.uk or tweet @samanthamcclary or @estatesgazette
