Every editor is gifted the great opportunity of voice. We are given a platform every week, to say what we think, to offer great asks of the industry, to place it under the magnifying glass, to argue on its behalf, to highlight our own achievements and, sometimes, as we did this year, our own failings.
Writing those words is not always easy. Sometimes it flows. Sometimes there is just nothing. A blank page until moments before we are meant to go to press. The responsibility to not look like an idiot is overwhelming, the imposter syndrome feeling omnipresent.
But it is a great honour to write. I hope you’ve enjoyed reading (at least some of) them. And here, just as we get ready to welcome a new (and hopefully) improved year, is 12 months of EG editor’s comments.
Enjoy.
January
Welcome to the new year and a fresh new decade, I wrote with optimism on 3 January. This was the year we were going to do more than resolve to be better, I said. This year we were going to make a difference.
I made four promises. To continue to deliver the most in-depth, informed and accurate source of real estate intelligence, to make sure that you were equipped to deal with the challenges of transformation, to be objective – to reward where earned, and help raise standards where help was needed, and to create inclusive environments to meet and mingle.
Despite what was just lurking round the corner, I believe we did that. And we have numerous awards that show that others believe we did too. And we did make a difference. We, EG and you the industry.
And you’ll see so much more evidence of that as we progress through the year’s leaders.
10 January – We must take control on climate change
17 January – We’re up the creek, grab a paddle
24 January – Privilege is a gift and should not be wasted
31 January – If you’re smart, you’ll adapt to change
February
February started with indifference from the real estate sector as the revolving door of housing ministers spun again and Esther McVey (remember her?) left her post after just seven months in the role. What did get the industry talking was the new chancellor, Rishi Sunak. Heralded an “upgrade” in chancellor.
On 14 February, I wrote: “A chancellor who understands commerce, understands investment and knows politics, who many believe has the nous as well as the opportunity to fix the damage done by former chancellors. A chancellor who could reform stamp duty and – dare I say it – rates. The proof will be in the pudding. A pudding due to be served on 11 March.”
Hmmm. Little did we know what was actually coming in March.
7 February – How to create real change
22 February – There’s truth among the chatter
28 February – Real estate responsibility in action
March
A month full of C words. Contagion, coronavirus, climate. And Sunak delivered us his budget. A budget that definitely wasn’t what we were expecting. This was the moment, on 12 March when the cost of Sunak’s magic money tree started to take root.
But it was also a time when real estate began to change. When financial statements included thank yous to staff, when chief executives sacrificed their wage packages for those who needed it more.
5 March – The retail contagion
19 March – Amid crisis and pain, a unique opportunity to learn
26 March – Hero or villain, your actions will be remembered
April
April was the month when some retailers started playing landlords for fools and government began its long journey of letting them. Stories began flooding in to EG about businesses, well-funded businesses, led by billionaire bosses, taking advantage of government measures designed to help those who really could not help themselves. And all at the cost of landlords. On 9 April, EG began to raise its voice.
2 April – Personal connections
16 April – Recession lessons – reasons not to be cheerful
23 April – Let’s put sustainability at the heart of recovery
30 April – Government must project real estate’s virtuous circle
May
And so began the death of the office stories. Government guidelines 0n how to get us back to work did little to encourage, taking all of the ability to collaborate, engage and perhaps even enjoy work, out of the occasion. One-way systems, one person at a time in a lift (tales of how it could take all day just to get staff into an office tower), no talking face to face, diagonally across a table please… The office sounded horrible. And few went back.
Many, many, many stories were written on what this might mean for cities, the office market and the future of work.
One thing of which the market was becoming more and more sure, however, was that ESG mattered. And that ignoring climate change and sustainability was not just bad for the planet, it was bad for business.
In 21 May’s leader, Great Portland Estates boss Toby Courtauld said sustainability had gone from being morally right to be being “economically essential”, adding that assets that couldn’t do their bit to save the planet in GPE’s portfolio would ultimately be ejected from it.
7 May – On the hunt for property’s superheroes
14 May – Are ministers on a mission to destroy real estate’s evolution?
28 May – The brutal reality of being a CEO in turbulent times
June
June was a really hard month. I wrote what I think is the hardest piece I have ever had to write. The Black Lives Matter movement had just hit the headlines following the killing of George Floyd in the US. I wanted to say something, but I didn’t know what to say, how to say it or even if I had the right.
So in the 4 June Editor’s Comment, I turned the mirror on us all and vowed to do something different.
We’ve (EG and you the industry) been on a journey since. We’ve made changes and will continue to do so. I expect to keep you in check, expect you to do the same for us.
11 June – Real estate readies for the opportunity to spend
18 June – When times are changing, it’s time for a change
25 June – Is this the end of the ego office?
July
The imbalance of government support measures was really getting out of hand. Landlords were having positive discussions with retailers that really needed support – typically the smaller, independent types – but were finding it increasingly difficult to engage with the likes of Mike Ashley, who just refused to pay.
“There is massive disappointment that some large, well-capitalised retailers, who clearly can pay, are deciding not to,” LondonMetric boss Andrew Jones told me on 9 July. “While we recognise this has been a challenging time, that is not their prerogative and we have a legally binding contract which we will enforce. We simply cannot transfer value from our shareholders to theirs without due compensation.”
2 July – Greatness is about action, not how much money you can spend
16 July – Reasons to be cheerful
23 July – We have lots to celebrate, virtually
30 July – A reintroduction to the real world
August
The debate over the future of the office continued to hit headlines, but here at EG we could not be convinced that the death knell tolled for offices. Our resident offices research guru Graham Shone (read his review of the year here if you missed it on 28 December), took a deep and considered dive into what the new working from home phenomena really meant for real estate. For offices, for high streets and for residential.
6 August – Is it time for a shift in executive pay?
13 August – Time to let the next generation help reshape real estate
20 August – The office of the future should make us happier, healthier and more productive
September
Abuse of the CVA process was getting out of hand by September. And I utilised the leader of 17 September to stand up for landlords and remind occupiers of the definition of a lease and just how freely they were ignoring the agreements they had made, presumably after much due diligence and not under duress.
We challenged landlords to stand up to retailers mis-using the system, to start voting against CVA instead of letting them through. And we promised to stand with landlords and fight with them.
It was a month of uncomfortable truths and reflections for the sector, but a month that largely left me encouraged for the future as diversity and inclusion talk became action – with big named companies opening themselves up to critique and taking time to learn, and EG launching its Diversity & Inclusion Content Advisory Panel – and impact investing became more and more mainstream.
3 September – New term, reinvigorated purpose
10 September – Has real estate finally faced up to its reflection?
24 September – Finding the silver linings
October
October is Black History Month and EG ran its first race and ethnicity in real estate survey. The results were horrible. Not unanticipated but upsetting, hard to read and, if I’m honest, hard to write. But imperative to write about. The results showed the clear existence of racism in the sector and showed us where and, hopefully, how we could change.
And that change could be ushered in by a new guard as new names took up big roles at some of our largest real estate companies. Canadian Rita-Rose Gagné was installed at Hammerson and former Centrica boss Sarwjit Sambhi at St Modwen. Could these two, along with new bosses at Landsec, British Land, The Crown Estate, Grosvenor and Harworth, finally bring about the shift in behaviour (and perception) the sector has been threatening for some time?
8 October – Let’s not lose a layer of vital expertise
15 October – Listing reasons to be cheerful and the continuing demise of co-operation
22 October – All hail the king of the North
29 October – Are you there government? It’s me, CRE
November
Despite a second lockdown, the first glimmers of hope for a return to normal, a return to something better, appeared in November. A new president elect and some successful Covid vaccine news. Stock markets rallied, we all got a little spring back in our steps.
But we weren’t out of the woods yet; Chancellor Rishi Sunak revealed just how many hundreds of billions of pounds had been spent on the fight against Covid and just how big the UK’s debt pile had become.
Vaccine or not, the UK finances are sick and the journey to recovery will be long and peppered with difficulties.
5 November – Lockdown 2.0: The impact and the light at the end of the tunnel
12 November – The great bounce back
19 November – What should be on real estate’s ambitious 10-point plan?
26 November – Can real estate lead in the recovery from the deepest recession since the Great Frost?
December
What a year. However much we feel we have heard and used the word, 2020 has indeed been unprecedented. But it has not all been bad.
We finally said goodbye to the original dinosaur (Philip Green), although will no doubt be nursing the carnage he has left behind for years to come, and we learnt a lot.
On 10 December, I penned perhaps my favourite leader of the year. A thank you letter to all of you, to all of the EG team and to the real estate sector as a whole for powering on, for stepping up, for focusing on what really matters and for realising that making a difference is real estate’s gift.
To send feedback, e-mail samantha.mcclary@egi.co.uk or tweet @samanthamcclary or @estatesgazette
