UK Real Estate Outlook: Mid-Market Review and Latest Trends

Sandra is Chief Strategy Officer, ESG at Catalyst and brings +10 years of experience in the energy and sustainability sector.

Seb d'Avanzo (London) joined KKR in 2016 and is Head of Acquisitions on the European Real Estate team. Prior to joining KKR, Mr. d'Avanzo was a principal at H.I.G. Capital working in the European real estate team and focusing on transactions in the U.K. and the Nordics. Before that, he was head of acquisitions for Solstra Capital based in London. From 2005 until 2011, Mr. d'Avanzo was at MGPA, the global opportunistic real estate investment firm, focusing primarily on Southern Europe and latterly the Nordics. He began his career in investment banking at NM Rothschild & Sons. He holds a M.A. from Oxford University and an M.B.A. from NYU Stern.

Elle has 20 years’ experience in real estate and investment banking. In her current role as the Head of Acquisitions for Lendlease Europe, Elle is responsible for the origination and execution of new investment opportunities across Europe in a wide range of sectors including living, life science and value add office. Throughout her real estate career, Elle has led the completion of over £6bn of real estate transactions. Elle was an early backer of the living sector, with extensive experience in Build to Rent, Build to Sell and Student Accommodation sectors. She has led the mergers, acquisitions, and final exit of successful real estate platforms. Prior to joining Lendlease, Elle was the Board Director and IC member for Qatari Diar Europe, overseeing its portfolio of large scale, complex development projects and platforms like Chelsea Barracks, former US Embassy and Get Living platform. Elle started her career in investment banking, covering blue chip companies in consumer sector in Europe. Elle has an Msc in Investment Management with Distinction from Bayes Business School and is a CFA charterholder.

José Pellicer joined M&G Real Estate as Head of Investment Strategy in August 2019. He is responsible for setting the investment strategy across the fund range as well as overseeing the development of new products. He has over 20 years research and investment strategy experience in the UK and Continental Europe. Prior to this, he was Global Head of Research at Patrizia AG and a partner at Rockspring PIM prior to its acquisition by Patrizia. He has also worked at Goldman Sachs in the Property Derivatives team and at AEW, where he was Head of its London research operation. Jose began his career in 2000 as a general economist at Deutsche Bank and moved into the real estate division in 2002. José holds a Masters of Real Estate Investment from Cass Business School, a Masters in Quantitative Economics from Université Catholique de Louvain and a Bachelors degree from Universidad Carlos III de Madrid.

Jessica Hardman performs two primary responsibilities at DWS; CEO for the DWS UK, with over 400 staff across Passive, Active and Alternative investing, the UK business is a centre of excellence for DWS's key investment capabilities. Jessica also undertakes the role of Head of European Portfolio Management at DWS, based in London, focusing on an international client base overseeing European and global real estate portfolios from core to value-add strategies. The suite of products includes European diversified and sector specific strategies via co-mingled funds and separately managed accounts. Previously, she was the Head of UK Real Estate Transactions and has overseen over €10.5 bn of transactions during her career at DWS. She managed the investment team covering all real estate sectors, as well as building major separate account relationships with an Asian client base. Hardman is CEO of DWS Investment UK Limited, board member for DWS Alternatives (Global) Ltd, a member of DWS Global leadership team and Global Investment leadership team, and a voting member of the European Investment Real Estate Committee. She joined DWS in 2004. Jessica will also become President of the British Property Federation (BPF) in 2024.

Richard has a broad corporate finance practice focusing on real estate investment. His wider practice also includes mergers and acquisitions (public and private), IPOs, private equity structures and joint ventures. Notable real estate transactions include the acquisition of Battersea Power Station (the most expensive single asset property deal in UK history) and acting for GIC, KKR, Brookfield, Carlyle, Hammerson and City Developments Limited on high profile portfolio acquisitions. Richard is recognised as a Leading Individual within The Legal 500, Highly Regarded within The IFLR 1000 directory and also formally ranked by Chambers & Partners.

Richard Blair is Senior Managing Director and Country Head of Hines UK. During his time with Hines, he has been responsible for all investment activities for Hines funds and third-party capital sources in the UK, and has recently been involved with the acquisition of projects in London and Birmingham. He served as Project Officer for assets within Hines' Pan European Value Added Fund, Hines' European Development Fund II and Hines' Global REIT. Blair is a Chartered Surveyor and graduated from City University, London, with an MSc in Property Investment. He is a member of the British Council for Offices and Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment.

Jamie joined Related Argent in 2017 from a London-based listed property company. Jamie has spent 20 years working in the London development market with a specific focus on large-scale urban regeneration projects and residential development. Jamie led the development of Related Argent’s first Build to Rent (BtR) scheme, Author King’s Cross, which opened in October 2023. Jamie leads the residential development at Brent Cross Town which will comprise 6,700 homes as part of a 180-acre mixed-use park town for north London. Over 930 homes are already under construction at Brent Cross Town, including affordable, market sale and BtR homes, with the first residents set to move in from summer 2024.

Ange is a Development Director for Brookfield Properties working across commercial developments within the Brookfield Properties portfolio in the U.K. Prior to joining Brookfield in 2023, Ange gained over 15 years’ experience working across Australia and the United Kingdom as a quantity surveyor and in development. She has broad sector experience having worked on complex projects including the Tate Modern Extension and large scale commercial and life science projects, primarily in the London market. Ange is the current Chair of the judging panel for the BCO Awards for London and South East and is also a member of Mentoring Circle; a mentoring initiative for the Property Sector.

Stacy is Head of Real Estate and Construction at RSM. He is an experienced audit partner and advises a wide variety of real estate clients in the private and public sector. Stacy has significant experience of working with real estate companies and partnerships with assets up to £500m, assisting clients on the commercial, transactions and taxation aspects of real estate.

Chris is a real estate partner in Shoosmiths’ Development team with over 16 years’ experience advising on the development of residential, commercial and mixed use schemes. Chris has worked with many major developers on numerous schemes right across the UK, helping to structure and plan their projects and transactions, understand and manage risk and protect their interests. Shoosmiths was named ‘UK Law Firm of the Year – Large sized firm’ at the British Legal Awards 2023.

Robbie Epsom is the EMEA Head of Sustainability for CBRE Investment Management. In this role, he is responsible for the EMEA implementation of the firm’s Sustainability Vision, which continues the firm’s commitment to be a leader in ESG. Working closely with the Sustainability Team and the wider CBRE Investment Management business, his priority is the continued integration and harmonization of Sustainability practices throughout the firm. Robbie also leads the corporate sustainability reporting workstream. Robbie began his career in the sustainability industry in 2009 and has experience in sustainability and ESG advisory consulting. He is a Chartered Environmentalist (CEnv), Fellow of the Institute of Environmental Sciences (IES) and Fellow of the Institute of Corporate Responsibility & Sustainability (FICRS). Prior to joining CBRE Investment Management in 2021, Robbie worked as a consultant and supported a wide range of blue-chip companies and major infrastructure projects as they navigated the fast-moving sustainable revolution, drawing on his background in process engineering to help them measure, communicate and manage their ESG risks. He is a specialist in areas such as Corporate Sustainability Strategy & Reporting, Sustainability Materiality Assessments, ESG & Sustainable Finance, Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Management, United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs), Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs), Resource/Energy Efficiency and Circular Economy. Robbie earned a Master of Engineering degree with honors and a Diploma in Industrial Studies from Loughborough University and is a Board Director for the Institute of Corporate Responsibility & Sustainability (ICRS).

I joined the Property & Construction team at Blick Rothenberg in 2020. This talented and enthusiastic team has extensive experience of working with a wide range of clients in the sector. I bring over 30 years of experience of working with entrepreneurial businesses in the sector as a trusted advisor. I have a real passion for the industry, which started when I worked with construction companies and developers in the late 1980s. Great role models led these businesses, who taught me a lot, especially as they addressed the challenges of the 1990/1991 recession. I act as the primary point of contact for my clients, leading teams that provide audit, accountancy, tax compliance and tax advisory services. Property taxation and financing can be complex. Advice about how to structure a proposed development or investment needs to encompass issues arising from numerous taxes, including SDLT, VAT, CIS, corporate and income taxes as well as the UK financial reporting regime. My extensive experience enables me to spot potential issues, which I then address with the specialists here to produce a practical solution for our clients, which we will present in plain English. A particular highlight for me was early in my career when I worked with a developer on a 20,000 sq ft office in Camden. We worked together on this project from pre-site acquisition to the sale of the fully let office some seven years later, with two rounds of refinancing on the journey. We advised on the best corporate structure to adopt, produced the accounts, VAT and corporate tax returns, cash flow forecasts and ultimately final accounts for the investors, showing their profit distributions. To see a development through from incorporation to sale was a huge learning experience, and really enjoyable. I have benefited hugely from working with colleagues throughout my career who have taken the time to coach and mentor me. I now enjoy mentoring younger members of my profession and others across the real estate sector. It gives me great pleasure to see them develop and flourish.

Mike is UK editor of Bisnow. Before this, alongside three friends he bought pan-European property mag EuroProperty out of non-existence and re established it before selling the business to PropertyEU. Prior to that he was editor of Property Week, and has also worked for Estates Gazette.