Forecast for 2021: looking ahead with hope (part 22)

Barry Jessup

Director, First Base

My biggest hope is that last year’s obsession with knee-jerk short-termism can be replaced by some genuine investment in future growth. We need to stop trying to prop up failing businesses and focus on supporting growth sectors and start-ups. The furlough scheme had some merit, but also resulted in many unviable businesses getting a stay of execution.

In contrast, start-ups and the self-employed have received precious little help and this will inevitably suppress their growth. We need to pump prime businesses in the growth sectors, and one of the few benefits of Brexit is that the UK will be able to unashamedly do this.

The same applies to the high street. The misguided policy of providing blanket rental relief to retailers has resulted in many failing businesses boosting their cash balances at the expense of property investors, many of them pensioners or local governments.

I hope these policies will be reversed in 2021, focusing on business rate windows or discounts for smaller high street users, and a centralised investment bank to support their bounce-back. Prospects for the high street can improve, but not by focusing on the past.

Marc Vlessing

Chief executive, Pocket Living

Last year was an incredibly challenging one for all of us. We are delighted that we managed to keep going and welcome first-time buyers to new affordable homes in Haringey and Ealing. Some 40% of our purchasers are key workers so we know first hand the difference it has made to them to be able to get their own home during the pandemic.

This year we will complete developments in Barking, Croydon and Redbridge and start new ones in Barnet and Waltham Forest, and hopefully Greenwich and Harrow. Planning remains a critical challenge for small developers and small sites.

We need a more proportionate planning system that does not expect the same from a small site for 50 homes as one for 500 or 5,000. The cost, complexity and time taken in planning is a major reason why small developers deliver just 10% of new homes.

Research we commissioned from Lichfields found that small sites in London are taking 60 weeks on average to get planning permission; five times the statutory deadline. Greater positivity, pragmatism and proportionality in planning will result in the social, environmental and economic benefits that the country needs.

David Workman

Senior partner, Workman

Despite the many obvious challenges for the sector in 2020, investors and developers remained laser-focused on the needs of their customers. ESG commitments, from net zero targets and the healthy buildings movement to creating social value in local communities became more, not less, important.

They have been pushed to the top of the agenda by occupiers and investors throughout the pandemic. This has been reflected in our own evolution as we’ve developed our services even more rapidly to focus on what our clients require to futureproof their businesses.

The drive for greater occupier experience and customer service in real estate, the application of tech to deliver this and the need to repurpose existing assets are all prominent themes that have shaped the services we deliver. With more change to come, we in the property industry share a responsibility to ensure that change is for the better.