PW Perspectives: wellness and sustainability climbing the agenda

This issue captures the views of an array of industry leaders from across the real estate spectrum. It features topics on everything from proptech, wellness and industrial design standards to bridging loans and the view from the auction room.

Wellness and sustainability have been climbing the property agenda for the past few years in the office and workplace arena, where the principles of employee health and mental wellbeing are being reinforced to great effect.

FirstPort’s Martin King and Tom Hine argue that the residential sector should adopt the same values within its schemes.

They say buildings, common areas and gardens should all be designed with the residents’ wellness in mind, while aspects such as security and the temperature of the building also play a role in the happiness of residents. As they say, these features affect “not only the decision of where they choose to live but also how long they choose to stay”.

Of course, the collection of data is required to get those things right. There are a host of proptech firms springing up in the real estate sector looking to make things like this easy for investors and landlords. However, as Yardi’s vice-president, international, Neal Gemassmer says, only the proptech companies whose technologies “make a fundamental difference to the way businesses work and create real value” will succeed. Gemassmer predicts that at least half the proptech start-ups that are in the UK market today will no longer be here in two years.

There are many more insightful perspectives flowing through this supplement. We hope you enjoy the read.

Richard Williams is Property Week’s news content editor