This evening I am sat with Tom O’Brien Founding Partner and Managing Director of the HYM Investment Group. In Boston Masachuettes. Prior to HYM, Tom served as a Managing Partner for JPI, a national developer and owner of multifamily communities, and as a Managing Director in Boston and New York for Tishman Speyer. Tom also led the Boston Redevelopment Authority as its Director and Chief of Staff, overseeing the development of over 12 million Square Feet of projects in Boston, from 1994 to 2000. ...
Feb 16, 2023•46 min•Season 1Ep. 72
This evening I am sitting with Chris Mcdermott, CEO of VERB a new brand in commercial development. The latest addition to their highly-successful portfolio of sister companies owned by Cathexis Holdings. VERB was born out of the principle of investment in emerging and high-growth sectors, focusing on hi-tech assets and making a meaningful contribution to de-carbonising the real estate sector. Chris tells the story of a very ambitious driven individual who has won the support of a substantial bac...
Feb 01, 2023•38 min•Season 1Ep. 71
This evening I am joined by James Sheppard, Managing Director UK&I for Kadans Science Partners. Kadans is a dutch based life science real estate developer, owned by AXA since Dec 2020. Now I’m very much looking forward to this discussion for two reasons, first: life sciences has been at the forefront of the real estate psyche since the pandemic and seen a huge explosion of new and existing real estate players in the UK launching life science real estate solutions BUT second James is one of m...
Jan 18, 2023•36 min•Season 1Ep. 70
So our third and final instalment of our mini-series focused on Reverse Mentoring, I have handed over hosting responsibilities to the newest generation of real estate professionals. They will be interviewing each other on what first got them attracted to the industry, what value they have to offer, what they need from their managers and leaders, what's been their brightest and darkest days so far and what they predict is in store for their careers in the future. In this episode, we hear from Rac...
Jan 04, 2023•31 min•Season 1Ep. 69
So over the course of the next three episodes, I have handed over hosting responsibilities to the newest generation of real estate professionals. They will be interviewing each other on what first got them attracted to the industry, what value they have to offer, what they need from their managers and leaders, what's been their brightest and darkest days so far and what they predict is in store for their careers in the future. In this episode, we hear from Rebecca Ogunmodede from Clarion Housing...
Dec 21, 2022•29 min•Season 1Ep. 68
So over the course of the next three episodes, I have handed over hosting responsibilities to the newest generation of real estate professionals. They will be interviewing each other on what first got them attracted to the industry, what value have they to offer, what they need from their managers and leaders, what's been their brightest and darkest days so far and what they predict is in store for their careers in the future. In this episode we hear from Lawrence Owho, Graduate Development Mana...
Dec 07, 2022•32 min•Season 1Ep. 67
This evening I am sitting with Luka Vukotic, Development Director at Art Invest Real Estate. Luka is someone who has experienced a meteoric rise in his career and personal development working for several of the biggest and most highly regarded institutions in the UK market: Arup, Lend Lease, Argent before joining German powerhouse Art-Invest on their first foray into London major projects. If you aren’t immediately familiar with ART-Invest, they recently completed one of the largest and fastest ...
Nov 23, 2022•40 min•Season 1Ep. 66
This evening I am joined by Rob Deck, Executive Vice President and Head of Development, Google Development Ventures at Lendlease. Rob is no stranger to major projects, he has 30 years of experience in some of the world's most significant developments. Having led development teams for Athlete's Village for London 2012, Elephant Park London, Darling Harbour Sydney, Bangaroo South Sydney he is now in Silicon Valley leading the development of a new project in partnership with Google. During our conv...
Nov 09, 2022•58 min•Season 1Ep. 65
This evening I am sat with Phillippa Prongue, Managing Director of LinkCity UK, responsible for 26 live projects and 4,500 homes. Phillippa was previously COO of an Airspace developer Apex. Earlier in her career, she spent 15 years with Kier Property in their development team and latterly in their corporate development including global M&A dealings. Someone described by one of our sources as "naturally goal-orientated and incredible at bringing people with her on the journey". Linkedin Group...
Oct 26, 2022•47 min•Season 1Ep. 64
This evening I am sat with Alastair Skinner, Managing Director of The Hargreaves Group of Companies. The group holds over 2.5m sqft of commercial property plus 100 homes and is a private investment and development company focused in the south east. Alastair has built a career in asset and investment management often for private businesses and I am very much looking forward to hear how these entrepreneurs have shaped Alastair’s earlier career and outlook on what's in store for him in the future. ...
Oct 12, 2022•46 min•Season 1Ep. 63
This evening I am sat with Professor Sadie Morgan OBE, founding director of Stirling Prize-winning architecture practice dRMM, alongside Alex, Philip and latterly joined by Jonas, Judith and Saskia. Sadie’s involved in a number of advisory roles including chairing the Independent Design Panel for High Speed Two, and a series of accolades including but not limited to being the youngest ever president of the Architectural Association, New Londoner of the Year by the NLA in 2017, Female Architectur...
Sep 28, 2022•48 min•Season 1Ep. 62
This evening I am once more on my globe-trotting travels, looking to test our theory of accelerating careers in new markets. Today I am talking to Uwe Hellendahl, based in Dusseldorf and he is one of the co-founders of COLCAP independent investment boutique and a pioneer in sustainable real estate investments. COLCAP took over the real estate activities of the Duxton Group in Germany in 2019. Uwe shares his career with us filled with unique personalities, opportunities, and pitfalls made all the...
Sep 14, 2022•39 min•Season 1Ep. 61
In this episode, I am joined by Katherine Russell, former Head of Property for John Lewis Partnership and now Head of Build to Rent the retailer's gargantuan efforts to build 10,000 homes across their portfolio. Katherine was described as someone who put the people before the properties and we dug into this mentality and her career from the lows of redundancy to securing her first role on the client side to moving through the traditional ranks of management and having the ambition and confidence...
Aug 31, 2022•41 min•Season 1Ep. 60
In this episode, I am sat with John Kenny, Executive Vice President of Operations for RealStar. John has built a career in operational assets, such as flex office space, student accommodation, or most recently, rent. Realstar’s UK residential portfolio is £1.5bn and over 3,500 apartments across 16 properties of which 11 are operated under its UNCLE brand. It is part of the Real Star Group, a Canadian investment and operator with total assets of $9bn. John has never stood still and always sought ...
Aug 17, 2022•44 min•Season 1Ep. 59
This evening I am sat with Richard Bourne, Managing Director of Martin’s Property a mixed use £350m private PropCo focused in London and the SE. Richard has established a career in development whether for private family offices or listed plc development companies and shares the highs and the "booms" of his career so far. To read more of Richard's charity Abling, please go to ablinguk.com Linkedin Group: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/9054319 Contact details Ncarman@macdonaldandcompany.com Hoste...
Aug 03, 2022•45 min•Season 1Ep. 58
This evening I am sat with Cedric Bucher, CEO of Hearthstone Investments a real estate investment manager 100% focused on UK suburban private rented housing or as the US call it Single Family. Cedric is not a real estate native, he was born in Switzerland began his career in Switzerland with Mckinsey and worked within in multi-asset investment and finance for Barclays Wealth and Architas to name just a few. So I am curious how he settled on this last venture leading a business investment busines...
Jul 20, 2022•47 min•Season 1Ep. 57
This evening I am sitting with Tom Pocock, Central London MD for Berkeley Group St Edward, Tom has spent 17 out of his 18-year career inside the Berkeley Group beginning as a land graduate to a series of MD designate titles including for West London at just 30 followed by MD of its strategic land business in Central and West London and now MD of Berkeley’s St Edward Central London. I’m always fascinated by those who can create opportunities for themselves in a single business and I’m very much l...
Jul 06, 2022•50 min•Season 1Ep. 56
In this episode, I get to sit down with Helen Martin, a seasoned leader in construction and development, who is now MD of the central region of Wates Construction. A former engineer, Helen has built a career on the fundamentals of honesty, direct communication and ultimately not allowing external forces to dictate her path. In the episode, Helen describes her path from engineer to contractor, turned developer and leader of Skanska's development company to returning to contracting in 2021. Linked...
Jun 09, 2022•48 min•Season 1Ep. 55
In this episode, I get to interview Chris Davies, CEO of Uncommon a flex office provider with 7 buildings owned and operated by Uncommon. Chris is a self-confessed non-conformist in real estate and has led an incredible career over a steep trajectory to running a portfolio of 250k sq/ft worth £350m. Chris shared his thoughts on his own career and answered the questions of our audience on the topics of mentoring, where to find help and how he assesses risks vs opportunities. Oh did I mention we r...
May 25, 2022•19 min•Season 1Ep. 54
In this episode, I am joined by Ian Morrison Co-Founder of Beyond a young and entrepreneurial developer of mixed-use projects. Ian began his career as a QS with EC Harris and has moved his career and reinvented his skills moving through the roles of QS to PM, DM and Director and now Co-Founder. Ian spent 14 years with Grosvenor eventually leading their London development team and a development pipeline of £3bn, followed by leading the international developer Craigewan as CEO before establishing ...
May 11, 2022•1 hr 1 min•Season 1Ep. 53
So after two years of me beating the Accelerating Careers drum of three repeating chapters in our careers, patterns I have seen over and over again in more than 1000 interviews I have conducted in real estate, I was really looking forward to putting these to the test with an expert whose experience spans 25 years across all commercial sectors. Dr Catherine Sandler, founded the Sandler Consulting practice and as one of the first in the industry, led the field of executive coaching. Catherine has ...
Apr 27, 2022•50 min•Season 1Ep. 52
Episode 51 and I am talking to not one but three guests and I have something very exciting to announce. I will get to fulfil the ambition to record a podcast with a live audience on May 4th. IN today's episode I am talking to three members of the PropSki Committee about its up and coming reunion as well as asking them about their personal career lessons. I am talking to Laura Shields, Sales Director for Uncommon, Rachel Leigh, Senior Development Manager for Trivallis and Rupert Parker, CEO and F...
Apr 13, 2022•19 min•Season 1Ep. 51
In episode 50 I take the chance to look back at the last 25 episodes and reflect on how our guests have built "accelerating careers". As well as sharing some of my hopes for how I plan to spend the next 50 episodes. We all experience the same phases of our career, but why does it feel like some careers go up like a rocket yet others struggle to launch. Linkedin Group: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/9054319 Contact details Ncarman@macdonaldandcompany.com ULI The Accelerating Careers Podcast is i...
Mar 30, 2022•14 min•Season 1Ep. 50
This evening I sat down with Clare Hebbes, Director of Development at the London Legacy Development Corporation, responsible for the delivery of c2,500 homes. Clare has over 20 years’ experience working on some of the most significant urban regeneration with several of London’s most prominent developers including Argent and the redevelopment of King’s Cross, Battersea Power Station Development Company and Lend Lease’s Elephant Park. We talk what she has learnt from each of these, how she needed ...
Mar 16, 2022•43 min•Season 1Ep. 49
This evening I am sat with Simon Harding-Roots, Managing Director of the London Portfolio for The Crown Estate. With 10 million square feet of office, retail, dining, leisure and residential space in London, The Crown Estate is one of the West End’s largest property owners, with a diverse customer base and portfolio currently valued at £7.7 billion. Simon has led a career across global locations with some of the most renowned developers and investors. He shares his stories of leading teams and p...
Mar 02, 2022•57 min•Season 1Ep. 48
Yair has 20+ years' experience in real estate development with a career including some of London's largest projects including Elizabeth House and 22 Bishopsgate. As former Partner at Lipton Rogers Developments, and Development Director at Chelsfield, Yair has been responsible for delivering £5bn+ of mixed-use projects, from initial concept through planning, to construction and disposal. In this pod he shares his plans for the future as a founder of one of the newest developers managers in London...
Feb 16, 2022•48 min•Season 1Ep. 47
This evening I am sat with Tom Venner, Managing Director of The Euston Partnership. Responsible for the multi-billion pounds of investment into transformational infrastructure and real estate change at Euston. This was a role he gained after spending 3.5 years as the Commercial Development Director for HS2 responsible for 3.4 million square metre development pipeline around the 8 stations, a property portfolio with a GDV of £5bn along the HS2 routes. Prior to joining HS2 Tom cut his teeth at Lan...
Feb 02, 2022•50 min•Season 1Ep. 46
This evening I am sat with David Twohig, Founding Partner of MurrayTwohig. MurrayTwohig is a real estate consultancy business focused on vision, place and execution strategy. They have advised on over 300 million square feet of development globally. David is no stranger to megaprojects as between the years 2008 to 2017 he was the Chief Development Officer, Head of Design and Placemaking for Battersea Power Station Development Company. David began his career with Treasury Holdings in Dublin befor...
Jan 19, 2022•47 min•Season 1Ep. 45
This evening I get to sit down with Californian native JP Newman, CEO of Thrive FP based in Austin, Texas. JP tells a great story of his career from pre-law at UCLA to being an executive at a children’s toy company to Sony production and producing his own films. But then comes an eventual flip from the creative industries to real estate lending in Austin Texas. He kindly shares the stories and lessons learnt from these career transitions as today he now leads one of the largest lenders and inves...
Jan 05, 2022•52 min•Season 1Ep. 44
This evening I am sat with Kate Ives, Strategic Director at Countryside Partnerships South. I talk a lot about the chapters in our career: acceleration, consolidation and spark and for Kate who is just days into a new role, I expect it is just at the beginning of a new exciting acceleration chapter. Before Kate joined Countryside she was a member of the fledgling development department at Wates Residential joining from regeneration specialist First Base. Kate talks about the allure of the champa...
Dec 08, 2021•41 min•Season 1Ep. 42
