CREtech London, 27th-28th April 2022
CREtech, back in it’s usual spring slot after a catch up session last autumn, is unusual for UK property conferences; it is full of technologist, venture capitalists and a real focus on building level data. This makes it a refreshing and different look at the property market for most UK property investors.
The quote above was one of the many given during the keynotes which were from Toby Courtauld CEO of GPE on Wednesday and Dean Hopkins COO of Oxford Properties on the Thursday. GPE has made big strides in adapting its business to the requirements of customers and of sustainability. For example, it has implemented “green” clauses in its finance agreements and is thinking of doing the same in its leases. During construction, it has started to re-use materials from its buildings which are being demolished, notably steel being reused in a new Piccadilly building.
Disappointingly, there was limited patience amongst the speakers for existing human resources. Most people talked about fresh ideas from outside the property industry rather than retraining and re-skilling – Melissa’s question to Toby Courtauld on this subject elicited a rather vague response about the culture of a business.
There were enough stands in the exhibition to make it interesting – most were names we hadn’t heard of but none took innovation much further and many didn’t have a UK base yet. Networking was mainly limited to catching up with technology suppliers – there were a few investor end-users and these had very full meeting schedules.
This is a good antidote to traditional property conferences but it still carries an air of being quite niche – as an industry we really need to embrace the conversations here more enthusiastically.