“I Don’t Think We Could Have Missed it!”
What lies at the heart of successful regional development? What drives the dynamic synergy between numerous organisations towards a shared vision? And, what can we expect from SHW’s role in the upcoming UK Real Estate Investment and Infrastructure Forum (UKREiiF)?
Richard Plant, Head of Development Consultancy at SHW and the Chairman of Develop Croydon offers a fresh perspective on these questions and more in our exclusive Invest Gatwick Diamond interview.
Unmatched Experience
With over two centuries of unmatched experience and deep roots in property consultancy, SHW stands as a testament to enduring quality and service. Originally established in 1798, and boasting a strong team of 24 Equity Partners, the firm manages over 1,000 properties nationwide.
With a Gatwick Diamond focus, they were the perfect choice for the first-ever Gatwick Diamond delegation attending this year’s UKREiiF. Richard shares the strategic importance of Gatwick Diamond and SHW’s widespread influence from Croydon to Gatwick.
His insights reveal how this involvement benefits SHW and how the Gatwick Diamond UKREiiF delegation is poised to bolster the region’s economic landscape.
Hi Richard. Tell us about SHW.
Richard Plant: SHW is a full-service property consultancy that covers nationwide and specialises in the South East. We’ve got about 190 people, spread over nine offices, focused on the M23 corridor and central London as well.
We provide all services, property management, valuation, lease advisory, development consultancy. We also have planning and architecture as well. And we specialise in an area that demands best value.
That means a lot of working for local authorities, charities, trusts, and anyone that needs to prove best value as well as all the usual commercial entities, funds and banks and so on.
What motivated SHW to be part of the Gatwick Diamond delegation?
Richard Plant: The Gatwick Diamond area is the SHW Heartland. As I said, we’re focused on the M23, but we’ve got a London office, we’ve got a Brighton office, and we’ve got a Gatwick office in the middle. So, I’m sitting here in Croydon. The Diamond goes out towards Sevenoaks and West Kent.
We’ve got a West Kent office, and it goes the other way towards Hampshire. We have a Hampshire office. We’ve also got offices on southeast M25 and southwest M25.
If you plot our office locations, you basically get the Gatwick Diamond. It’s a very important area for us, and it’s obviously an area that drives the region. Croydon is 14 minutes from Gatwick on the train.
You only have to go through East Croydon Station, which is just outside the window there, and you will see lots and lots of aircrew and staff heading on their way to Gatwick. We are part of the Gatwick area, and it’s a huge part of our business.
Why is collaboration at UKREiiF so important?
Richard Plant: I think collaboration is always important because you’re looking to make two and two make five if you like. So you’re looking to combine the power of the organisations for the collective benefit.
Obviously, I’m in Croydon. I’m chair of Develop Croydon as well as a partner of SHW. Develop Croydon was founded on the basis that the strength of all the members, the likes of Westfield, many big developers, and obviously now also Gatwick Airport.
The combined strength of our message and our marketing hopefully creates a bigger force. And we’re all on message, we all have the same facts and information, and we’re all basically aiming in the same direction.
And that’s not just companies, it’s local authorities, the GLA have been one of our members, and that has basically transferred to the Gap with Diamonds. So we started with that idea locally and then moved it to be more regional.
So it’s a very good idea. And it’s good to network with the other members as well and know what everybody’s up to.
What do SHW and Develop Croydon hope to achieve from attending UKREiiF?
Richard Plant: It’s a little difficult to say at this point because this will be our first UKREiiF. Traditionally, for many years, 15 if not even 20 years, we attended MIPIM. And we’ve now decided to branch out and try UKREiiF.
I think, as I said, a lot of our work comes via local authorities, regional bodies, Kent County Council, for instance, and Tandridge, Croydon, Mole Valley, etc. And I think UKREiiF is accessible to those organisations.
So MIPIM probably isn’t, and in this market, the expense of going to the south of France distracts people from the real purpose. The real purpose is networking and meeting up with new contacts and old.
Hopefully, that will happen in a big way in Leeds. Although Leeds is a reasonable distance away, it’s only a couple of hours on the train. So I’m hoping that it’s a more relaxed experience and almost a more focused one.
MIPIM was very big. It was international. There were people from all over Europe and further afield. I’m hoping that the UKREiiF is, as the name would suggest, focused on the UK. Going with Gatwick Diamond provides a particular focus on our area of interest and area of operation.
I’m hoping that by being on the stand, it will be a very good place to meet people who have an interest in property, redevelopment, and real estate – our core area.
Are you going to showcase any particular success stories at the event?
Richard Plant: I think we’re really there on a fact-finding mission to meet other people. So, we market hundreds, if not thousands of properties all across that area. So, I think we will discover opportunities, particularly development opportunities in logistics and distribution around the Gatwick market. But we can’t take them all.
We’re there to meet people and make contacts rather than shout about a deal we may have done six months ago. It’s more about looking to the future rather than looking to the past.
What effect would a future in which everybody works even more closely towards shared goals have on the Gatwick Diamond?
Richard Plant: I think we’re already seeing it, aren’t we? But, with the promotion of, the northern runway, we’re looking at Gatwick expanding. And the airport expanding is a key driver for the economy of the region. there are so many airport-related industries, particularly logistics. The airport is a consumer of food, of retail, of all sorts of things. And all of that needs servicing.
That obviously helps maintain a very, very healthy logistics market out of the Gatwick Diamond. And up here in Croydon, we have a healthy logistics market, such as the sort of six o’clock on the clock face of London, or Southerly Point or whatever.
It’s a huge market and it’s been a massive growth market, particularly over the COVID period; logistics has just gone off the scale. So yeah, that kind of approach is what we’re looking to see.
What do you predict the future looks like for the property sector in Gatwick Diamond?
Richard Plant: The strength of the logistics market contributes to value creation. Gatwick serves as a central location for offices and headquarters, which includes areas like Manor Royal and Central Crawley. Our expertise lies in managing and dealing with commercial properties, especially offices, to ensure their success.
That then feeds into my personal area, which is development. And development drives regeneration in the economy. That picture behind me [Richard points to a large frieze of the Croydon skyline], if you roll back even five years, half of those buildings weren’t there.
So that drives the regeneration, the jobs, and brings the people in, which helps the local economy.
Why do you think SHW was picked to be part of the Gatwick Diamond delegation?
Richard Plant: The Gatwick Diamond could have picked anyone else; any of the London practices. But I think because we are so focused on that particular area [The Gatwick Diamond]. It is the heart of our core business. And it’s where we do the most transactions and the most services. I think it just fits really, really well. I don’t think we could have missed it, really.