Last night, the great and the good of property gathered at Grosvenor House for the Property Awards 2023. Below we reveal the full list of winners and highly commended.
The great and the good of the property world descended upon London’s Park Lane on Tuesday 13 June to celebrate the 27th annual Property Awards.
More than 900 people attended the awards ceremony at the Grosvenor House hotel, which was hosted by comedian Lucy Porter and included a performance from laser violinist Luminar.
The evening started with Property Week’s managing director Richard Watts pointing out that the previous 12 months had been seismic for the industry, with no fewer than three prime ministers, four chancellors and five housing ministers in the space of a year.Memorable moments on the night included Porter joking that award winner “Knight Frank” is what she says to her son when she puts him to bed.
Other winners included Battersea Power Station Development Company, which picked up the prestigious Developer of the Year – Commercial Property award for the transformation of the iconic building, and Related Argent, which was named Property Company of the Year after a highly successful 12 months that included a major rebranding.
British Land and AustralianSuper scooped the coveted Deal of the Year – Commercial Property prize for their £580m joint funding deal for the Canada Water redevelopment.Urban development and regeneration specialist Vivenne King and former Old Park Lane Management managing director Tim Sketchley were both inducted into the Hall of Fame for their lifetime of service to the industry.
The awards presentation ended with Brian Bickell picking up prize for Property Personality of the Year. Last year, Bickell oversaw the merger between Shaftesbury and Capital & Counties to form Shaftesbury Capital, the biggest owner of property in the Soho and Covent Garden areas of London.Bickell noted that, as he had recently retired, winning the award was akin to scoring a goal “in extra time”.
Check out the details of all the award winners below:
Unite Students is the UK’s largest developer of purpose-built student accommodation and prides itself on providing a ‘home for success’ that enables students to thrive. The company now houses 70,000 students in 156 properties across 23 UK towns and cities, having added more than 1,000 beds to its portfolio in the past year.
During the year, Unite Students continued to review its current portfolio and development pipeline, maintaining its focus on the strongest university cities and ensuring sustainable rental growth. Over the period, the group contracted £288m worth of disposals, at a blended yield of 5.7%, with proceeds used to reduce borrowing and provide funding for its development pipeline and investment activity.
Development spending for the year totalled around £235m and included the completion of two new key properties: the 920-bed Hayloft Point in London and the 431-bed Campbell House in Bristol. Both incorporated innovative construction methods to reduce embodied carbon, supporting the group to achieve its goal of net zero carbon emissions.
“This was a strong submission across all the criteria,” said one judge.
In the past year, JLL has restructured its industrial and logistics team and created smaller bespoke teams to support its varied client requirements. These include teams dedicated to urban and city logistics, multi-let properties, strategic occupier solutions, London industrial logistic solutions, development and supply chain.
By using a collaborative approach, as well data sharing and better levels of client service, the industrial and logistics team managed to complete more than 23.9m sq ft of transactions in 2022 and was involved in 32% of big-box transactions nationally, together with 6.49m sq ft let in the multi-let market through 569 transactions.
JLL has also doubled down on integrating digital technology into its offer in the past year. NxT i-Log, the company’s virtual reality occupier studio, is now used extensively.
According to one judge: “It’s a large-scale business that has taken steps to create a new team structure tailored to client requirements while still benefiting from the expertise in the business.”
Sponsored by Buzzacott
Harris Associates undertook more than £2.5bn in transactions in 2022, including the £1.5bn joint venture between Fusion Students and Cain International. The company has seen a 300% increase in transaction volumes year on year in its purpose-built student accommodation team and is now considered one of the go-to agencies for the sector.
Other transactions in the past year include the £145m disposal of Highgate Studios on behalf of KKR & Hondo Enterprises; the £71m sale of The Store House, a forward-funding project in Leeds; the £10m Moss Lane East land deal for Cityside in Manchester; and the £14m acquisition of Wakefield 41 for Melburg Capital.
In 2022, Harris Associates was retained by some of the largest names in the property industry, including Fusion Students, Empiric, Dukelease, Manner, KKR & Hondo Enterprises, Melburg Capital, Joseph Homes, Places for People and Alumno Group.
The judges praised the company’s “innovation” and high transaction volumes.
Sponsored by Trammell Crow
The Coffer Group – comprising leisure leasing agents Davis Coffer Lyons (DCL) and investment arm Coffer Corporate Leisure (CCL) – achieved a turnover increase of 68% in 2022. Over the course of the year, 517 transactions took place, a return to pre-Covid-19 levels and an increase of 159% on 2021.
CCL has completed more than 60 transactions since the start of 2022 worth over £200m. This includes advising David Lloyd Leisure on the forward commitment with abrdn for a new purpose-built racquet, health and fitness club in Edinburgh. The £20.37m sale price reflected a net initial yield of 4.8% and the 62,500 sq ft health club will be let on a new 30-year lease.
Elsewhere, The Coffer Group advised on 10 prime London pub investments worth £25m, including the disposal of The Marquis of Westminster in Pimlico, a 4,700 sq ft freehold property let on a long, index-linked lease to Stonegate, the largest operator in the pub sector.
One judge said: “The Coffer Group is, by some distance, the largest player in this sector and demonstrated excellent financials with a significant increase on 2021 performance.”
Sponsored by Genius1 Group
According to Bidwells, the company’s science and technology team enjoyed its best year ever in 2021. It was involved in more than £1bn of life science transactions in the Oxford-Cambridge Arc, representing an impressive 83% of all deals done over the period.
The expectation was that 2022 would be quieter and targets were set accordingly, only for the science and technology team to clock up another impressive performance. The team billed £6.8m in fees in 2022, 12% of the firm’s £57.5m record turnover against a budget of £52.2m.
All of this was made possible by a strategic decision taken during the Covid-19 pandemic to combine members of Bidwell’s business space agency, capital markets, building consultancy and planning divisions to form a science-and-technology-focused team providing what the company described as the most specialised advice in the UK. “The financial success and client testimonials justified the firm’s new strategy to create a science and technology team,” said one judge.
Sponsored by NovaLoca
In London, Knight Frank’s office leasing team advised on transactions totalling 2.7m sq ft, an increase from the 1.4m sq ft transacted in 2021. The team were involved in 33% of all pre-lets over 50,000 sq ft that took place in London over the period.
This included Blackstone’s deal to take all 10 floors of the iconic Lansdowne House in Berkeley Square, Mayfair, for its new European HQ. The world’s largest private equity firm committed to a new and improved 226,000 sq ft office, three times larger than its existing workspace.
Knight Frank also successfully acted on behalf of Sellar and Como Holdings to fully let the 350,000 sq ft Paddington Square development, comprising 14 floors of modern workspace. This involved securing leases with Capital Group, DS Smith and Kingfisher in separate pre-let deals ahead of the development’s completion.
“It was a very successful year for the whole team, with increased levels of transactions and fee income,” said one judge. Another judge added: “There were many impressive achievements in 2022.”
Barclays has a commitment to become a net zero bank by 2050. It is also committed to aligning all of its financing to the goals and timelines set out in the Paris Agreement. To accelerate the transition to a low-carbon economy, Barclays announced in December 2022 a target to facilitate $1trn (£800bn) of sustainable and transition financing by the end of 2030 and also committed to significantly increasing its own equity capital investment from £175m by 2025 to £500m by 2027 into its Sustainable Impact Capital Fund.
Key deals over the period included supporting Workspace Group on a £200m unsecured, sustainability-linked syndicated facility, as well as helping The Berkeley Group Holdings with an £800m facility, which included the introduction of a green term loan.
Elsewhere, Barclays supported Carlton Hill Development with a £39m bilateral development and investment facility that included a number of ESG elements, including affordable living and wellbeing.
“It was a very strong performance across all the criteria,” said one judge.
Sponsored by London Belgravia Group
Leading independent law firm Brabners enjoyed one of its most successful years in its 200-year history in 2022. The firm, which has one of the largest real estate practices in the north, moved the dial last year, with double-digit revenue growth, the opening of a new Leeds office, achieving B-Corp certification and retaining ‘best company to work for’ status. Its number of property-focused professional advisers also increased from 90 to 106 over the period.
In terms of deals and initiatives, Brabners helped Premiership rugby union club Sales Sharks secure a long-term home at the 12,000-capacity AJ Bell Stadium in Salford.
The firm also enabled Cole Waterhouse to create 1,000 new homes in Leeds by helping the developer to acquire a 3.8-acre brownfield site outside the city centre in order to build Leeds City Village, a mixed-use scheme consisting of five apartment blocks. “It was a very impressive submission,” said one judge.
Sponsored by Groundsure
Regeneration Brainery is a non-profit organisation created by Capital&Centric in 2017 to boost diversity, combat the lack of effective work experience for young people and tackle the skills shortage within the property industry. The free academy for young bright minds is designed to get young people from disadvantaged and diverse backgrounds inspired about a career in the sector.
In 2022, Regeneration Brainery worked with 4,050 young people – its busiest year yet. A total of 68% of its ‘Brainees’ are from ethnic minority backgrounds and more than a third are young women, a massive jump from just 14% female representation across the industry.
It is a recipe that works, with more than 25% of Regeneration Brainery’s graduates now working in the industry or studying for industry qualifications.
“It’s a wide-reaching initiative engaging with large numbers of young people with strong focus on diversity and inclusion,” said one judge.
Sponsored by Newcore Capital
In 2022, Grosvenor launched a free supplier mentoring programme designed to support small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) within its supply chain to set their own science-based carbon-reduction targets – the globally recognised standard carbon-reduction pledge.
Through the scheme, Grosvenor aims to remove barriers for SMEs in starting their carbon-reduction journey, as well as moving closer to its own ambitions of reducing emissions by at least 90% by 2040, which itself is verified by the Science Based Targets Initiative.
Between 2019 and 2030, suppliers are estimated to account for more than 50% of Grosvenor Property UK’s emissions. As a result, supporting them in their carbon-reduction plans offers a significant opportunity in reducing the company’s absolute carbon emissions. As one judge put in: “This is responsible property ownership in action with potential for huge positive social and environmental impact.”
Sponsored by Brunswick Property Partners
Gensler’s entry focused on its work on Barclays’ Glasgow city centre HQ, which features 400,000 sq ft of office space for 5,000 employees in a campus setting of three new buildings and two grade B-listed renovations, set within three acres of pedestrianised, re-greened public realm.
The campus was designed to prioritise wellbeing and dignity at multiple scales. The site includes a public river promenade park that is landscaped with native plants. Beehives have also been placed on one building rooftop to support pollination and wildflower diversity. The honey produced is used in onsite cuisine and sold in the zero-waste campus shop.
Reusable food and beverage containers are provided to staff on site to help reduce waste. They also have access to electric vehicle charging stations and cycle-friendly amenities such as showers, lockers and bike storage.
Judges praised the “wide range of initiatives”, as well as the “commitment to staff and community”.
Sponsored by Gowling WLG
Sook is the result of founder and chief executive John Hoyle actively pursuing his ‘Ikigai’ after a life-changing event. Ikigai is a Japanese concept that means “a reason for being” and involves finding a vocation that you love, that you are good at, that the world needs and that can pay you.
The demise of the UK’s high streets was an obvious choice due to the enormous negative social impact it has had. As a result, Hoyle wanted to build a profitable and scalable business that could address the decline. Three years after Sook was founded, nearly 300 brands took space with the business in 2022.
Sook has built a turnkey tech-enabled retail property platform that allows any brand to rent prime spaces and customise a store within minutes using Sook’s digital fit-out. In addition, the company’s fractional leasing model removes the barriers to entry for businesses, allowing them to activate their brand at the right place and time to reach their customers.
“It’s a really great business with true innovation and flair at its heart,” said one judge.
Sponsored by Trustek
Throughout the past year, Savills Investment Management has continued to produce impressive investment performance on the majority of its assets under management (AUM). Over the five years to Q3 2022, 94% of its AUM outperformed its benchmark.
A fund the company is particularly proud of is the Charities Property Fund (CPF), which last year outperformed its benchmark by 5.3% and was the third best-performing fund in the All Balanced Property Fund Index.
The fund has now outperformed its benchmark for 12 consecutive years. This is despite it sticking to an ethical mandate of screening out buildings or tenants whose primary business is the production or sale of tobacco, arms or pornography or that are involved in animal testing. Indeed, the fund actively targets buildings whose tenants have a positive impact on society, showing that ethical investment does not need to come at the expense of performance.
“It’s such a well-managed business and it’s great to see CPF doing so well,” commented one judge. Another said: “It was very strong across all the criteria.”
Now chairman of Related Argent, David Partridge joined Argent Group back in 1990. He was promoted to joint chief executive in October 2006 and served as managing partner from 2012 to 2018. Under his leadership, Argent has become one of the most respected property companies not just in the UK but across Europe and further afield.
Its work in King’s Cross, London, remains one of the most highly influential transformative mixed-use urban regeneration schemes out there.
Today, Partridge is playing a leading role on an even bigger stage. Last year, he was appointed to oversee the UK Net Zero Carbon Buildings Standard, a cross-sector initiative that aims to come up with a standard for net zero carbon that all parts of the built environment – every sector and profession – can agree on. It is a daunting task but also a hugely important one.
As one judge put it: “David not only heads up a successful business within the real estate world, but he has combined that with being able to offer something extra. His leadership of the Net Zero Carbon Buildings Standard project is something that will have an impact on the industry as a whole, and also on society as a whole.”
Sponsored by Node Technologies
Deepki is the only company in the world offering a fully populated ESG data intelligence platform for the real estate sector. Its software-as-a-service platform helps real estate investors, owners and managers improve the ESG performance of their real estate assets and in the process enhance their value. Deepki now operates in more than 50 countries, with offices in Milan, Madrid, London and Berlin, and clients including Generali, JLL, Swiss Life Asset Managers and the French government.
Last year included major achievements in terms of commercial success, new hires and corporate announcements, beginning with a €150m (£129m) Series C round of funding.
Over the past year, Deepki has seen revenues grow by more 90% and has won a succession of high-profile clients, including Stellantis, Real IS, Merlin Properties, Sagitta SGR Fidal and Maisons de Famille.
“Its automatic collection of data and production of a benchmark on sustainability looks to be a disruptive innovation for the sector,” said one of the judges.
Sponsored by Ecolibrium
Wellington Place’s evolution from a low-grade retail park in Leeds into a successful city centre regeneration project has been transformative for the area. A long-term investment for MEPC and Federated Hermes since the mid-2000s, the project has seen the development of award-winning, nationally recognised, high-specification and energy-efficient commercial office buildings and some of the largest public realm in the city centre.
The project has created the largest office development seen in central Leeds for 20 years and is now home to more than 1m sq ft of office and leisure space, including bars, restaurants, shops and other amenities.
Wellington Place already has a working population of more than 13,000 people and once complete it is estimated that one in 10 jobs in central Leeds will be based on the site.
Judges praised the development’s “commitment to long-term placemaking”, its “ESG commitment” and the inclusion of “bold social impact initiatives”.
Sponsored by Ashdown Phillips & Partners
Bloom was established by Tom Davies and Sam McGirr in May 2020 with a mission to transform under-utilised real estate in central London into ‘ultra-urban’ industrial and logistics space. The key motivator for the pair is to achieve market-leading and future-proofed ESG credentials, with schemes targeting BREEAM ‘Excellent’ and EPC ‘A+’ ratings.
In the past year, Bloom has acquired assets in Brixton, Greenwich, Hackney, Fulham, Camberwell and Park Royal for a total of around £78m. The portfolio comprises a mix of extensive refurbishment and ground-up redevelopment projects delivering a total floorspace of 206,000 sq ft. The idea is to align with core Greater London Authority objectives in terms of intensifying industrial land in central London.
Planning consents have already been achieved for the Brixton, Hackney and Greenwich schemes and Bloom has secured a £93m debt facility from Nuveen Real Estate to enable the development of the six London projects. “They are really grabbing the ESG,” said one judge. “I loved their proactive community agenda as well.”
Sponsored by BKL
British Land and pension fund AustralianSuper’s joint venture to finance the 53-acre development of London’s Canada Water is set to be one of the most significant development deals of the 2020s. The partnership funding for Canada Water will accelerate the delivery of a mixed-use destination that should produce one of the UK’s most sustainable regeneration schemes.
The £580m deal demonstrates British Land’s proactive approach to recycling capital, enabling it to deliver new homes, workspace and opportunities for local people faster, while unlocking value for shareholders.
Canada Water will be London’s first new town centre for more than 50 years, with the masterplan inspired by the 15-minute-neighbourhood concept. Ultimately, it will deliver up to 3,000 net zero homes (including a minimum 35% affordable housing), 2m sq ft of office space and up to one million sq ft of leisure, cultural and educational facilities, alongside 12 acres of new open spaces.
Judges praised its potential to “change the face of London” and for aiming to “set new standards”.
Sponsored by Dwellant
One of the most highly anticipated developments in Europe, Battersea Power Station (BPS) is now open to the public after an eight-year restoration. The much-loved building has been transformed into a one-of-a-kind, mixed-use destination with 254 apartments, 565,000 sq ft of office space and more than 100 shops, bars, restaurants and leisure venues.
The power station’s retail offering is housed in the landmark’s two newly restored turbine halls, which are unique in their own interior design. Turbine Hall A reflects the lavish art deco glamour of the 1930s when BPS was built, whereas Turbine Hall B, which was completed in the 1950s, has more of a brutalist, industrial look and feel.
Central to the restoration plans was opening as much of the landmark to the public as possible. The opening of the Zone 1 Battersea Power Station Underground station, which BPS contributed £300m towards, has also been a major boost to the local community, as have the 2,500 jobs created directly on BPS’s opening.
One of the judges said: “It was a superb submission, ticking all the criteria requested and to such a high standard.”
Sponsored by Trigon
Clare Coe
The co-founder of Madison Berkeley says the recruitment firm’s mission is to change the face of real estate. Certainly, the company has been involved of some of the most transformational regeneration projects in London. For instance, Coe recruited the leasing manager for the Battersea Power Station development who as part of a team was responsible for leasing half of the commercial retail element
Coe is also collaborating with Black Women in Real Estate on the ongoing #IAMWOMAN campaign and has facilitated conversations at the most senior levels within the industry regarding diversity and inclusion.
“Diversity and inclusion is not a tickbox exercise,” says Coe. “If the built environment does not reflect our changing society, it will fail.”
Judges praised her bravery and commitment to both diversity and ESG.
Louisa Dickins
Dickins is the co-founder of LMRE, which has rapidly become a leading global proptech recruitment platform and search consultancy with operations across North America, the UK, Europe and the Asia-Pacific. In 2022, LMRE opened offices in Singapore and New York, made 27 new internal hires and launched global research, key accounts and Nordic teams.
To promote the industry, Dickins set up the global podcast ‘The Propcast’, which has more than 100,000 downloads. She hosts the programme and invites guests from the built environment space to join her in conversations about innovation. The Propcast is now in the top 1% of all podcasts in the property technology category.
The judges described Dickins simply as “impressive”.
Sponsored by Irwin Mitchell
The rebrand to Related Argent in May 2022 established a new identity for the business and reinforced its vision to deliver the best of both UK and US expertise. The company blends US powerhouse Related Company’s real estate muscle with the regeneration track record of Argent.
The company’s long-term approach enabled funding decisions to be made during the Covid-19 pandemic, which helped accelerate development in 2022. For instance, securing funding and signing construction contracts worth £175m at the onset of the pandemic enabled the delivery of the first homes at Tottenham Hale, north London.
Meanwhile, a £148m Homes England funding facility secured in the depths of Covid kickstarted construction on public realm, infrastructure and basements for the new homes at Brent Cross Town, enabling Related Argent to launch its first homes to buy at the scheme, deliver a major joint venture partner and start construction on its first homes in 2022.
The judges praised the company’s “client focus” and “clear commitment” to ESG and diversity.
Sponsored by Hollis
There is nothing like going out on a high. After 36 years at Shaftesbury, Bickell retired as chief executive earlier this year following its merger with Capital & Counties to form Shaftesbury Capital. The deal created a major new force in London property, owning as it now does vast swathes of both Soho and Covent Garden.
Bickell had been in the top job at Shaftesbury since 2011 and it is clear that his leadership left the company in a robust state. Its last set of full-year accounts, for the year to the end of September 2022, showed the business back in profit following the two extraordinary years of the pandemic, with net rental income up 28% year on year.
Many in the industry attribute much of Shaftesbury’s success directly to Bickell. That is due to his undoubted business acumen and ability to anticipate the latest trends in retail and leisure. But it is also due to his warmth – people just like working with him. “He’s a real personality, who has had an outstanding career and is a real contribution to the industry,” said one judge.
Bickell has also been at the forefront of promoting diversity and inclusion in the property industry. As a former board member and current ambassador for Freehold, he strives to make the industry an open and welcoming place for all. As one judge put it: “Brian has been an inspiring leader at Shaftesbury and a beacon of hope for the LGBTQ+ community in the real estate industry.”
In a career spanning more than 30 years in urban development and regeneration, King has provided leadership in a wide variety of settings, including 20 years at The Crown Estate.
Currently head of real estate social impact at The Good Economy, King previously ran her own consultancy business and before that won plaudits for her work during the pandemic as chief executive of Revo, the retail property trade association. There, King pivoted the business to handle the economic shock of lockdowns and worked with government to secure a fair deal for property owners at a time when the focus was on saving high street brands.
Between 2016 and 2020, King was chief executive of central London housing association Soho Housing and its commercial property business, Soho Ltd, investing, developing and managing commercial and residential portfolios to provide affordable quality homes in London’s West End. In those four years, she oversaw approximately £30m in urban investment and development transactions.
When Sketchley stepped down as chief executive of Old Park Lane Management in 2021, it marked the end of a career that began in 1973 when he joined Healey & Baker, now part of Cushman & Wakefield, after finishing his studies at the University of Cambridge.
During his career at Healey & Baker, Sketchley spent 16 years working at the firm’s Netherlands office before returning to London to establish the central London investment team. In 2003, he became the chairman of the capital markets group at Cushman & Wakefield. He also served as a member of its UK management committee and was an ex-officio member of its EMEA management board. He also led the opening of the firm’s operations in the Middle East.
Announcing Sketchley’s departure, Cushman & Wakefield’s then chief executive Paul Bacon said: “Tim has been a driving force in our capital markets business in the UK and beyond. On behalf of the firm, I would like to thank Tim for his outstanding contribution over many years.”
Sponsored by James Andrew International
The irony of being probed for anti-competitive practices in the midst of a transparently difficult year will not bring much comfort to the major housebuilders.
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