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1 Introduction
Penny Norton and Liz Male
Property: an extensive and varied industry
The world’s real estate is worth US$280.6 trillion1: on average 3.5 times gross domestic product (GDP) and significantly more so in Europe, China/Hong Kong and North America. In the UK, the total stock of property assets has grown at an average rate of 6.1 per cent over 30 years2 – close to double the rate of inflation – primarily due to a significant rise in the value of residential property.
Unsurprisingly, then, over those 30 years a lucrative market for public relations (PR) in property has continued to grow. Of the UK PR and communications industry – itself worth £14.9 billion and employing more than 95,000 people3 – approximately 17 per cent now work in property and construction.4
Given the size and diversity of the property industry, property PR is inevitably wide-ranging, encompassing most of the industry’s skills and specialisms. The many different sub-disciplines of PR – which include business to business PR, community relations, consumer PR, corporate PR, crisis management, corporate social responsibility (CSR), education and arts work, sponsorship, financial PR, local government lobbying, media relations, public consultation, social and online media, and stakeholder engagement – are deployed at most stages.
This book, and its partner book Communicating Construction: Insight, Experience and Best Practice,5 explains and showcases how these PR disciplines operate at each stage of the property cycle.
The property process consists of various stages, as shown in Figure 1.1, but with each intrinsically connected to the next. There is no isolated discipline or sector, or indeed any single property sector. For this reason, it is vital that a communications professional working in a specific field has a good understanding of the broader context.
Furthermore, the end product varies considerably. This book covers the function of promoting a large-scale mixed-use scheme and the variety of property types that may exist within such a scheme (commercial and retail, private housing, social housing, student accommodation, build to rent, and the ‘top end’ of the residential market). It goes on to cover interior design and looks at how properties are marketed, with sections on estate agency (both on and offline) and the growing function of proptech. A chapter on property consultancy describes the communications function of companies that provide advice and services at each stage of the property process.
Figure 1.1 The property lifecycle.6
Communications professionals working within any of these disciplines are advised not only to read about their own area but to gain a greater understanding of the PR practices in other specialisms.
While sectors as diverse as social housing and interior design, master-planning and proptech might appear worlds apart, the essential communications skills – the basis of research and understanding; planned, two-way, clear and transparent communication; monitored and evaluated – remain constant, and there is no better way of benefiting understanding of one sector than through a knowledge of the bigger picture.
Change and challenge
External influences
Property is an exciting sector because of the way in which it is impacted by (and influences) social, technological, political and economic change.
Nothing stands still in property. As Table 1.1 shows, property PR is impacted by an extremely wide range of external influences and must consistently adapt and respond.
Modernisation from within
Simultaneously, the property industry is under considerable internal pressure to modernise itself, and the communications function is instrumental in delivering and promoting change.
A report carried out by the Quoted Companies Alliance and BDO LLP7 shows that a significant proportion of a company’s value – around 28 per cent – is accounted for by its reputation. And in an industry where stakeholder voices are increasingly heard – from residents only too happy to leverage various online channels (ApartmentRatings.com, Google Reviews, Facebook and others) to communicate their displeasure and frustration with property issues, to the stock market, which immediately reflects damaged reputation – it is vital that public profiles are safeguarded.
The housebuilding industry in particular has suffered from reputational damage in relation to poor standards,8 executive pay9 and leasehold abuses.10 More generally, the property industry has brought reputational damage upon itself through some of its outdated and morally questionable activities at both its annual global conference, MIPIM11 and at an exclusive charitable function, The President’s Club.12
Environmental responsibility also poses a reputational challenge. Buildings account for 32 per cent of global energy use and 19 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions.13 The commitment to improve environmental sustainability in UK property and construction has been significant, yet greater effort is needed to meet the urgency of the climate change situation and society’s expectations. And again, the challenge is not only in bringing about the change: it is in communicating positive change and in doing so, educating, challenging preconceptions and supporting broader environmental progress.
Another issue for the property sector is recruitment and retention, and again, communications is vital in addressing this. Property development and its construction supply chain have been tangibly impacted by a shortage of suitable workers. Despite some very positive steps on behalf of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) and industry groups (Freehold, Planning Out, Women in Property, Women in Construction and others), the public perception of the property sector is that of a male-dominated workforce that lacks diversity. Attempts to rectify the imbalance are showing signs of success,14 but perceptions shift at a slower pace than statistics, and tackling sentiment (albeit with the help of statistics) is the PR challenge. Furthermore, the construction industry has relied heavily on skilled workers from the European Union, who, at the time of writing, are leaving the UK in greater numbers than they are arriving for the first time in a decade,15 and more than a fifth of the workforce is over the age of 50.16 Communications will be instrumental in recruiting and retaining talent into the industry.
Table 1.1 Sample external factors influencing property PR
| Social | • Rising consumer demand for housing, associated facilities and infrastructure • Demographic change: the rise of Generation X (the ‘experience generation’) and the ‘silver tsunami’ resulting in changing expectations of housing and retail/leisure facilities • Social change leading to the introduction of new property assets – including co-working, pop-ups and co-living, retirement villages, and an increase in student housing as a result of more young people attending university • Changing opinion – for example, on climate change • Changing consumer demands – affecting the layout and composition of residential units • A requirement for a greater emphasis on social responsibility and wellbeing in the built environment – such as WELL* Version 2** |
| Political | • General elections, local elections and pre-election purdah • Emerging policy – on infrastructure, industry, housing, planning and regional economic programmes such as the Northern Powerhouse and the Oxford to Cambridge Arc • Impact of policy reviews (Task Forces, White Papers) o... |
