On Wednesday evening, Old Bloxhamists and friends of the school came together at a property careers networking event kindly hosted by Cushman & Wakefield on Old Broad Street in London.
After a warm welcome from Matthew Palmer (Wf 91-96), Partner at Cushman & Wakefield, we heard from Sam Harper (Sy 03-08), Portfolio Analyst at Astrea Asset Management. Sam gave an interesting talk on London’s commercial real estate market, specifically focusing on co-working space. He detailed on how WeWork has become central London’s biggest office space occupier. It was a great insight into how flexible office space providers are driving a market change.
We then heard from Matthew who gave a fascinating look at the commercial real estate market, focusing on the City of London. Matthew spoke about his route into the commercial sector, via reading Geography at Manchester University before studying for a Masters at London South Bank University and going straight on to join Cushman & Wakefield in 2005. He gave great insight into the global appeal of London’s real estate industry and the impact of new tech companies investing in the interesting and ever-changing London market.
Matthew then fielded questions on topics including international investors, worldwide markets, the effect of Brexit and investment into other UK commercial markets. There was then the opportunity for further networking, swapping of business cards and reminiscing about school days.