A psychologist, an economist and an engineer walk into a bar...
Unlikely bedfellows or a brave new world of expansive thinking and collaboration?
Since our first steps into consulting over a century and a half ago, we’ve learned a lot about the world we live in. We’re always happy to work with our clients and talk to the industry about how to create a socially conscious, productive and aesthetic environment.
But in the last few years, the regulatory, societal, political and financial context have sat on somewhat shifting sands. We’ve seen our relationships with clients move towards a partnership, working hand in hand with them as well as communities and investors to face the challenges of this new era we’re living in to ensure their assets are set for the future.
Hoare Lea: Advisory and Advocacy is a new consultancy offering, helping clients in all sectors ensure they’re getting the right advice at the right time to create a better built environment. It brings together diverse expertise which can be collectively harnessed or independently deployed to unravel some of the knottiest business challenges the built environment faces.
Pull up a chair and find out a little more about the skills and talent we’ve got in the mix.
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Translating complexity & staying the course.
Move aside concept and theory it’s time for ESG to demonstrate impact and progress. The backdrop today of complex regulatory and industry changes is impacting real estate and the bottom line. There seems to be no signs of this increasing complexity abating and if we’re not careful we’ll have tied ourselves up in to so many knots that the potential rewards will be missed. ESG focuses the mind on avoiding asset stranding, competitive differentiation and attracting investment. And the stakes are increasing.
It’s tired and overused to say we translate complexity into strategy but the need for those strategies to guide action and those actions to realise evidenced outcomes is most certainly coming to the fore. The only way through it is to co-create an approach to the challenges through effective solutions. Recognising that solutions in themselves can falter, ongoing stewardship will be critical.
LET'S TALK
Diana Sanchez Barajas
Navigating uncertainty, risk and resilience.
As we have been scaling the mountain that is the climate crisis, we’ve been learning as we go, yet seeing the summit has been challenging when the targets have only been defined conceptually. Net Zero Carbon as an example, encapsulates the scale of it all.
The complex interconnection and interdependency spanning the whole industry means everyone has a part to play. But what that part is isn’t necessarily clear. Adaptation for climate resilience will increasingly come to the fore in the UK as the impact of climate change is felt more deeply upon the value and sustainability of assets across the built environment.
Decarbonisation expertise, coupled with digital, data and AI to forecast potential impacts can help the industry proactively address the risks.
In addition, nature in the context of built environments and the response to the biodiversity crisis is another strand that requires considerable thought, investment and will, as we reimagine the world around us.
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Anita Barton
Unlocking the value of energy.
Achieving Net Zero Carbon is intrinsically linked to an energy transition that, depending on your outlook, presents challenge and opportunity in equal measure. One of the key challenges being access to power.
Some of the technologies and solutions needed to achieve Net Zero Carbon or overcome capacity constraints already exist, but these can be viewed as overly technical and unnecessarily expensive.
However, there are clear opportunities present in the commercial potential of energy. Leveraging operational revenues to reduce CAPEX, activating new energy revenue potential and investment, all present positive ways to unlock the value of energy.
Building a business case is the first step and that can only be achieved by navigating the energy and real estate landscape with expertise. Sometimes the solutions can be simple and others more complex but, in both cases, understanding the macros and micros of the changing energy system and the links between energy use and technology solutions is essential. While competition and collaboration may seem like opposing forces, open innovation can embrace both. Open innovation has the potential to break down systemic barriers, allowing people to be included in the process and the outcomes. It is inclusion and the broadening of horizons that drives and fuels this. Embracing open innovation is therefore an opportunity, an imperative, and even a responsibility.
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Laurence Johnson
Linzie Brown
Ensuring viability.
The utility sector has undergone radical restructuring over the last decade and continues to evolve in response to pressures resulting from regulatory change, water neutrality and the drive to Net Zero Carbon.
The present and foreseeable challenge is the confluence of increased demand and capacity constraint across electricity infrastructure. Rapid decarbonisation of electricity combined with a grid in transition is making access to power critical to viability, especially when it comes to new development and the decarbonisation of existing assets, estates and portfolios.
Concurrently, with demand set to outstrip supply in regions across the UK, the rapidly emerging challenge of access to water needs to be thrown into the mix. The industry must rethink this critical resource, as water neutrality is just as essential to viability as power.
We must connect utility infrastructure with real estate & construction industries. Understanding the inter-reliance of each enables strategies, solutions and procurement that underpins viable, resilient and future proofed.
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David Somerset
Influence and impact with humility.
Social and human factors are fast becoming financially material in the built environment, as the health and housing crises worsen and impacts of climate change on human life increase.
The complexity of understanding human behaviour in this context is an imperative for organisations of all shapes and sizes. The needs of communities are personal, interconnected and rooted in everyday experiences and understanding them is essential to a successful development strategy.
Positive impacts for present and future generations alongside economic value and societal benefits is the mission. This requires new approaches, prioritising the wellbeing of those influenced and impacted by the built environment.
We draw on leading-edge psychological and social science research to connect design, construction and operation of places. Central to this is innovation in community engagement, excellence in community communications, and leading digital approaches to monitoring and reporting. Working with communities to co-create flourishing environments which incorporate local voices, history and culture.
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Dr Paul Hanna
Outcomes focussed, straight talking.
Jargon, product sales, hyperbole and opaqueness are common in the world of digital. There is no denying that a perception change in what digital infrastructure and technology is and isn’t, is required. But when done well a digital strategy linked with built environment expertise can be a game changer.
From an enriched user experience, enhanced operational efficiency and strengthened business excellence to a flourishing property provenance, using digital technology and harnessing the power of AI we explore five core challenges across the building’s lifecycle.
Is the ambition ‘smart’ or maybe ‘intelligent’ buildings? Are we looking at a future of sentience? For the first time the potential matches up to the challenges faced.
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Ryan Elliott
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