Lockdown diaries: U+I’s Matthew Weiner

Matthew Weiner is the chief executive at U+I. He shares his day – on Wednesday 17 June – from an early morning start to finalising a £770m planning application and the return of the Premier League. It seems ironic that one of my new year’s resolutions was to focus on my wellbeing when now it’s all that anyone can think about. I struggle to sleep at the best of times – often to the exasperation of my family when they find me at my desk at 5am – so this enforced period of lockdown has challenged my discipline and willpower to the extreme. I still wake early, but now I go for a run to clear my mind before taking to my home office and diving into my to-do list. That list is particularly long too. Lockdown has coincided with a busy period at U+I, with several key projects reaching critical funding and development milestones. I’ve been so impressed by the flexibility and resourcefulness (not to mention the technical savvy) of my colleagues, who have all adapted to working from home and co-ordinating their projects remotely with ease and good humour. We might be “out of office”, but we’re still firing on all cylinders. As testament to that, this week we’ve been buoyed by the good news that Landmark Court, our mixed-use scheme in partnership with Transport for London, received the green light from Southwark’s virtual planning committee. Even though I was confident about our proposals, which will deliver new homes, shops, offices and workspace and protect a historic memorial garden, the pre-committee nerves meant I tuned in to watch the proceedings unfold with trepidation. Seeing members and councillors debate the merits of the scheme on screen was yet another surreal first, but my anxieties were unfounded, and we comfortably secured resolution to grant planning consent. Safe to say we were all very relieved and had a drink together via Zoom last night to celebrate the team’s success. Many of my calls this morning were about Morden Wharf, a scheme on Greenwich Peninsula that is almost ready to be submitted for planning. We’ve worked so hard with the local community to develop proposals that will serve and benefit them, by creating more than 1,000 new homes, hundreds of new jobs and a huge new public park. It’s an emotional moment to be preparing to unveil our plans to the world, but for now we’re all busily finalising the details and getting the paperwork in order. Like many others, I’ve often felt overwhelmed by the sheer volume of calls packed into a single day, but much of what we do is based on building and maintaining personal relationships. Now that we have the relative luxury of being able to meet up with people outside, I’ve been trying to go for socially distanced walks with various local friends and business contacts to break the monotony – it certainly makes for a more productive (and less eye-watering) conversation than staring at a screen. This afternoon I did just that, but promptly got caught by a passing downpour. Back at home, I spend some time on a project I’m personally very committed to as part of my charity work for Jewish Care. I speak to various people to make sure that we’re back on track to deliver their new retirement campus in Stanmore. Even though you could say it’s a busman’s holiday, taking some charity-focused downtime to talk about property, it’s a different kind of conversation and provides an important perspective on work/life balance. I’m very grateful that I can use my skills and experience to support a cause that I feel passionate about, especially at the moment, when charities are under even more pressure than normal. Perhaps the most exciting moment of my day came with a doorstep Covid-19 swab test this afternoon. It wasn’t remotely pleasant – deep into my mouth and up my nose – but it was all in the name of research, so I was glad to do it. This evening, of course, it’s the return of football, and an opportunity to share an emotional roller coaster with my son, Oli, as our Arsenal plays Man City. I want to say that I’m going to enjoy Arsenal taking a win from our Mayfield neighbours, but something tells me otherwise.