Remembering CBRE global data manager Paul Lunn

EG has lost one of its own, writes Jackie Sadek, chief operating officer at UK Regeneration.   Paul Lunn, who very sadly died this week at 55, was a famous name in property research circles, having forged a career developing ground-breaking databases, primarily in the office but also in the business park and retail sectors. In a world where, increasingly, data is king, Paul has been at the cutting edge of the industry response for over three decades. Having started his career at Ken Livingstone’s GLC, in 1989 Paul went to work with the late Geoff Marsh and his legendary team of self-confessed “geeks and nerds” at Applied Property Research.  While there, Paul helped develop the APR stable of innovative evidence-based products, including the infamous APR “Blue Book”. He initially managed a stock database of central London, then created a planning and development database of all South East markets while also managing a UK-wide database of business parks.  In the early ’90s Applied Property Research morphed to become London Residential Research, as focus shifted to the residential sector. Paul moved to Chestertons as senior researcher in 1995, where he oversaw a number of highly regarded publications. In 1997 Paul came to work for Reed Business Information to help set up EGi under the watchful parental eye of Estates Gazette, first at its office in Wardour Street, later moving to Holborn. Reed then acquired London Residential Research to bolster EGi, together with the original team of “geeks and nerds”. Things had moved full circle, the band was back together again, and Paul was overjoyed to be reunited.  EGi became a crack research team.  Flexing with economic cycles, and with the twists and turns of our industry, Paul was at EGi for eight formative years, eventually managing a team of 40 researchers monitoring the property market throughout the UK. He developed the bespoke database system that ran all the individual database products on the EGi website, and he set up a specialised research team in Manchester to monitor the north of England and Scotland. In a shrewd move, CBRE recruited Paul in 2007, where he remained a valued colleague until his untimely demise. Paul was global data manager at CBRE, where he developed and managed CBRE’s ERIX database system.  This cemented Paul Lunn’s reputation as the ultimate “researcher’s researcher”. He became internationally renowned. ERIX provides aggregated property data from over 220 cities across the globe, and the service is updated quarterly and available on subscription to key clients and to researchers internally. Paul was known as a gentle soul. He was also very brave. Initially diagnosed with a brain tumour, he battled with ill health for the best part of a decade, facing treatment with stoic determination and calmly working throughout. He steadfastly kept up his relationship with his wide circle of friends, staff and family to the end. CBRE were hugely supportive. He was also brave in his personal life. Having come out as gay in his early 40s, he amicably dissolved his marriage to Diane (a best friend to the last) with whom he had two – now grown-up and successful – daughters, to make a home with his partner, Jason O’Malley (now Jason O’Malley Lunn). The couple married very recently, in a poignant “lockdown ceremony” with family members in early April.  Describing Paul, one of his former staff said he was a “caring and conscientious manager. Paul always had time for his team and was good at explaining what he needed to be done in an easy manner”. Paul Lunn was a world authority in office markets.  The property sector has lost an enormous reservoir of serious expertise.