Summer’s over so let’s get to it

EDITOR’S COMMENT And just like that summer is over. The mornings are darker, the evenings are closing in, the extended breaks and clocking off early because there is no one really about are drawing to an end. It is time to get back to it. Three months remain of 2023 and while it looks unlikely that the investment markets are going to get back to the heady heights of 2022, there’s still plenty for real estate to feel upbeat about as we close out the year and get ready for a bigger, better, brighter and bolder 2024. And we’re starting right now. In this issue we reveal the nine Rising Stars who will be battling it out to take home a coveted EG Award at the real estate bash of year at London’s Grosvenor House on 17 October. If I was being my normal cheesy self, I would say they are all winners already. But the real winner is you. The real winner is this industry because we have young people like these nine in it. Making it better. Caring deeply about its transformation and about showcasing real estate for all it can be. And it is not just these nine – EG has now crowned some 115 Rising Stars. Couple that with the 55 EG Future Leaders who we have given the invaluable skill of meaningful communication to and the future can’t be anything but bright. And that’s just EG. I know so many others out there are doing the same. Providing platforms, sponsorship and a helping hand to the next generation of great leaders in the sector. It is these sorts of actions – regardless of what is happening in the day-to-day of real estate investment and trading – that really matter. It is these behaviours that will help us navigate whatever stormy weather comes our way. And with that in mind, included with your EG this week is a new publication we have launched to showcase the built environment as the brilliant sector we all know it is – or at least can be. Starting Out in Real Estate is our gift to you. Written for 16-20-year-olds, it provides a guide to building a career in property, showcasing the very many exciting and varied jobs there are and the very many routes into the sector there are. It also provides a handy lexicon around what real estate actually is. It’s a great read if you’re over 20 too, but this is the key to showing every kid who thinks property is estate agency or construction that it is so much more. This is our gift to the sector, but it does come with an ask. Please use it. Take it to your local school. Give it to your kids to take to their school, use it with your company outreach programmes. Make sure it gets read. Have conversations with kids about it. Get them excited about this wonderful sector we get to play in every day. Protect the future of real estate by showing them all it has to offer. It’s not all about the next generation when it comes to plotting a new future, of course. I’m sure Sir Stuart Lipton won’t mind me saying he’s part of the older generation, but as he reveals in this week’s EG Interview, he is also very much focused on what real estate can and should be. And there’s definitely a whole lot of playfulness left in Lipton. He’s on a mission to make our offices more than the workhouses so many of them have become. He wants to bring the love back – quite literally – and the joy. “In property, we are meant to be a service industry, but we walk through these dull streets with dull buildings,” he tells us. That needs to change, he says. And it is up to us – to you, in fact – to do it. It is up to you, and the 115 EG Rising Stars, the 55 EG Future Leaders and every single kid you pass the Starting Out in Real Estate guide to do it. And while we might not get there in the next three months, I truly believe we will get there. And not too far in the future. Welcome back. Let’s get to it. To send feedback, e-mail samantha.mcclary@eg.co.uk or tweet @samanthamcclary or @EGPropertyNews