Transcript:
At Grosvenor I work within fund management, predominantly on the residential investment fund. I also have quite a bit of involvement in the residential part of the Liverpool fund.
I don’t really have a typical working day − it’s always different. I come in about 8.30 and go through my emails. I might have a few investment opportunities to look at, so we can learn a bit more about them. There might be an upcoming investor meeting that we have to prepare for. And I’ll probably have something to do around managing the sites that the fund already owns, involving dealing with the managing agents. There might also be completely random things to do, such as being interviewed for the website, like right now. Sometimes there are trips − for example we went up to see the family estate in Chester, and got to see the bull sperm factory, which was particularly unusual on a day-to-day basis! More usually, we might go out to see the shopping centres, of which we have quite a few.
In my first year one of the most interesting things I was involved in was the set-up of the new residential investment fund. I particularly enjoyed that because I was able to see the start of something that will eventually become very big within Grosvenor. One of the most fascinating things was developing the strategy − deciding what’s going to work in the current market, and identifying where we can make money for our investors.
I think my greatest achievement while at Grosvenor has been qualifying as a chartered surveyor, which I did at the end of last year. It’s a two-year training programme, and Grosvenor prepares you very well for it − getting you to work in various parts of the business, and learning very different things. We also have the help of an external consultant. I was fairly sure that I had failed the exam, but it transpired that I hadn’t. Grosvenor actually has a 100% success rate, so I’m glad I didn’t spoil that. This compares to a national average of about 50%, so we are clearly really well set up.
One of the areas where I have been given quite a lot of responsibility in my time at Grosvenor is in helping to manage the Eaton Square portfolio − one of the most exclusive residential addresses in the world. As the junior person on the team I was involved in the rent reviews, but unlike in a typical company I was actually negotiating with the residents [r1] of these properties, which might be flats worth between £500,000 and £5m. So I was meeting some very high-profile people and trying to persuade them that they really did want to pay more than they were willing to pay for their rent.
The thing I like most about working at Grosvenor is the diversity of the work that I do. One day I might be dealing with a multi-million millionaire negotiating his rent. Another day I might be speaking to the council and trying to persuade them to agree with our leasing strategy in Liverpool. Or I might be negotiating the sale or purchase of a property where we can make a bit more money for our investors. I really get a kick out of being constantly challenged and learning a whole lot of new things about property.