This week, I sat down with Emma Cariaga, Chief Operating Officer at British Land, to unpack what it really takes to run one of the UK's largest listed real estate businesses during a period of structural change, capital market pressure, and sector consolidation.

Emma is COO of British Land, a FTSE 100 property company with over 170 years of history and a portfolio concentrated in retail parks and London campuses. Having built her career from trainee land buyer to development director at Landsec before joining British Land, Emma brings deep operational and development experience across residential, mixed use, large scale regeneration and campus strategy, including the transformation of Canada Water into a major London campus.

In this conversation, Emma explains how real estate has fundamentally shifted from a passive, rent collecting asset class into an operational business requiring agility, data, customer centricity and active asset management. We explore why British Land continued developing while others paused, how limited supply of prime London office space is driving rental growth, and why retail parks have repositioned themselves into a 99% occupied format built around affordability, flexibility and convenience.

We also discuss the increasing importance of scale in listed real estate, the wave of M&A activity across the REIT sector, and whether smaller platforms can realistically survive in today's capital constrained environment. Emma shares insights on leadership, transitioning from being "on the tools" to operating at executive level, and why building non executive experience alongside an executive career can sharpen judgement.

Finally, we look at British Land's strategic positioning, its new headquarters move onto one of its own campuses, and what the next chapter may look like for the listed real estate sector.

Key Topics Covered in This Episode

✅ From Land Buyer to FTSE 100 Leadership

Emma's route into real estate and the lessons learned along the way.

✅ The Return of Prime London Offices

Why top quality space near transport nodes is in limited supply and delivering rental growth.

✅ Retail Parks Repositioned

How omni retailing and cost efficiency have driven 99% occupancy.

✅ Real Estate Has Become Operational

Flex products, shorter leases and a more customer focused asset model.

✅ Scale, M&A and The Future of Listed Real Estate

Why scale may now be essential in public markets.

And of course, I asked Emma the big question:

Who are the People, what Property, and which Place would you invest in if you had £500 million to deploy?

If you have thoughts or questions about this episode, drop them in the comments. I'd love to hear your take.

The People Property Place Podcast is powered by Rockbourne, recruiting leadership talent for real estate funds, owners, investors, and developers.

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👉 http://peoplepropertyplace.com/

This week, I sat down with Michelle Hancock to unpack the journey from psychology graduate to property entrepreneur, and how she helped pioneer institutional build to rent in the UK long before it was widely accepted.

Michelle is Founder and Managing Director of Hilltop Capital Partners. Before launching Hilltop, she worked across US and UK real estate, including early exposure to multifamily housing in the United States, and later bringing that institutional rental mindset into the UK market at a time when many believed renting would never become a lifestyle choice.

In this conversation, Michelle shares how growing up in a family business shaped her entrepreneurial mindset, and why she made the difficult decision to pivot away from a career in clinical psychology after years of study. That willingness to change direction led her into real estate development, where she combined US multifamily experience with a long term conviction around UK rental housing.

We explore the early days of institutional build to rent in the UK, when pension funds and advisors were sceptical, and Michelle was repeatedly told that everyone in Britain wanted to own rather than rent. She explains how she built conviction around demographic change, quality rental supply gaps and the concept of renting as a lifestyle choice.

The conversation then moves into Hilltop's strategy, targeting the so called squeezed middle and key worker demographic, where the need for high quality, attainable rental housing is most acute. Michelle outlines the viability pressures facing mid market rental delivery today, and why building now into a supply constrained environment could create long term opportunity.

We also discuss capital raising in a global market where UK development competes for attention and allocation, and why resilience, persistence and finding the right partner can be more important than finding hundreds of investors. Michelle shares candid lessons on entrepreneurship, including the advice she received that starting a business is like being in a rowboat with no oars, and why she chose to do it anyway.

This is a conversation about conviction, mid market housing, entrepreneurship and building through difficult cycles.

Key Topics Covered in This Episode

✅ From Psychology to Property

Why Michelle pivoted careers after years of study and what that taught her about risk and conviction.

✅ Early Institutional Build to Rent

How she introduced US multifamily thinking into a sceptical UK market.

✅ Renting as a Lifestyle Choice

Challenging the assumption that everyone wants to own.

✅ The Squeezed Middle Opportunity

Targeting key workers and mid market rental housing in a viability constrained environment.

✅ Raising Capital in a Global Market

Why alignment and persistence matter more than volume.

✅ Building Hilltop Capital Partners

Entrepreneurship, partnership and long term platform thinking.

✅ Resilience and Founder Mindset

The "never leave your chair" philosophy and showing up every day.

And of course, I asked Michelle the big question:

Who are the People, what Property, and which Place would you invest in if you had £500 million to deploy?

If you have thoughts or questions about this episode, drop them in the comments. I'd love to hear your take.

The People Property Place Podcast is powered by Rockbourne, recruiting leadership talent for real estate funds, owners, investors, and developers. 🔊 LIKE ➡ SHARE ➡ SUBSCRIBE 👉 http://peoplepropertyplace.com/

This week, I sat down with Andrew Hynard to unpack a corporate career that spans more than three decades at JLL, the chief executive leadership of one of London's most prestigious estates, and a post-executive chapter advising some of the most interesting property businesses in the UK.

Andrew spent the majority of his career at JLL focused on Capital Markets, ultimately becoming Deputy Chairman of the UK business. He later became Chief Executive of The Howard de Walden Estate, overseeing 90 acres in Marylebone with a portfolio heavily weighted toward private healthcare in and around Harley Street. Today, he advises businesses including Clipstone Investment Management, Howard Group, Orega, Taurus Developments and Love Ventures, a VC investor in early stage technology companies 

In this conversation, Andrew reflects on growing up as the son of a surveyor in Hastings and deciding at just ten years old that property would be his path. We explore his early decision to specialise in investment rather than rotate through departments, and why he later regretted not gaining broader technical grounding despite accelerating his capital markets career.

We go deep into his time at JLL, including the cultural and strategic forces behind the merger with King Sturge, how he navigated internal politics without burning bridges, and why playing the long game and treating people with decency became his defining leadership philosophy.

Andrew also shares the transition from advisory to client side when he became CEO of Howard de Walden, what it really means to run a £3–4 billion estate in one of London's most complex submarkets, and why attracting world class healthcare operators like Cleveland Clinic was a defining moment.

We then turn to today's market. Andrew gives a candid view on the state of UK real estate, the leadership reset across major advisory firms, where growth is actually coming from, why income will dominate returns for the foreseeable future, and why he believes we are approaching an inflection point rather than a falling knife moment.

Finally, we explore his portfolio of advisory roles, his work in venture capital, and why mentoring the next generation is one of the most important investments he now makes.

Key Topics Covered in This Episode

✅ From Hastings to Deputy Chairman

How Andrew set his sights on property at age ten and built a 30+ year capital markets career.

✅ The King Sturge Merger

The first conversation that led to one of the most significant UK advisory mergers of the past two decades.

✅ Advisory vs Client Side

What changes when you move from broker to principal and how to make that transition successfully.

✅ Leading the Howard de Walden Estate

Healthcare, tenant mix strategy, stakeholder management and long term estate stewardship.

✅ The State of the UK Market

Flat growth, tentative optimism, income driven returns and why 2025 could be a turning point.

✅ Leadership Change Across UK Agencies

Why so many CEOs have changed and what the next generation must get right.

✅ Building a Post Executive Portfolio

Advisory roles, venture capital, mentoring and giving back to the industry.

And of course, I asked Andrew the big question:

Who are the People, what Property, and which Place would you invest in if you had £500 million to deploy?

If you have thoughts or questions about this episode, drop them in the comments. I'd love to hear your take.

The People Property Place Podcast is powered by Rockbourne, recruiting leadership talent for real estate funds, owners, investors, and developers.

🔊 LIKE ➡ SHARE ➡ SUBSCRIBE

👉 http://peoplepropertyplace.com/