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Home / Business & Management / Marketing / Pathways to Property: Starting Your Career in Real Estate / How do Lendlease engage with the community?

How do Lendlease engage with the community?

A development like the International Quarter London will have an impact on the local area. Watch Ben O'Rourke, IQL Managing Director, explain more.
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9.6
If you’re creating a new place, yes, it’s got to be in fit with the community around it. Yes, it’s got to be able to fit in to those norms. But you’ve also got to look for long term sustainable partnerships, whether it’s an institutional investor, whether it’s a local cafe operator, whether it’s an occupier of a building, whether it’s the chief executive of a major corporation that’s bringing their organisation here. One thing I would say is, if you are consistent with what your objective is, and that is a consistent message for all of them, what you’re trying to deliver, what you’re trying to achieve. And then from there, the conversation can evolve into what does that mean for them.
49
If you try and tailor the messaging to suit, and you lose that common thread, that common objective, it can be difficult. What I would say, is that quite often when you have a master plan, with big bones and with big ambition, it’s done at a very macro level. So it’s not until you get into the fine grind, and you get into the solution, that you find that you really need to push those boundaries. You need to confront some of the norms that have been established. You need to confront some of the assumptions.
75.1
You’ve got to do that in properly to make sure that you create something that’s quite incredible and not just go with what people want, but collaborate and communicate and coordinate with all of those around you. That’s a big differentiator for us. If we get the basics right, if we make sure that the products that we’re supplying into the market are robust, and you create a public realm that’s got great retail, that’s got great amenity, that’s got a great look and feel, that’s active, it’s curated, that involves the local community, both the community that you create and the community that’s already there adjacent to you. You bring all that together, and it becomes a destination.
113.8
Then it’s incredibly unique, it’s incredibly successful, and you leave a legacy. And one of those things is about discipline, and structure, and robustness. And one of those things is about creativity and stretching the boundaries. And if you can do all of that in a way in which you create value for your consumer, you create value for the local partners and the local authority, and the local community. You create an economic output which serves that community. Then you can create value for your shareholders as well. And that’s when it all comes together.

So far on this course, you’ve discussed the roles involved in real estate development, but it’s not only ‘professionals’ who are interested in property. We’re all ‘stakeholders’ in the property development process because we all need buildings to live and work in.

Watch Ben O’Rourke, Managing Director of the International Quarter London, discuss the Lendlease approach to community engagement. In the next Step, you’ll hear from small business owners who own a bakery near the IQL development.

How important do you think it is to engage with local stakeholders, such as community groups, during the property development process? What benefits do you think such engagement may bring to the planning process?

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This content is taken from University of Reading online course
Pathways to Property: Starting Your Career in Real Estate
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