Reading Real Estate Foundation shows that impactful collaboration between academia industry is possible
Finding the magic collaboration formula that makes industry and academic institutions click is not an easy task with the UK's university landscape littered with grand link-ups that failed to live up to their potential.
The Reading Real Estate Foundation (RREF) is a rare success story in that it has been bringing the property industry together with academia at Henley Business School, part of the University of Reading, for over 20 years.
The Foundation conducts research in partnership with the property industry, helps to diversify the backgrounds of those entering it and also provides support to students studying in the Department of Real Estate & Planning at the University of Reading through mentorship and financial support.
The RREF also provides seed funding to academics to test ideas while its backers also fund PhD students.
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Executive Director of RREF, Jean Pierre Choulet, has been at Henley Business School for over eight years and, alongside his lead role with Foundation, he is also in charge of growing the institution’s presence in Africa and cementing its alumni links.
He said: "It's very complicated for academic research to find its way into the industry and the purpose of the Foundation is to be a forum for conversation between academia and the property industry.
"Frustration is everywhere. It is with the academics as they dont want to be led by the industry and the industry thinks that the content is not easy to understand and doesn't have immediate impact.
"We have been able to create a framework for this conversation to happen. For the industry to meet with academics, argue and debate."
Diversity in the property sector is a key topic in boardrooms, as it is in other industries too, with the property industry keen to shed its boys' club image and attract people from different backgrounds.
There are two main barriers, according to Jean Pierre, that prevent people from entering the property industry with one being a fear that their background is not suitable and the other that they are unsure about going to university.
Jean Pierre said: "We need to demonstrate you don’t need to own an estate or be part of a club to deliver value to the property industry.
"Diversity is in the DNA of the Foundation and the property industry needs it to be competitive. This could be diversity in gender background, ethnicity but also academic excellence.
"If they replicate their own profiles in their hiring, which has been the case in the property sector for centuries, then they will disappear."
RREF's Pathways to Property Programme is evidence of the above vision with over 100 Year 12 students going through the programme each year.
The project works on their self confidence alongside giving them an insight into the sector.
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Jean Pierre said: "We are very proud of this signature programme which this year is taking 109 students who have no relation to the university and no family members working in real estate.
"Most of them will end up studying at other universities however this programme is very much the signature of the Foundation and its impact will be felt well beyond the University of Reading."
The list of RREF's supporting partners is akin to a 'who's who' of the property industry with prominent supporters including real estate services firm Savills, investors Landsec, developers Hammerson and retailer John Lewis to name but a few.
What is it that attracts so many corporate and indeed individual supporters to the foundation when similar schemes struggle to gain such industry traction?
Jean Pierre says its appeal can be traced back to inception two decades ago when it was set up as a project sitting outside of the University of Reading between one academic and the industry itself.
The Foundation, which has charitable status, is now firmly in the fabric of the University of Reading but retains a large degree of autonomy.
Jean Pierre said: "What makes the foundation unique is the support that we have from industry. It is within the university but is able to impact beyond it."
It is this 'impact', says Jean Pierre, that is vital to gaining and retaining the support of the Foundation's commercial partners.
Its latest research paper, which was also the subject of the Foundation’s annual Summit, looked at how powerful real estate is as an economic actor in the UK and how it can be leveraged for a host of societal benefits including sustainability and increased productivity.
Jean Pierre said: "We have corporate support because we deliver impact for them in terms of our research.
"We are not naive, philanthropy is great and works very well, however you attract company sponsorship when you deliver impact for them.
"We are also one of the top five universities in the world for real estate and planning and by engaging, companies have access to cutting edge innovation and a new framework of thought."
The Foundation's latest paper takes a deep dive into how the industry can become a driver of sustainable change and this is reflective of an industry driven to change perceptions around it.
Jean Pierre, who started out his career as a climate science research engineer, said: "One of the great trends of the industry is to reflect on their environmental and social impacts.
"For the moment we are seen as part of the problem and want to switch that to be part of the solution and transform this industry in terms of negative carbon impact to be a force for good."
Jean Pierre has been at the Henley Business School for eight years and has plans to expand the Foundation with a particular focus on entrepreneurship.
He said: "It took me a while to find out all about this foundation but step-by-step and thanks to my colleagues and real estate stakeholders I have fallen in love with a foundation that has a very powerful motive behind it.
"I would like to facilitate entrepreneurship more as it creates a virtuous circle.
“When you have students that are bold enough to innovate, they create an ecosystem on campus that industry starts to pay attention to and then puts in seed funding.
"We want to set up a framework that acts as an incubator and allows entrepreneurs to grow and innovate.
"I believe this is the missing component of the Foundation."
