Property industry leaders discuss key challenges at Brabners Lancashire event

Senior leaders at Brabners’ inaugural ‘Building Links’ event on 5 July agreed that the property and construction sector must work together to tackle growing economic pressures.

The new quarterly event, held at Brabners’ Lancashire office, has been launched to bring together leaders from the region’s property and construction industry to meet fellow professionals who share a passion for what they do while debating key issues and sharing best practice.

Attendees heard from Nick Gerrard — growth and prosperity programme director at Blackpool Council — who outlined the town’s £2bn regeneration strategy. Nick provided insight into the distinctive challenges faced by Blackpool and in the market generally.

This was followed by a panel discussion chaired by Jennie Jones, a partner in Brabners’ construction team, featuring industry experts Chris Everett (Capital Consulting International) and Martin Maloney (Leonard Curtis), as well as Brabners’ Zoe Pond and Michael Winder.

The discussion highlighted the pressures on the industry, which include rising material costs, land prices and labour shortages, as well as potential solutions to overcome challenges in the market.

The solutions discussed included the need for more risk sharing in the way that construction contracts are structured (as highlighted by Zoe Pond) and a more proactive management approach to be taken with subcontractors and employers, designed to ride out the peaks and troughs suffered with inflation at present (as highlighted by Chris Everett).

Jennie Jones said: “Property and construction is a core sector for Brabners. Our dedicated team contains more than 50 sector specialists who support clients on a range of related issues. This is why we are so keen to help businesses and share our knowledge through discussions like these.

“Our first Building Links event was a huge success and the discussion has really helped to shape the theme for our next event. I’m really excited to be leading this initiative to bring together passionate market leaders in the local area to share their ideas to drive the Lancashire property and construction sector forward.”

The next Brabners Building Links event is currently scheduled for Wednesday 18 October. Property professionals interested in the next event can enquire by contacting events@brabners.com. Attendees of July’s event will be contacted directly.

Brabners’ property team is one of the largest in the North West. It includes leading experts in construction, residential, commercial, industrial, retail, office and leisure, who advise clients at every stage of the legal process.