'We Are In A Unique Period Of Transformation'

William Riordan is the chair of ULI Young Leaders in Europe, made up of members under 35 years old, and sits on the ULI Europe Executive Committee. He is a director at Value Retail & S.D. Malkin Properties, where he has been a leader in the development and operation of commercial, retail, hospitality and master-planned projects throughout Europe, North America and Asia.

Bisnow: Do you believe that we are in a unique period of transformation of the built environment, or has there always been a steady state of change?

Riordan: We are in a unique period of transformation, as the definition of what constitutes the built environment, and thus the real estate industry, is in flux.

What was historically a clearly defined industry has expanded substantially to include many activities previously considered peripheral. This redefinition has been driven by growing evidence of the economic benefit of the direct alignment between property developers and investors with operators — in effect the merging of PropCos and OpCos, in theory if not always in practice — as well as the creation of asset-backed operating platforms.

This is an exciting trend as it broadly benefits all parties involved. For the end user, this results in a product that is usually better suited to their needs, as the operator has been more fully involved in its creation, and for the developer, investor and operator (sometimes the same), this alignment frequently enhances economic returns due to the better, more efficient or more appropriate use of space.

Bisnow: What skills will be essential to succeed in the real estate industry in the future? 

Riordan: I was originally attracted to the real estate industry due to its innate entrepreneurial nature. Each project requires creativity, as every situation and every building is different and a microcosm of a business in itself.

However, real estate is an industry that historically has had high barriers to entry due to the substantial upfront cost of acquiring, building or renovating a physical space (versus the entry cost for tech, which is frequently related primarily to human talent).

As the industry expands and broadens, these barriers to entry should reduce, and the industry will likely become even more entrepreneurially oriented. As such, the skill set required for many roles will become more reliant on the ability to be creative and to innovate.

In addition, due to the critical need for real estate to become more sustainable (buildings generate nearly 40% of global CO2), the industry will also favour those with specific technical skills that can help address the urgent requirements for improvements in building design, adaptive reuse and the science of materials as well as many more related areas.

Bisnow: Will new roles exist in real estate in 2035 that don't exist now; and conversely will any current roles disappear by then?

Riordan: I believe that in the near to midterm, there will be a greater requirement for broad strategic roles as well as those that require very specific technical and/or operational capabilities.

Whilst this may seem at first contradictory, it is broadly consistent with an industry that is becoming more strategic, innovative and entrepreneurial whilst simultaneously becoming more operationally integrated and one with the additional critical requirement to build better or more sustainably.

Conversely, those skills that will likely become less in demand will likely be the traditional baseline financial modelling skills, much of which could potentially be addressed by artificial intelligence and technology.

Bisnow: How does technology support your current role, and what additional tech do you envisage for the future?

Riordan: I believe that the greatest impact that technology has and will have on the industry is not the specific tools that our colleagues use in their roles, but rather those macro technological changes that impact our use of cities and space in general.

For example, Uber and easy access to on-demand transport has opened up cities, Airbnb has reshaped neighbourhoods, and Zoom has changed the way we work.

Whilst I cannot predict the technology of the future, I envision that it will further reduce the friction of travel, thus supporting the real estate underpinning hospitality product, and enhance the flexibility of work, thus impacting both the use of office space as well as residential composition and location.