The Women Re-designing the Property Industry

➕ The idea

The property world has a really bad reputation for being a salesy and corporate environment that revolves around deals and figures – think suits, lanyards and lots of money talk at conference centre networking events. While this approach to doing business has its place for some, for others it can feel a little pushy and off-putting. The current industry model clearly needs re-thinking, as it seems to be filtering out women at all levels.

Here at Beespace, we’ve been chatting to Bekki, Creative Director at Steele & Stovell (@bekki_stovell), about this a lot over the past year and decided that it was time someone stepped up to demonstrate how things could be done differently – there is room in this industry for more developers to embrace creativity, innovative design, and a focus on well-being.

After collaborating with Steele & Stovell on some really exciting projects, we felt that it was time for this conversation to be opened up to a wider audience. So we decided to host an event – ‘Branded Property’ – which would start a conversation about all things branding and property, and explore how design and wellbeing could be prioritised as highly as finances and figures, in the hope that more female property developers would identify and step forward.

➕ The Event

‘Branded Property: The Women Re-designing the Property Industry’ event took place at a gorgeous tapas bar in the centre of our hometown of Nottingham, and we were honoured enough to welcome 60 female property developers from across the country.

Alongside Bekki and myself (Jade from Beespace), we hosted two other fantastic female property developers; Philippa Charrier of Fat Properties (@fatproperties) and Sarah Hodge of Maygreen Investments (@maygreeninvestments), as part of the panel. The evening saw our audience of 60 women in property come together to share stories, network and seek advice.

➕ The talks

1 – JADE BAILEY, BEESPACE PROPERTIES
I was lucky enough to kick off the evening’s talks, as I shared about my move into property and the journey I’ve been on over the last two years with Beespace. I spoke about my expertise in designing HMO’s (Houses of Multiple Occupancy) and about how I pull my brand into every space we create.

2 – BEKKI STOVELL, STEELE & STOVELL
Bekki took the stage to discuss the importance of branding within the property industry, and shared an insight into the elements that come together to build a powerful identity, encouraging everyone to consider the message and values behind everything they create. She also talked about using brand to enrich the experience within a property, and how this can have a snowball effect for the strength of a brand.

3 – PHILLIPA CHARRIER, FAT FREE PROPERTIES
The first of our guests, Philippa Charrier, shared her property story – talking about the importance of prioritising wellbeing when designing a home, and how developers should think of their tenants as customers rather than commodities to enable them to better consider their needs. We were moved to hear Philippa speak so openly about her life, projects and career.

4 – SARAH HODGE, MAYGREEN INVESTMENTS
Our final speaker was Sarah Hodge. Sarah has built an incredible property portfolio and her business has now grown to the point where she is able to walk away from the day-job – something she set out to achieve when moving into property. She encouraged everyone to step outside of their comfort zone, to be bold, and not to give in to limiting beliefs.

➕ The panel

After the talks, we opened the floor to the audience for a Q&A which was streamed live on Instagram. Over 40 questions were submitted ahead of time, with more put forward on the day, so we worked through as many as we were able to – covering HMO design, marketing a new business, working with small budgets and securing investment.

➕ Networking

The event was due to finish at 5pm, but the chatting, story-swapping and drinking continued well into the night. We were blown away by the incredible feedback that we received from this and it really feels like momentum is building around this creative and intuitive approach to property development.

➕ What’s next?

We’ll be continuing our mission to provide a platform for women in property – there’s lots of exciting stuff to come – so watch this space and be sure to follow both @___beespace and @bekki_stovell on Instagram for updates.

We’re so excited to see this community flourish.

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Photography by Felix Russell-Saw @felixrussellsaw