The Cambridge University Real Estate finance & Investment Society (CUREFIS) is an influential university association jointly run by renowned real estate academics and high-calibre students at the University of Cambridge.  Its aim is to bridge the gap between academia and the Real Estate Industry.

The Current acting President is Professor Andrew Baum, with Professor Colin Lizieri standing as Senior Treasurer.

CULS Member Edward Kitchen has joined Montagu Evans as a Partner in their Planning & Development Team.

Former CULS President Douglas Blausten appointed as Deputy Chairman of the Board of the NHS Property Services Company.

Ali Young Joins CULS as the new society secretary, having taken over from Kathy Wallen on 2nd April, 2013.

London
31st January 2013, Congress Centre, London
Register now

08.00  Registration and breakfast
08.30  Chair introduction
          Jenny Buck, Head of Property, Tesco Pensions
08.40 Multi Asset Performance Overview 
          Dimitris Melas, Executive Director -Research, MSCI
08.50 IPD UK Market Performance
          Phil Tily, Managing Director -UK & Ireland, IPD
09.10 IPD UK Benchmark Results
          Malcolm Hunt, Director, UK & Ireland Client Services, IPD
09.30 Economic Review
          George Buckley, Chief UK Economist, Deutsche Bank
09.45 Panel discussion and voting pad questions
          Marcus Sperber, Managing Director, Blackrock
          Tim Francis, TIAA-CREF
10.10 Q&A
10.30 Close

Maria Weidner, MPhil REF graduate and CULS Member, now working as a modeller for Strutt & Parker, is organising a woman’s networking event for current and prospective professional women working in the real estate sector.

 The event is to be held in London at Le Pain Quotidien, W1 at 8:30am on Thursday 6^th December. http://www.lepainquotidien.co.uk/#/en_UK/locations/oxford_circus_w1f and is being organised via the group World Women in Real Estate (WWIRE) http://www.linkedin.com/groups?home=&gid=4617066&trk=anet_ug_hm&goback=%2Egmp_4617066

A Planning in London magazine conference

  Sponsored by Savills and DS2

  Hosted by Arup

13 Fitzroy Street, London, W1

Monday 26th November 2012, 9:00 to 17:15

To members of CULS – Planning in London magazine would like invite to up to 10 members of CULS to our next Planning in London event (details below) as our guests - free of charge.

The event should provide a useful snapshot of how CIL and viability testing are developing, and will include a couple of discussion panels including local planning officers, which we are still finalising.

We are keen to ensure the event reaches as wide as possible an audience and generates lively discussion for coverage in the Planning in London Yearbook to be published in January next year.

All you have to do to register for their ticket is reply to Luke Wilcox Luke.wilcox@planninginlondon.com <mailto:Luke.wilcox@planninginlondon.com> and check in on the day.

The first 10 members who register via Luke will be able to attend free of charge (normal full day price £229.00), and we will keep a list of those applying if spaces become free.

As you can see below, the event is in two parts. If you can’t make the whole day, please let Luke know which part of the day you would like to attend, or all of it if they prefer. Lunch is included.

If you accept this offer, but subsequently find you can’t come, it would be much appreciated if you could please let Luke know so we can offer the space to others.

John Gosden, who graduated in Land Economy from Emmanuel College in 1973, has become Champion Flat (Horse) Racing Trainer in the UK for 2012.

CULS annually awards three prizes in the undergraduate Tripos results and two prizes for performance in the MPhil.
The 2012 CULS Prizewinners are:

The University of Cambridge has been granted planning permission for its £1bn development in North West Cambridge.

CULS and CLEAB member Jim Garman, Global Co-Head of REal Estate at Goldman Sachs, spoke recently at a conference hosted by Private Equity Real Estate magazine.  Jim said: "We have been very cautious on Europe.  We think the European Central Bank's LTRO (Long Term Re-financing Operations) programme seemed quite effective in providing breahting room, but you can see with the shifting political dialogue - and with Greece and now Spain back in the spotlight - the problems have not been solved.  That said, as investors and owners of assets, I think we need to accept and embrace that volatility, and realise it can throw up possibilities".

It was announced in January that Francis Salway, Chief Executive of Land Securities, the UK’s largest property company/ REIT, would leave at the end of March.  This brought to an end an eventful eight-year tenure in which he oversaw substantial growth, conversion to a REIT in 2007 and the global financial crisis four years ago.

Salway will leave the business after standing down at the end of the financial year on 31 March 2012.  He will be succeeded by Robert Noel, who is currently managing director of Land Securities’ London Portfolio.

 Salway, 54, joined Land Securities in 2000 and became chief executive in 2004. He said he will “take on a new challenge for the balance of my career”.  Salway’s leadership is credited with: fostering Land Securities’ strong customer focus; delivery of over 8M sq ft of development projects, including the award winning One New Change in the City and Princesshay in Exeter; and materially outperforming the index for commercial property in the UK, as measured by the Investment Property Databank (IPD).

Other major milestones of his tenure include the conversion of Land Securities from a PLC to a REIT on 1^st January 2007, and the subsequent successful £755.7M rights issue just two years later, when most REITs had to shore up their balance sheets during the near 45% collapse in UK capital values.  Salway also presided over the almost simultaneous £750M sale of Land Securities Trillium, the outsourcing arm of the business, to the Pears Group-owned Telereal – Land Securities Trillium merged with Telereal to become Telereal Trillium.

Salway said, on the day of the announcement: “I have had a wonderful eight years as chief executive of Land Securities, and I am delighted that our achievements as a Board include a smooth succession process.  The business is in very good shape and has strong leadership for the future.  From a personal perspective, I now have the opportunity to fulfil my plan to take on a new challenge for the balance of my career”.  He went on to say:

“I like to think we have led the sector in customer service, delivered great buildings – and developments that have made money overall and our portfolio has materially outperformed the market over those seven to eight years.

 In terms of next steps for me, nothing certain ... but I’m sure that I will find something that I find stimulating and challenging.  [However] I think it’s far more likely to be tangential to property rather than something very close to what I do now and it certainly won’t be a director of a listed property company.”

 Francis has been a loyal member of CULS and a great supporter of the Society, speaking at and attending a number of our events.  He has also taken time out to mentor graduate and undersgraduate students – which must surely be a great advantage for the lucky mentee.

Ian Marcus appointed MD of Evans Property Group

Ian Marcus, one of the UK’s best-known property bankers, has joined Leeds-based Evans Property Group as its managing director.