This is the end of real estate as we know it.
We have reached a point in time where changing the way we do real estate development is not a choice.
We have all experienced changes in our expectations, and behaviour, around living, working, leisure, technology, experience, climate and social justice. The rate of change and levels of uncertainty are increasing, and the system – including our cities and communities – are struggling to adapt.
The current system is a combustion engine in an electric age.
The current system was built to respond to 20th Century pressures and is no longer fit for purpose. Like so many sectors, the real industry industry has been hierarchical, siloed and rigid. Historically, its focus has been solely on shareholder value – with corporate social responsibility often just a tick box process.
But, over the last 20 years, new types of agile, innovative approaches have emerged. 21st Century thinking is driven by communication, collaboration and customer experience.
The new generation of 21st Century businesses are small and dynamic – or, at least, behave like small and dynamic businesses: agile, flexible, and open to change. Mistakes are embraced as opportunities to learn and adapt. They are more focused on experience than on product, software not hardware, and, as a result, growth tends to come from the emergence of innovative ideas and new sectors. For them, purpose leads to profit, rather than being led by it – and values are part of the mission. It is the businesses that embrace change and recognise the reality of this new approach who are thriving, and who face the future with the greatest chance of success.
In real estate, it is only through the application of 21st Century thinking that we can navigate this new complexity and uncertainty, add long-lasting value, and ultimately make more successful places and projects. Developers, investors, asset managers and consultants must evolve to confidently create and steward purpose-driven places.
MurrayTwohig is firmly a 21st Century Business – responding to the issues and opportunities of this century, not the last.
MurrayTwohig is small and agile. We are collaborative, open and driven by values and purpose. We are not motivated by growth, but by outcomes and projects, and by trying to help to make better, more valuable places. We are not focused on scale, but on impact.
MurrayTwohig is not a traditional consultancy, nor are we a traditional developer. We are place strategists, place makers and place enablers: impact partners. We collaborate with teams around the world to advise, to facilitate, to share our knowledge and experience, and to learn – working on mixed-use projects where we think purpose-led development can make a positive difference and add value to places – doing what we love doing.
If you, like us, are also a 21st Century Business – driven by a passionate belief that there is a better way to develop, a way that creates value rather than extracts it – we would love to talk.