“There’s no excuse for a bad haircut.”
So went Guy Grainger’s opening gambit as 70 young property professionals smoothed out their ski-helmet hair on a terrace 2,500m up in the French Alps, at an Estates Gazette Question Time debate at Propski last week.
Pressed for whether age and guile beat youth and a bad barnet, the JLL UK chief executive said: “There is a massive responsibility on big employers to train you properly for the future and to give you mobility that allows you to stay in this profession a long time. I’ve been through two recessions and they were dark times, but that’s when I learned the most.”
A first-time feature on the Propski schedule, the debate in Val Thorens − featuring Grainger and Bilfinger GVA chief executive Rob Bould, and chaired by EG editor Damian Wild − gave delegates an opportunity to engage on important industry matters over cups of vin chaud.
Topics included Heathrow (Bould: “Haven’t we screwed that up?”); Brexit (Grainger: “A strange time to be turning our back on our biggest trade partner”); and challenges for 2016 (Bould: “We should be prepared for the wheels to come off, but it won’t be in real estate – there is still a huge weight of money looking for a home”).
The debate was part of a chain of high-altitude networking events helping young property professionals extend their networks. These included the Tetris-Bluu welcome drinks; EG and Adir Group’s speed networking; a Paragon mountain meal, which raised £10,000 for LandAid with a charity auction; the Macdonald & Company race day Revcap mountain challenge; and the Aston Rose Three Valleys tour.
There were also informal gatherings in a host of stamina-testing nightspots for those whose enthusiasm could not be dampened by pitchers of cocktails, though it would have taken more than booze to dent the spirits of 250 property snow revellers at another hugely successful and oversubscribed event.
Just don’t mention the sleepy CRS snow-train back to London.
Propski Macdonald & Company Race Day winners
JLL men’s ski: Alastair Stang, JLL (1:29.18)
JLL women’s ski: Katharine Marsden, Strutt & Parker (2:11.87)
Freedman’s Law men’s board: Sean Parrett, Cameron Pearson (2:28.36)
Goldcrest Land women’s board: Nicola Radford, Morgan Williams (4:51.18)
MJMapp Masters: Matthew McMillan, BoxPark (2:03.91)
GVA team slalom: JLL & Campbell Beaton Associates (Campbell Beaton, Alastair Stang, Frankie Maddox, Guy Harris)
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