After growing up in Dallas, Texas, Sarah Cary relocated to pursue a career in real estate in the UK. After nearly a decade at British Land, where she was latterly head of sustainable places, Cary moved into local government in March last year.
She is currently Enfield council’s executive director for place, responsible for regeneration and development across the borough, which is slightly smaller than Cardiff with a population of around 330,000.
Here, she talks to EG about her new role, the borough’s £6bn, 20-year regeneration scheme Meridian Water, and the challenge of running a team of 800 people.
EG: How did you get into the property industry?
SC: I grew up in an American suburb in Dallas and when I was a teenager I had to drive to high school. I got really bored sitting in traffic and staring at the window and it got me thinking, ‘why do we live the way we do?’ I got interested in urban planning, sociology, and environmental impact of cities. I have built a career focused on trying to make cities a bit better for people and the planet.
I’m really pleased to be able to work in North London. It doesn’t look like Dallas, but it feels like coming home. It is similar in that there are a lot of strong connections around school, churches, and both places are very ethnically diverse. As a borough, Enfield has 330,000 people so it is slightly smaller than Cardiff.
What are you responsible for?
I run a consumer-facing operation, including services such as collecting bins from 125,000 homes, as well as strategic operations, which looks at long-term things such as how Enfield can get the most out of Crossrail 2. Other service areas I look after are planning service and maintaining and improving our council housing. We have 15,000 homes. We also have a whole system for complaints and engagement with residents, and it is important that I listen to what residents are telling us about what they want for the borough.
What is your role on the Meridian Water project and what excites you the most about it?
It is such a big focus for us as a council. Peter George is part of my management team, as the project director responsible for Meridian Water. We are quickly growing a dedicated team within the council to deliver the infrastructure and homes for the future at Meridian Water.
I am most excited about how the design integrates the city and the park, so people walk out of their houses and can access the big marshes and miles of the regional park. It is not your classic Georgian park with a fence. It will be very urban. I am passionate about integrating nature with cities.
How did you get the job at Enfield Council?
I’d been at British Land for 10 years. I really enjoyed working there but I’m not the kind of person who wants to work at one company for rest of my life. Having done lots of different things in my career, I wanted to go back to work on a bit of city, a bit of development where I could spend years and see the benefits – see the change to the city.
I had a couple of conversations with people in local government and went from there. It is my first role in local government, partly because I came as an American citizen and couldn’t get a job in local government until I got my visa.
What did you learn from your previous role that you can apply to this one?
I bring a really diverse background of experience, having worked not just on design or town planning but on a range of projects, large and small, delivering construction, getting planning, doing strategic masterplans. I think that breadth of experience has already been really helpful.
What is a typical day for you?
I start off by checking in on a couple of projects to make sure they are going in the right direction. I usually have at least one one-to-one meeting with someone in team. I am big on spending time with direct reports one-to-one and then letting them get on with things.
I will probably have a meeting in relation to the council budget – we have seen central government funding cut substantially so we have to watch it carefully to deliver more services for more people with less money. I usually also have a meeting with a cabinet member or councillor to understand their concerns and ideas, ideally out in the borough on site. Nearly every day I also have an evening briefing, for example on housing repairs. I love the job, but it is harder work than at British Land.
What is your proudest achievement since starting the role?
I think there are two big ones. The first is that we have started to think about council property ownership as a good way to deliver economic benefit and housing delivery. The council is unique in that it owns a lot of land and property. Before, this was seen purely in financial terms, but we’ve stopped having that conversation. We want to leverage it to bring new businesses in and to support economic development, alongside being more efficient in our own operations.
The other thing is we have agreed to build a new office for a local software business, which was recently approved by our planning committee. It helps the company expand to bring a further 100 highly skilled jobs to Enfield, and it is a good property investment for the council too.
What are your main aims for 2019?
This year for me is all about building more homes – and more affordable homes.
What are the most challenging aspects of your role?
I came from running a team of 10 people and I am now running a department of 800. So, I moved from a small team in a strategic role to a large team in day-to-day operational business. It has been a challenge to change my management style and the way that I work and to trust people.
And the best aspects of your role?
I am excited about building more homes for Londoners. This is something that councils can do.
What is your favourite building in Enfield?
My favourite one in terms of design and quality is Forty Hall, an old Jacobean manor house in a park setting. The landscape is stunning.
In terms of what is possible for Enfield, I am going to go out on a limb and say Edmonton Green shopping centre. It is a massive pile of concrete, but it is very well connected and an example of a site with so much potential to improve for the benefit of Enfield residents.
