When TFT partner David Mann and Taylor Wessing partner Saleem Fazal launched LGBTQ+ networking forum Freehold almost a decade ago, real estate was struggling to get its head around the letters D&I, let alone LGBTQ+.
It was a very different environment to work in. Evidenced, of course, by Mann and Fazal’s well-told story of how Freehold was born.
The pair spotted each other outside a gay bar on Clapham High Street. They had been out to lunch together with colleagues earlier in the week, but it wasn’t until that moment that the penny dropped and both realised the other was gay. They knew they needed to do something.
“I can’t think of a single organisation that had a D&I person in-house when we started,” says Mann. “We were approaching at best the HR team, at worst the PR teams. But now the world has changed significantly, if nothing else than for the employment of D&I experts.
“We came from a really low position,” he adds jokingly. “We couldn’t really be judged because there was nothing to judge us against. If we really messed it up, who would know?”
The pair did not mess it up, however. They created a network that has grown from an initial group of 15 colleagues and friends of friends to more than 1,300 members. The network is supported across the industry with sponsorship from British Land, Landsec and Shaftesbury, and logistics support from Taylor Wessing.
Getting its own house in order
But, while Freehold can be credited with starting the conversation around LGBTQ+ in real estate, turning up the volume and keeping the conversation going, its most recent board report shows it has some diversity issues of its own that it needs to sort out. The network is overwhelmingly male (84%), overwhelming white (93%) and overwhelming gay and lesbian (92%), with very little bi and trans representation.
The results are feeding into Freehold’s new strategy and its plans for the next 10 years of its existence, starting with a shake-up of its board.
JLL’s Ollie Saunders, Hardwicke’s Brie Stephens, Shaftesbury’s Brian Bickell and Travers Smith’s Chris Edwards have stepped down, and joining the board are Southern Housing Group’s Ian Pattinson, Gowling’s Sarah Rock, Battersea Power Station Development Company’s Dan Westley and HTA Design’s Lucy Smith – all with clear goals to bring about an evolution of the network.
Mann and Fazal will also retire from the board at the end of this year.
Key targets for the new board include: engaging with the younger generation; collaborating to supercharge the power of networks, communication and education internally and externally; and working hard to show trans people that real estate is the place for them.
When it comes to trans representation, Freehold knows it is woefully lacking. And this year it will be making a concerted effort to make sure its board and members are more diverse and inclusive. A trans inclusion plan will be launched and the board has set itself a target of welcoming a trans person to the Freehold board.
“We need more trans figureheads within the property industry who are rational and who can recognise that some people have a different point of view,” says Rock, pointing to a recent piece in The Times interviewing Town Legal partner Claire Fielding.
Fielding was subjected to a tirade of abuse following the publication of the article, but responded calmly and rationally to as many comments as she could.
“I think there is a lack of credible trans role models out there who are willing to put their head above the parapet,” says Rock. “But I hope that we can create more of a space for role models who can help the next generation of gender-fluid young people and show that you can be trans in the property industry and it’s okay. This is my biggest challenge for this year.”
Time to broaden the appeal
Also on Rock’s list of challenges is engaging with a younger generation – a goal she shares with Smith, the communications specialist within the new recruits.
Smith will be working hard to engage schools and increase the female membership of Freehold, which currently stands at just 15%, while Rock is keen to translate a project she undertook that showed LGBTQ+ students that City law firms could be welcoming to them in the real estate sector.
“I want to be approaching students and just saying, look, there are 1,300 of us here, it’s fine. You can be out in this industry,” says Rock. “Please don’t be scared to join this industry.”
But it is not just about the young people. There are people of all ages that are on the journey of coming out. Westley wants to ensure that Freehold is a place for them too.
“We can’t just focus on people aged 18 to 22 because you’ve got 40, 50 or 60-year-olds who are going through this for the first time too,” he says. “We want to make sure that we are a network that’s safe for them to be able to come into and to feel supported.”
I want to be approaching students and just saying, look, there are 1,300 of us here, it’s fine. You can be out in this industry. Please don’t be scared to join this industry
– Sarah Rock, Gowling
Freehold’s position as a place of support, of mentoring and friendship is something that is held in high regard by all the board – past and present.
For Pattinson, the network was a real support for him when he moved from the Midlands to London, helping with his confidence and his career. He now wants to give that support back and enable Freehold to evolve into a network that can help members in multiple ways – in their careers, their social lives and within the property sphere more generally.
Collaboration to effect real change
It is here that Freehold’s goal of bringing networks together to effect real change and to amplify the kind of conversations Mann and Fazal began a decade ago comes in. The group is already part of Networks against Homelessness, which brings forums together to look at all the drivers and issues around homelessness, and, this April, Freehold and BAME in Property will host their first joint event, looking at LGBTQ+ issues through an ethnicity lens.
Bringing together LGBTQ+ networks across the industry to help drive inclusivity in the regions and through smaller businesses, is also high on the new board’s agenda.
But the really big goal is to make Freehold less of a necessity in the sector.
“Freehold should be less about support and more about community in 10 years’ time,” says Smith. “It should be about celebrating difference with groups rather than singling people out as groups. A network of communities.”
Mann agrees. “As a legacy,” he says. “I’ve always wanted to have left the industry in a better place than when I joined it.”
As he pauses to think about Freehold’s big birthday bash in September and his stepping down from the board, he shares what he’d like Freehold to transition into over the next 10 years.
“I’d like Freehold to become a more like a golf club than a D&I group – just a place for people to meet who are like-minded and to have a good time.”
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