SEGRO chief executive David Sleath has warned the industry will have to be “extremely selective” about its policy priorities when lobbying a “distracted” government.
Speaking in his maiden speech as British Property Federation president he said “the game has changed” since 24 June as the government lacks political leadership and faces resourcing issues.
“Government and civil servants are going to be incredibly distracted,” he said. “And therefore while we may as an industry have 30 or 40 more policy topics that we want to engage with government on we are going to have to be extremely selective because we will not be able to make progress on all of them so we will need to pick our battles.”
Sleath also said the BPF would prioritise convincing politicians the wider public that the industry is a “force for good”.
Speaking about the EU referendum vote, he said: “It was a protest vote against big business, it was a protest vote against the political elite, it was a protest vote against bankers and dare I say landlords and property developers.
“So I think we do a lot of great things in the industry but we have got to go further to build our reputation, to sell our story, to really convince politicians and the opinion formers that we are an industry that makes a really valuable, positive contribution to our country in many ways.”
Sleath has taken over the role of BPF president from Chris Taylor, chief executive officer of Hermes Real Estate. Paul Brundage, senior managing director for Europe at Oxford Properties, steps up from junior vice-president to vice-president. Brundage will take the reins next year.
Rob Noel, chief executive of Land Securities, has been appointed junior vice-president of the BPF. He will lead the BPF for a year in two years’ time.
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