Loss – of memory, motivation, weight and sleep. Anxiety – about everything. A body that gradually shut down.
That’s how former Savills investment director James Crawford describes the depression that took him to his lowest point in 2015. He didn’t expect to see out the year.
Since recovered and now working with RICS charity Lionheart to raise awareness and end the stigma attached to the illness, Crawford says: “Depression is a complete loss of control. It is frightening. I felt complete desolation and despair and I had no idea how to get out of it.” Speaking at this week’s John O’Halloran Symposium, organised by Lionhart to coincide with Mental Health Awareness Week, he said that long working hours and the ill-health of a relative also contributed to the onset of his depression.
Hopefully few reading this will recognise those symptoms. Many more, I suspect, will. After all, one in four British workers are affected by conditions such as anxiety, depression and stress every year.
O’Halloran was group property director at BAA Lynton when he took his own life in March 2015. He had battled depression for many years, having lost his wife to cancer in 2012. His friends and colleagues had been unaware of his mental ill-health. Speaking at the symposium, his son Rob called on the industry to sign up to a national pledge to help end mental health discrimination.
The Time to Change Employer Pledge, funded by the Department of Health, Comic Relief and the Big Lottery Fund and run by charities Mind and Rethink Mental Illness, is a way for organisations to demonstrate their commitment to changing the way we all think and act about mental health in the workplace. Some 500 businesses have already signed up, including CBRE. But despite high take-up among construction firms, property is so far under-represented.
Turning that around matters. As well as being the right thing to do, mental ill-health is the leading cause of sickness absence in the UK. It costs an average of £1,035 per employee per year. And as Lionheart chief executive Davina Goodchild told the event, engagement would send a powerfully progressive signal: “It would be amazing if the top 20 surveying firms all signed up. It would put the property industry at the forefront of this. It would be a show of strength and it would encourage younger people to come into this industry.”
• There was a clear consensus at EG’s Leeds Question Time this week: this industry believes a metro mayor with a business background will do a better job than a politician.
I suspect that a candidate’s professional background won’t be the only determinant of their success. A mayor who can couple business delivery with political dexterity should thrive.
Of the six metro mayors elected last week, it is those for Greater Manchester (Andy Burnham, serial politician) and the West Midlands (Andy Street, businessman) who will be most closely watched. Different backgrounds, sure. But both are leading cities which have momentum. And for both, expectations are high.
The relative performance of the two Andys will be pored over. As will the performance of cities with mayors and those – like Leeds – without.
The topic will feature at next week’s EG UK development summit in Manchester. A key ally of Burnham’s – Eamonn Boylan, chief executive of the Greater Manchester Combined Authority – will lay out his plans for the city. A member of Team Street – Laura Shoaf, MD of Transport for West Midlands – will do the same.
Visit www.egevents.co.uk/UKDevelopment2017 to join them.
To send feedback, e-mail damian.wild@egi.co.uk or tweet @DamianWild or @estatesgazette
