Episodi
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In the final episode of season 12 of The Propcast, Louisa is joined by Jeffrey Berman, General Partner at Camber Creek, where they discuss how to set yourself on a path for the potential to create venture return, Camber Creek’s investment thesis, portfolio, their approach to investment and JB’s predictions for 2024.
Jeffrey dives into the importance of a ‘less is more approach’ when it comes to investment, and how Camber Creek’s investment strategy is based around a ‘need to have’, rather than a ‘nice to have’ method, providing examples like Flex and Built whose products provide solutions to the challenges that tenants and landlords are facing in the US.
Tune in to this episode to hear more about what 2024 has in store for the real estate technology space, as well as what JB’s ‘walking out’ song would be if he were to headline Coachella…
Companies mentioned
Flex
Notarize
Bilt
Measurabl
Placemakr
Pet Screening
VTS
Curbio
Arcadia
Jones
Bowery
Shoutouts
Michael Beckerman
Casey Berman
Shragie Lichtenstein
YeTong Shao
Matt Ellis
Episode Highlights
We invest in exceptional entrepreneurs who are building companies that are changing how we interact with the built world – Jeffrey
The way we always thought about fund size was we looked backwards. Not forwards. – Jeffrey
We have this massive group of strategic limited partners, over 300 around the globe, whose reading points become the foundation layer of ‘these are the types of companies we need to look at’ – Jeffrey
Key Takeaways
How Camber Creek has created its investment theses from an initial investment hypothesis, and how they continue to utilise that to invest in the best companies within the real estate technology sphere.
The two main questions that sparked Camber Creek’s investment thesis idea
Camber Creek’s different funds, including its opportunity fund
Jeffrey shares with us a bit more about some of their fastest growing companies, like Flex and the mission behind it
The massive opportunity set for climate tech and carbon tech
About our guests
Jeffrey Berman
Jeffrey Berman is a General Partner at Camber Creek. Jeffrey participates in all aspects of Camber Creek’s operations and portfolio management and serves on the boards of numerous Camber Creek portfolio companies. He has more than two decades of executive management experience and deeply rooted relationships in the startup, real estate, and venture capital ecosystems. Prior to Camber Creek, he was a Principal at one of the Washington, DC area’s largest privately held real estate development and management companies. Jeffrey has also been an active early-stage investor, backing more than three dozen startups, including Jackpocket, Kindbody, and Rappi.
Camber Creek
Camber Creek is a venture capital firm providing strategic value and capital to operating technology companies focused on the real estate market. Camber Creek contributes in a direct and significant way to the success of its portfolio companies by leveraging the real estate expertise, operating experience and portfolio of assets of its partners, investors, and advisors. Our investment team has investing, operating, and technology experience and expertise across a range of real estate businesses, including construction, property management, development, and leasing. Our investors own, operate and manage billions of square feet of real estate in the U.S., giving us a unique competitive advantage as an investor and value-added partner in the real estate technology space. The firm has ~$1bln AUM.
About Our Host
Louisa Dickins
Louisa is the Co-Founder of LMRE, which has rapidly become the market-leading global built environment recruitment platform and search consultancy, specializing in finding the best strategic talent for the most innovative organisations in PropTech, ConTech, Smart Buildings, ESG, Sustainability and Strategic Consulting with operations across North America, United Kingdom, Europe, Asia-Pacific and MENA.
To promote the industry she is so passionate about, Louisa set up the Global podcast ‘The Propcast’ where she hosts and invites guests from the built environment space to join her in conversation about innovation.
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In this episode of the Propcast, Louisa is joined by John Rogers, Chief Innovation Officer for CoreLogic and Kirby Brendsel, Flagstar Bank’s VP, Environmental, Social, & Governance (ESG) and Sustainability Director, where they discuss all things climate and housing affordability, and the solutions that are out there to help solve the issues!
John and Kirby explained the importance of providing data and analytics around climate risk to allow companies to measure the financial impact of climate change up to the year 2050, thus helping companies, cities, and governments to put in place mitigation plans.
Tune into this episode to hear more about how climate solutions can help with mitigation, housing affordability and insurance, and how our guest’s collaboration create a rising tide that lifts all ships.
Companies mentioned
New York Communities Corp Inc
IBM
Deloitte
LMRE’S 2023 Salary Report
IPCC
Episode Highlights
My big advice for anyone would be that if you're passionate; follow your passion, go for the things that you want to do, or things that you can make a difference on, even on a small scale related to sustainability. – Kirby
We provided something called ‘climate risk analytics’ which is an insight that allows companies to measure model and mitigate the financial impact of climate change – John
It’s all about using data, improving your data, and capturing your data to make sound strategic decisions that helps you drive things forward – Kirby
The chef scientist of NASA said to us that he’d never expected to get to this level of granularity in his lifetime – John
Key Takeaways
How Flagstar and CoreLogic are working together to help address the issue of climate change and housing affordability
John explains the ‘average annual loss’ which CoreLogic provides that is a ratio of a building’s risk in terms of reconstruction costs, allowing companies to understand their financial risk
Kirby explains how important the use of data is in making strategic decisions around climate and sustainability
The opportunity in cities that have a high climate risk to use CoreLogic’s analytics platform
The guests discuss the importance of educating people on the long term impact of climate change
John discusses how the needs of CoreLogic’s customers change and how they accommodate for this
About our guests
John Rogers
John Rogers holds the role of Chief Innovation Officer for CoreLogic and is responsible for the R&D. From driving new solutions that understand the impacts to the real estate economy due to climate change, to ground-breaking models that identify suitable land for affordable housing development, the R&D group tackles major housing issues and works with many clients across the housing industry to drive growth and mitigate risk on their book of business.
Prior to joining CoreLogic, John was a Partner with IBM Global Business Services where he focused on the delivery of large multi-million transformational programs for the financial sector both in the United Kingdom and Australia. Prior to this, John worked as a consultant for Itim Consulting, a boutique management firm based in London. John’s primary role was as a program manager on a number of assignments delivering global solutions within retail, pharmaceuticals, logistics and information services industries.
John earned a bachelor’s degree from University of Glasgow, United Kingdom in Aerospace Engineering.
Company Summary: CoreLogic
CoreLogic is a leading provider of property insights and innovative solutions, working to transform the property industry by putting people first. Using its network, scale, connectivity and technology, CoreLogic delivers faster, smarter, more human-centered experiences, that build better relationships, strengthen businesses, and create a more resilient societ y. For more information, please visit www.corelogic.com.
Kirby Brendsel
Kirby Brendsel is Flagstar Bank’s VP, Environmental, Social, & Governance (ESG) and Sustainability Director, where he leads Flagstar's strategic sustainability and initiatives and the company's goal to be a recognized global sustainability leader. He is coming from Welltower Inc.’s (a real estate investment trust) where he headed their award-winning strategic sustainability and ESG initiatives. Prior to joining Welltower in 2019, Mr. Brendsel worked at Nuveen as a Director of Responsible Investing. Before Nuveen, he served as Associate Director of Sustainability for Starwood Hotel & Resorts Worldwide, where he supported the strategy, integration and management of Starwood’s sustainability program and worked collaboratively with the community programs/Starwood Foundation team on CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) strategy and reporting. Previously, Mr. Brendsel consulted for Deloitte where he assisted in the creation of Deloitte’s Federal Sustainability practice and Diversity & Inclusion program. Mr. Brendsel’s other past roles include active-duty service as a Military Intelligence Corps Major in the U.S. Army.
Mr. Brendsel graduated with distinction and honors from the College of William and Mary with a B.A. in Business and the Jones Graduate School of Management at Rice University with an M.B.A. He is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP) from the Project Management Institute (PMI), U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) LEED Green Associate (GA), and Lean Six Sigma Yellow Belt. Mr. Brendsel was recently recognized as an Honoree for 2020 by Environment + Energy Leader’s annual "best of" list of environment and energy professionals - the E+E 100.
Mr. Brendsel is active in his local community, where he has served on the Board of Directors of the Aspetuck Land Trust and Lachat Town Farm Commission as well as on the Town of Weston’s Sustainability Committee, Historical Society, and Conservation and Parks & Recreation Commissions.
Company Summary: Flagstar
New York Community Bancorp, Inc. is the parent company of Flagstar Bank, N.A., one of the largest regional banks in the country. The Company is headquartered in Hicksville, New York with regional headquarters in Troy, Michigan. At June 30, 2023, the Company had $118.8 billion of assets, $84.9 billion of loans, deposits of $88.5 billion, and total stockholders' equity of $11.1 billion.
Flagstar Bank, N.A. operates 436 branches, including strong footholds in the Northeast and Midwest and exposure to high growth markets in the Southeast and West Coast. Flagstar Mortgage operates nationally through a wholesale network of approximately 3,000 third-party mortgage originators. In addition, the Bank has 132 private banking teams located in over 10 cities in the metropolitan New York City region and on the West Coast, which serve the needs of high-net worth individuals and their businesses.
New York Community Bancorp, Inc. has market-leading positions in several national businesses, including multi-family lending, mortgage origination and servicing, and warehouse lending. The Company is the 2nd largest multi-family portfolio lender in the country and the leading multi-family portfolio lender in the New York City market area, where it specializes in rent-regulated, non-luxury apartment buildings. Flagstar Mortgage is the 8th largest bank originator of residential mortgages for the 12-months ending June 30, 2023, while we are the industry's 5th largest sub-servicer of mortgage loans nationwide, servicing 1.6 million accounts with $426 billion in unpaid principal balances. Additionally, the Company is the 2nd largest mortgage warehouse lender nationally based on total commitments.
About Our Host
Louisa Dickins
Louisa is the Co-Founder of LMRE, which has rapidly become the market-leading global built environment recruitment platform and search consultancy, specializing in finding the best strategic talent for the most innovative organisations in PropTech, ConTech, Smart Buildings, ESG, Sustainability and Strategic Consulting with operations across North America, United Kingdom, Europe, Asia-Pacific and MENA.
To promote the industry she is so passionate about, Louisa set up the Global podcast ‘The Propcast’ where she hosts and invites guests from the built environment space to join her in conversation about innovation.
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Episodi mancanti?
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In this week’s episode of the Propcast, Louisa is joined by Emanuel Heisenberg, CEO and Founder of EcoWorks, and Mauricio Weiss, GP and Founding Partner of Zacua Ventures where they discuss all things renovation, regulation and innovation.
With 40% of emissions being used on buildings and 20% on materials, the guests delve into the short- and long-term costs of going carbon neutral and whether it is a realistic goal with today’s current economic climate. The guests discuss how an increase in sustainability pressure, paired with geopolitical instability and labour scarcity are a handful of the challenges that accompany reaching net zero targets.
Emanuel shares how the EcoWork’s product can help tackle key issues around scarcity of labour and materials from factories, whilst Mauricio discusses the trends he has seen with his portfolio companies in terms of increasing their sales.
Companies mentioned
MIPIM
JLL Spark
Shoutouts
Vivin Hegde
Arnaud Bouzinac
Robert Habeck
Josh Levy, Document Crunch
Previous episodes mentioned
The evolution of global construction technologies
Episode Highlights
Regulation is actually pushing for a lot of technology adoption in terms of higher requirements, and these requirements just make the processes much more complex, right? - Mauricio
So they really tackle the 80 percent renewable energy goal for 2030 and they really decarbonize the heating system with good and aggressive regulations. - Emanuel
The construction sector invests 1 percent in R&D and the housing sector 0.1%. So, they will not bring any transformation towards affordability and decarbonization. - Emanuel
You do need regulators – to start pointing the marketing to the right direction, but you also want to keep competitiveness and ensure a free environment and a secure environment to make investments and to see the return of these investments. - Mauricio
Investors and a lot of stakeholders are questioning whether this is the right moment to be investing in technologies or an economic turn that will potentially slow down the piece of adoption for technology - Mauricio
Previous episodes mentioned
The Evolution Of Global Construction Technologies
Key Takeaways
The use of circular building materials in helping companies reach net zero targets
The need for common standards across Europe, as well as the challenges that this would bring due to difference in buildings and needs for each country
The need for regulators to be very close to investors in sharing short term and long-term goals of decarbonisation and technology adoption
How to position certain aspects of ESG to pitch to create sustainable competitive advantage for that company without changing the core of your business
Emmanuel shares some advice about the German market for founders looking to expand
The lack of construction companies in Germany
About our guests
Emanuel Heisenberg
Emanuel Heisenberg studied history and economics in Munich and Cambridge. He has over 15 years of experience in setting up and developing companies for renewable energies and ESCO and has contributed to more than 50 energy projects. His international network includes numerous funds, utility companies, IPPs, entrepreneurs, and research institutions. After founding a contracting and geothermal energy company, he established ecoworks in 2019, introducing the concept of serial renovation to Germany. An initial pilot project in Hameln proved challenging but was also a significant success. The renovated buildings there have demonstrably achieved NetZero levels. In addition to his role as CEO and founder, he is also active as a speaker and expert in energy and climate policy, advising the German federal government, companies, and private equity funds in the fields of heating and energy efficiency. In 2020, together with journalist Georg Diez, he co-wrote a book on the significance of technology in reinventing democracy (Power To The People: How We Reinvent Democracy with Technology).
Ecoworks
ecoworks develops end-to-end software and prefabricated elements to turn apartment buildings with significant renovation backlog into attractive and climate-neutral living spaces in just a few weeks. In this way, the company is making a significant contribution to rapidly reducing emissions in the building sector and the dependence on fossil fuels. ecoworks is an innovation leader in a market that will unleash enormous investment volumes in the wake of national and European legislative initiatives and rising energy and CO2 prices. Around 45 million residential units in Europe are located in buildings with the worst energy ratings. In addition to regulation, these will be particularly burdened by high CO2 prices, which will become mandatory for the building sector soon. Comparable regulations are already planned or in effect in parts of the US and Asia.
The Berlin-based company developed the technology in Germany and is currently bringing it to the mass market with several projects. The company is considered one of the most innovative providers of Climate Tech in the building sector worldwide.
Mauricio Weiss
Mauricio is GP and Founding Partner of Zacua Ventures, a global Venture Capital fund focused in the construction industry. Mauricio works closely with entrepreneurs in the industry to support the adoption of new technologies and improve productivity and sustainability on construction projects. His background working in a large construction company first and at the CVC of Cemex later taught him what is needed for a successful implementation of technology and the right approach for startups engaging large corporates.
Zacua Ventures
Zacua Ventures is an early stage fund focused on the Built Environment. With three GPs based in San Francisco, Madrid and Singapore, the fund has a global focus and each of the founders come with a proven track record, having led 30+ investments in the corporate funds in Cemex Ventures and HILTI.
The fund has raise over $55m USD, to invest in Pre-Seed to Series A startups that focus on 3 main areas in the construction industry: Sustainability, Enhanced Productivity & Safety and Urbanization Solutions.
About Our Host
Louisa is the Co-Founder of LMRE, which has rapidly become the market-leading global built environment recruitment platform and search consultancy, specializing in finding the best strategic talent for the most innovative organisations in PropTech, ConTech, Smart Buildings, ESG, Sustainability and Strategic Consulting with operations across North America, United Kingdom, Europe, Asia-Pacific and MENA.
To promote the industry she is so passionate about, Louisa set up the Global podcast ‘The Propcast’ where she hosts and invites guests from the built environment space to join her in conversation about innovation.
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In this episode of the Propcast, Louisa is joined by Arie Barendrecht, Founder & CEO at WiredScore, Bayron Lopez Pineda, Director of Operational Technology at Kilroy Realty Corporation and Richard Paine, Head of Development in Singapore at Lendlease.
The guests help unravel the macro and micro trends, as well as the challenges that the industry is seeing in selecting and implementing technology. This episode provides a global view of PropTech from various perspectives, providing valuable insight into the opportunities as well as challenges that the industry currently faces.
Arie discusses some of the successes as well as mistakes he made whilst expanding across 30 countries, Bayron explores the impact the pandemic had on the use of technology within buildings, and Richard dives into his role at Lendlease and what he has seen on the development side of the industry.
Episode Highlights
The importance of getting employees back to the office and how this can be done effectively
The differences in markets based on geography
The reasons why Europe is ahead of other regions in its adoption of technology
The challenges in innovation and adoption of technology in the US versus the Asia-Pacific region
Cybersecurity and the financial implications of data breaches
Key Takeaways
Our purpose is to be able to lease space out and do that effectively by providing our tenantes the best quality of technology we have available, but also the best experience - Bayron
We’re looking to the future to make sure that we’re relevant, not just today, but 10 years from now. And that’s in our DNA – Arie
The pandemic put us in a space where a lot of people went back and looked at the technology to try and figure out what is really needed – Bayron
You have to think a lot in the future, and you have to predict where you think the future is going with technology - Richard
About our guests
Arie Barendrecht
Arie is the founder and CEO of WiredScore, the pioneer behind the international WiredScore certification system that evaluates and distinguishes best-in-class Internet connectivity in commercial buildings. Prior to founding WiredScore, Arie worked as a consultant with the Boston Consulting Group in New York City where he focused on the technology and media industries. Arie holds an MBA from the Wharton School and a BA and BS in Business and Political Science from the University of California, Berkeley.
WiredScore
At WiredScore, our mission is to make the world's buildings smarter and better connected. We believe everyone should be empowered by technology, wherever they are.
At WiredScore, our mission is to make the world's buildings smarter and better connected. A champion of cutting-edge technology in real estate, WiredScore defines and certifies digital connectivity and smart technology in homes and offices on a global scale, ensuring that buildings provide the best-in-class infrastructure that businesses and individuals require to thrive.
Bayron Pineda
Bayron Lopez Pineda is the Director of Operational Technology at Kilroy Realty responsible for managing and innovating smart buildings systems. He helps determine policies and processes from security, maintenance, and growth to increase building efficiency and tenant experience. He has over a decade in the Commercial Real Estate sector and is a Founding Fellow of the Control Systems Cyber Security Association International. He is also a Graduate Student at Georgetown University, School of Continuing Studies pursuing a Masters in Technology Management.
Kilroy Realty Corporation
With over 14 million square feet in our portfolio spanning five distinct regions, we have built deep experience within vibrant commercial real estate markets.
We put our experience to service a range of dynamic industries over an ever-evolving business landscape. Our primary goal is to provide premium, adaptable, and productive work environments for a wide range of industries, including technology, media, life science, entertainment, and professional services.
We create dynamic work environments that support our clients’ businesses, with standards that include indoor and outdoor common spaces, flexible floor plates and adaptable office plans, and of course, state-of-the-art infrastructure and amenities. Our approach is centered around our clients’ successes, and we focus on the features that increase productivity and employee retention.
Richard Paine
Richard has worked in the property industry for over 36 years and across multiple property sectors, geographies and in multiple functional roles. Richard has had leadership positions in Construction, Property Development and in Property Operation and Funds management.
Richard currently leads the Lendlease development business in Singapore overseeing $5bn worth of property developments. He is passionate about creating globally significant assets and specifically about sustainability, placemaking, health & wellbeing, digitisation and moving the industry forward.
Lendlease
Lendlease is a globally integrated real estate group with operations in Australia, Asia, Europe and the United States.
Lendlease is renowned for world class developments and creating places where communities thrive.
Lendlease is a developer, an investment manager, and a builder. The combination of these three segments provides it with a sustainable competitive advantage in delivering innovative integrated solutions for our customers.
About Our Host
Louisa is the Co-Founder of LMRE, which has rapidly become the market-leading global built environment recruitment platform and search consultancy, specializing in finding the best strategic talent for the most innovative organisations in PropTech, ConTech, Smart Buildings, ESG, Sustainability and Strategic Consulting with operations across North America, United Kingdom, Europe, Asia-Pacific and MENA.
To promote the industry she is so passionate about, Louisa set up the Global podcast ‘The Propcast’ where she hosts and invites guests from the built environment space to join her in conversation about innovation.
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In this bonus episode of the Propcast, Tabitha is at Blueprint in Las Vegas, where she is joined by Julieta Moradei, Managing Partner and Founder at Overlay Capital, where they explore why the construction space has been slow to adopt technology, the startups that are leading the way in digitalisation, and Julieta dives into the Women in Construction Tech community.
Women in Construction Tech is dedicated to empowering female founders, investors, and adopters to help create opportunities, and develop relationships for women driving innovation in the construction industry. Julieta explains some of the DEI trends she predicts to take full flow in the next 18 months and how she hopes to see more and more women coming into the construction space.
Companies mentioned
Y Combinator
McKinsey
Autodesk
BuiltWorlds
Blueprint
Shoutouts
Antonia Soler
Episode Highlights
Julieta talks us through her journey into the construction space
They discuss why the construction industry is so under-digitalised compared to that of other sectors.
The lack of adoption of technology past Series B
Julieta’s experience in the VC space
The ‘missing middle’ that is the biggest barrier to technology adoption in construction
The Women in ConTech platform and their mission
Key Takeaways
That's when I realized that in order for you to actually be able to adopt technology in the space, you need to have a catalytic pilot project – Julieta
It's one of the largest markets in the world in terms of its value, yet least digitized. – Julieta
But I think what's going to be even more interesting is solutions that are integrating together and bringing a lot of these point solutions together – Julieta
About our guest
Julieta Moradei
Julieta is the Managing Partner of the recently launched Overlay Capital Build. Overlay Build is part of the asset manager, Overlay Capital. Overlay Build is a consultancy working to accelerate adoption of critical digital transformation technologies in the built environment by connecting innovative technologies with adopters. We specialize in advising technology adopters with significant real estate holdings like multinational corporates, contractors and real estate developers in need of innovative digital technology solutions. We can help you identify solutions that can address their project needs, develop adoption and implementation strategies at an organizational and project level, and track financial and impact ROI of technologies.
Julieta is a structural engineer and architect, turned social entrepreneur, and venture capitalist investing in early-stage startups mitigating the biggest barriers in the built environment. Her unique path from technical design to VC, has led her to hyperfocus on innovation in the construction industry, and empowering entrepreneurs through catalytic partnerships for the past decade.
Her career path ranges from technical engineering to venture capital: from structural engineering at Disney and Arup, to creating an R&D team to mitigate the biggest barriers in the housing crisis, to then launching and managing a venture capital firm investing in construction technology. As a founding member and former Partner of Hometeam Ventures, Julieta launched, fundraised, and managed operations of the venture fund investing in early-stage start-ups bringing breakthrough technology to the world's largest - but least innovative - industries: construction and housing. This was a spin-off from New Story Homes (YCombinator) where she kickstarted and led as Head of R&D. New Story Homes built over 3,000 homes across Latin America, and in 2018, invested in ICON and built the world's first 3D printed housing technology; in 2022, ICON raised its Series B with a $2B valuation and has partnerships with NASA, HUD, etc.
Her passion is to pursue impact-driven projects through innovation and entrepreneurship to digitize the built environment. She has an M.S. in structural engineering from UC Berkeley, a bachelor’s in structural engineering and architecture, and a research assistant in Boston, Berkeley, and Switzerland. Her academic and industry research in AEC is focused on circular economy, virtual reality, automated drone inspection, resiliency, and sustainability. Julieta is passionate about bridging the gap between architecture, engineering, and construction through collaborative design to maximize innovation for social impact and climate change. If you would like to learn more, feel free to send me a message or email me at [email protected].
Overlay Capital
Overlay Capital is an US-based asset manager investing in venture and private equity across the sustainable technology spectrum from innovation to infrastructure, with a focus on overlooked and hard-to-access opportunities. We seek to capture the opportunity driving the mega-trend toward sustainable technologies that will reshape industries and propel our economy for decades to come, with a commitment to superior risk-adjusted returns. For more information, please visit us at www.overlaycapital.com.
About our host
Tabitha Francis
Tabitha spearheads all multifamily and residential related recruitment across North America at LMRE which has rapidly become the market-leading global built environment recruitment platform and search consultancy. Tabitha has worked with clients from pre-seed to Post IPO, on searches from entry level to C Suite. Since she started 2.5 years ago, the North American Client base has gone from 25 to 100+ and they now have a successful series of 'Built Environment Bulletins' showcasing growing businesses and innovative products and platforms in the space
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A recent Deloitte report cited the Middle East real estate market is projected to expand by up to 111% in the next five years.
In this episode of the Propcast, Louisa was joined by Anas Bataw and Prakash Senghani, Co-Founder and CEO at Navatech Group. They discuss the vast opportunities for innovation and growth through technology in the Middle East, the geographical advantage that has put the MENA region at the forefront of smart technology adoption and urban development, and the huge appetite for digitalisation that the guests have seen in the last few years.
Tune in to hear about examples of some of the technologies being used in the Middle East that are leading the way in revolutionising MENA real estate, as well as some of the challenges that come alongside this diversification. If you are interested in learning more about how construction technology and PropTech is revolutionising MENA real estate, this episode is not one to miss!
Companies Mentioned
Deloitte
Watheeq PropTech Venture
Fifth Wall
NEOM
Red Sea Project
Mace
Amar
MIRA
ROSHN
PwC
Balfour Beatty
WSP
AECOM
JLL
Technology Innovation Institute (TII)
WakeCap
WorkPanda
Procurified
Modular
Aldar
Episode Highlights
The huge appetite for digitalisation in the middle east
Prakash’s journey from the corporate world into building his own start-up
Anas’ experience in the COP28 committee and the push to sustainability and reducing carbon emissions
The growth areas that Prakash has seen within construction over the past five years and what we should be watching out for in the future
Prakash talks us through some of the stand-out technologies being used in the Middle East
The Middle East’s geographical advantage and its wide talent pool
Anas explains how having a clear strategy is so important
Key Takeaways
The pros are that you’re involved in large projects and that there’s a push towards technologies and innovations, and people really want to challenge the current status of what we have – Anas
I wanted to use artificial intelligence and particularly chatbots to help do things in construction, and one of those things was safety – Prakash
The complexion of the people working in the construction industry is going to change massively – Anas
Changing something is always more difficult than planning for the way that you want it in the first place - Prakash
About Our Host
Louisa Dickins
Louisa is the Co-Founder of LMRE, which has rapidly become the market-leading global built environment recruitment platform and search consultancy, specializing in finding the best strategic talent for the most innovative organisations in PropTech, ConTech, Smart Buildings, ESG, Sustainability and Strategic Consulting with operations across North America, United Kingdom, Europe, Asia-Pacific and MENA.
To promote the industry she is so passionate about, Louisa set up the Global podcast ‘The Propcast’ where she hosts and invites guests from the built environment space to join her in conversation about innovation.
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In this episode of the Propcast, host Louisa Dickins explores the value of drones with Mike Winn, CEO and co-founder of DroneDeploy, and David Thirlwell, Director of Operational Excellence at Stiles Construction. They explore how drones have become widely accessible in recent years, providing a bird's eye view of job sites and delivering structured, detailed data to enhance safety and efficiency.
Mike shares how DroneDeploy has gained over 5,000 customers worldwide, revolutionising the way businesses operate in sectors like oil, gas, and construction. David emphasizes the importance of finding the right technology solution to maximize efficiency and productivity. Despite market challenges and budget cuts, this episode highlights how businesses who are embracing forward-thinking technology will thrive in the future.
Tune in to hear how drones are shaping the digital future of smart buildings and beyond.
Companies mentionned
NASA
Autodesk
NEOM
Google
Episode Highlights
The benefits of using drones for aerial data capture
The use of drones in various industries, including construction, oil, gas and solar energy
The growth and success of DroneDeploy, with over 5,000 customers worldwide
David’s experience using DroneDeploy's technology to improve construction processes and identify potential issues early on
The importance of finding the right technology solutions and being open-minded to adopting new technologies in the construction industry
The future of automation in the drone industry, and the future of DroneDeploy
Key Takeaways
While technology investments may seem expensive at first, the value lies in the ability to catch and resolve problems early, saving time and money in the long run. - David
Already we have a vision that every job site should be digitized. And if we can do that, we will enable all the workers to really understand what's going on and help them do their job more safely and more effectively. - Mike
The use of technology, such as drones and 3D scanners, allows for accurate verification of construction elements like sleeves in concrete, reducing the risk of costly mistakes and schedule delays. - David
The adoption of technology in the construction industry is receptive, with companies like Stiles Construction being open to exploring new tools and solutions to improve efficiency and mitigate risks. - Mike
Stiles Construction values trust and reliability in technology providers, and they have found DroneDeploy to be a great partner in bringing new tools and solutions to the table. - David
The future of drones in the construction industry is promising, with the expectation that every major job site will have a drone in the next five years. - Mike
About Our Host
Louisa Dickins
Louisa is the Co-Founder of LMRE, which has rapidly become the market-leading global built environment recruitment platform and search consultancy, specializing in finding the best strategic talent for the most innovative organisations in PropTech, ConTech, Smart Buildings, ESG, Sustainability and Strategic Consulting with operations across North America, United Kingdom, Europe, Asia-Pacific and MENA.
To promote the industry she is so passionate about, Louisa set up the Global podcast ‘The Propcast’ where she hosts and invites guests from the built environment space to join her in conversation about innovation.
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In this episode of the Propcast, host Louisa Dickins discusses how to future proof your portfolio and nurture a robust company culture with Edi Demaj, co-founder of KODE Labs, and Ilene Goldfine, SVP and Chief Digital Strategy Officer of Hines. They explore how a change in people and culture can help address the pace of innovation and, ultimately, impact profitability, efficiency and sustainability.
Edi shares how a small building operating system can transform the way real estate is managed and experienced. Ilene dives deep into how two very different types of businesses can facilitate a healthy, inclusive, and innovative culture, as well as a strong partnership. The episode highlights the importance of collaboration, agility, and diversity in driving change and successfully navigating the evolving landscape of the real estate industry.
Tune in to hear innovative strategies for future-proofing real estate portfolios and cultivating a dynamic company culture.
Shout outs
Naqash Tahir, Executive Director - Global CIO Office at PGIM Real Estate
Imran Nasir, Head of Client Delivery for Europe, Asia Pacific & Latin America at PGIM Real Estate
Episode Highlights
Edi and Ilene’s common mission of driving change and innovation in the real estate industry
How KODE Labs and Hines have created a successful partnership
A cloud-based smart building operating system, and the significance of data in driving efficiency and innovation
How flexible and diverse cultures foster innovation and collaboration
The importance of a listen-first mentality, cultural contribution and diversity of thought
What the future holds for KODE Labs, Hines and the wider real estate industry
Key Takeaways
The real estate space functions completely differently from anything else around us. Our view is that it needed to get on par with everybody else with all the other industries. - Edi
One of the reasons that did away with the word ‘innovation’ is because the mindset of Hines is that we're constantly innovating. - Ilene
We're big believers that if automotive companies can make autonomous moving vehicles, then standing buildings can be autonomous as well. - Edi
We have an aging industry of people at buildings that are going to retire. You have to meet the people where they're at. You need to think to yourself, what am I doing differently in the real estate industry to attract some of these people? - Ilene
What we've done over the last six years is that we're now in thousands of buildings, and what we'll do over the next six years, is that we’ll be hopefully in hundreds of thousands of buildings. – Edi
About Our Host - Louisa Dickins
Louisa is the Co-Founder of LMRE, which has rapidly become the market-leading global built environment recruitment platform and search consultancy, specializing in finding the best strategic talent for the most innovative organisations in PropTech, ConTech, Smart Buildings, ESG, Sustainability and Strategic Consulting with operations across North America, United Kingdom, Europe, Asia-Pacific and MENA.
To promote the industry she is so passionate about, Louisa set up the Global podcast ‘The Propcast’ where she hosts and invites guests from the built environment space to join her in conversation about innovation.
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Did you know that office temperatures can affect cognitive performance? This episode of the Propcast explores the concept of creating smart and empathetic buildings, addressing crucial topics like gender bias, neurodiversity, and office space design.
Host Louisa Dickins speaks with two pioneers developing innovative solutions for workplace efficiency and employee satisfaction, Dr. Ken Dooley, Chief Product Officer at Haltian, and Dan Drogman, CEO of Smart Spaces, who share insights into their companies' growth and trends in the smart building space.
The conversation extended to the evolving preferences of the modern workforce, with Ken emphasizing the value of offering options like warmer zones or quiet spaces to create a more inclusive and productive environment, and Dan sharing how Smart Spaces uses data-driven design to address these challenges, giving people the flexibility they need while avoiding tokenism.
Tune in for an exciting discussion on smart buildings, inclusive workplaces, and the evolving needs of today's workforce.
Shoutouts
Elizabeth Nelson, Author of The Healthy Office Revolution
Episode Highlights
Ken’s journey from consulting in energy and sustainability to working in the field of smart buildings
The evolution of Smart Spaces from providing meeting room booking software to offering smart building solutions
"Hotelification" of offices, where offices aim to provide amenities and experiences better than home to attract employees back to the office
Why personalization in office environments is crucial to cater to different needs, preferences, and neurodiversity
The evolving workforce, including the great resignation and changing employee expectations
The growth of PropTech in the Nordic region
The importance of educating end-users about energy consumption to achieve sustainability goals
Key Takeaways
Our purpose at Smart Spaces is optimizing environments for the people and the planet. - Dan
We allow the organization to create beautiful spaces, communicate that they exist, and measure if it's popular enough. - Ken
It's about offering people personalization. You want to create the future workplace where everyone wants to work. - Dan
Yes, there is a gender bias. There's a brilliant article called Battle for the Thermostat that really talks about how female employees in office buildings would prefer maybe two degrees warmer. – Ken
About Our Host
Louisa Dickins
Louisa is the Co-Founder of LMRE, which has rapidly become the market-leading global built environment recruitment platform and search consultancy, specializing in finding the best strategic talent for the most innovative organisations in PropTech, ConTech, Smart Buildings, ESG, Sustainability and Strategic Consulting with operations across North America, United Kingdom, Europe, Asia-Pacific and MENA.
To promote the industry she is so passionate about, Louisa set up the Global podcast ‘The Propcast’ where she hosts and invites guests from the built environment space to join her in conversation about innovation.
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Following yet another fantastic response for our ConTech-focused 11th season, we are thrilled to unveil what we have planned for the upcoming season!
As the demand for secure, energy-efficient developments continues to soar, the number of smart buildings worldwide is projected to climb from 45 million to 115 million by 2026. This is why for season 12 of the Propcast we are focusing on all things ‘smart’, where I will be joined by some of the leading Smart Building companies in the space, featuring the likes of Kode Labs, Haltian, Drone Deploy, Smart Spaces, and many, many more!
Make sure to subscribe to the Propcast and leave us a 5* rating for this season - you’ll not want to miss it!
About Our Host
Louisa Dickins
Louisa is the co-founder of LMRE, which has rapidly become the market leading global PropTech recruitment platform and search consultancy with operations across North America, United Kingdom, Europe and Asia-Pacific.
To promote the industry she is so passionate about, Louisa set up the Global podcast ‘The Propcast’ where she hosts and invites guests from the built environment space to join her in conversation about innovation.
About LMRELMRE is globally recognised for leading the way in Real Estate Tech & Innovation talent management.
From the outset our vision was to become a global provider of the very best strategic talent to the most innovative organisations in PropTech, ConTech, Smart Buildings, ESG, Sustainability and Strategic Consulting.
At LMRE we are fully committed at all times to exceed the expectations of our candidates and clients by providing the very best advice and by unlocking exclusive opportunities across our global network in the UK, Europe, North America, MENA and Asia-Pacific.
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In the tenth episode of Season 11 of the Propcast, host Louisa Dickins is joined by Meirav Oren, CEO and Co-Founder of Versatile and James Barrett, Vice President and Chief Innovation Officer at Turner Construction
Episode Highlights:
• The founding story of Versatile and their vision
• What Turner Construction are trying to achieve for the industry and the synergies they have with Versatile
• Key challenges with innovation adoption within the sector
• The work they are doing to empower people working in construction
• Where Meirav has seen the biggest growth in their product
• Pressing issues in construction that James wants to try and resolve
• How robotics can be implemented into the industry
• Making the industry appealing to the future workforce
• How they work on making products that will make people’s jobs and change management easier
• The different partnerships Turner Construction have and the reasons behind them
• The Entrepreneur and Residence Program that Turner Construction have set up
Resources:
• LMRE Global Recruitment and Search Consultancy
• LMRE YouTube Interviews
• PropTech Salary Report, LMRE 2022
• Innovation Lab
• Omers Ventures
Key Takeaways:
• We put the data that we believe is most critical in the hands of the people who build. - Meirav
• Productivity is everything to us in construction. We're trying to get more work in place with fewer people and that's how you drive schedules, that's how you drive cost savings. That's how you improve. - James
• Evaluating and deploying solutions is working at the pace of change that people are comfortable with. - James
• We're facing a huge issue with a lack of skilled labour. We have an ageing workforce that’s retiring and it's not being replaced. - James
• When Venture capitalists told me that the industry is laggard and antiquated and simply not a good investment, because it's not going to adapt fast enough, I said, it's the second largest industry in the world. It's right for innovation, it needs it. - Meirav
• I think the worst thing you can have is incredibly bright, talented people wasting 2, 3, 4, 5 years of their life producing a solution that nobody wants. It's probably the greatest waste of human talent you can imagine. So that's why the whole program was born. - James
About Our Host
Louisa Dickins
Louisa is the co-founder of LMRE, which has rapidly become the market leading global PropTech recruitment platform and search consultancy with operations across North America, United Kingdom, Europe and Asia-Pacific.
To promote the industry she is so passionate about, Louisa set up the Global podcast ‘The Propcast’ where she hosts and invites guests from the built environment space to join her in conversation about innovation.
About LMRE
LMRE is globally recognised for leading the way in Real Estate Tech & Innovation talent management.
From the outset our vision was to become a global provider of the very best strategic talent to
the most innovative organisations in PropTech, ConTech, Smart Buildings, ESG, Sustainability and
Strategic Consulting.
At LMRE we are fully committed at all times to exceed the expectations of our candidates and clients by providing the very best advice and by unlocking exclusive opportunities across our global network in the UK, Europe, North America and Asia-Pacific.
Sponsors
Launch Your Own Podcast
A Podcast Company is the leading podcast production and strategic content company for brands, organisations, institutions, individuals, and entrepreneurs. Our team sets you up with the right strategy, equipment, training, guidance and content to ensure you sound amazing while speaking to your niche audience and networking with your perfect clients. Get in touch [email protected] -
In the ninth episode of Season 11 of the Propcast, host Louisa Dickins is joined by Mateo Zimmermann, Investment Manager at CEMEX Ventures, Chris Bone, Co-Founder & CEO at Modulous and Tim Davies, CEO at HiiROC Ltd.
Episode Highlights:
• The work that each of the businesses do and how they collaborate
• The work HiiROC are doing to try and make hydrogen more affordable
• The main issues currently facing the construction industry and the work being undertaken to try and find solutions
• How these issues can impair innovation and make the industry quite risk averse
• The work Modulous are doing on ESG
• The challenge with bringing new talent into the industry who can help drive innovation and technology adoption
Why it can take longer to see the rollout of new technologies within the space
The different speed of innovation adoption across the industry and the frustrations this can cause
• The investments CEMEX are making in companies working on green construction
• The issues with supply/ delivery of materials and the work CEMEX are doing to try and resolve this
• The future they all see for construction
Resources:
• LMRE Global Recruitment and Search Consultancy
• LMRE YouTube Interviews
• PropTech Salary Report, LMRE 2022
• Leaplab | CEMEX Ventures
• Construction Startup Competition
• McKinsey
• Modulous
• Synhelion
• PartRunner – Home
Key Takeaways:
• CEMEX have been amazing for us through this process because they're thought leaders in their space. They have great views on how the industry can be changed and that's something that we're very keen to help facilitate. Our vision is to help solve the housing crisis while protecting the planet. - Chris
• We are rolling out the production of hydrogen, but we're working with partners like CEMEX to say how do we use it in the right setting? So how do you use it to produce cement? How do you use it to produce steel or for transport? - Tim
• We can only tackle the challenges our industry are facing, and I want to emphasise on that, if we industry players collaborate to build a better future. - Mateo
• We're continually looking at both the physical product and the carbon content of that product. And until you understand the carbon content, it's very difficult to drive change, to improve that, or to be able to track it and understand exactly what level of carbon is, in our instance being put in our buildings. - Chris
• It’s a very tight margin business. Therefore, when you look at cement or steel and the like to suddenly introduce a much higher energy cost because you're using hydrogen, not natural gas or whatever else is nigh on impossible. So we as technology providers have to provide the solution that makes it affordable. - Tim
• I think the paces are also a little bit different. There's obviously a lot of innovations in terms of materials that are happening, but not necessarily there is an adoption on the job site right on construction. - Mateo
• It's very inefficient and obviously materials are a large part of the construction budget. So from 40 to 60% depending on the country and it's highly inefficient. It's actually one of the biggest reasons for delays in construction. - Mateo
About Our Guests:
Mateo Zimmermann
Mateo Zimmermann is Investment Manager at CEMEX Ventures, responsible for the Corporate Venture Capital Investments in startups in the Construction technology space.
Before joining CEMEX Ventures, Mateo worked at The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) from 2013 to 2017 as a Management Consultant, where he promoted to Project Leader. He previously worked at StepOne as an Advisor for startups and corporates in their Digital Strategies. Before that he worked as an Investment Analyst in Private Equity and Corporate Debt at the Asset Management division of Arcano. He also worked for UBS and Electrolux Group. Mateo has a double degree in Engineering and Management. He graduated as MSc in Industrial Engineering and Management at Technische Universität Berlin (Germany) and obtained a Master in Management at ESCP Europe (Paris, France). He was born in Madrid (Spain) and has both the Spanish and German citizenship.
CEMEX Ventures
The global economy has endured a tough 2022. With decades-high inflation sapping post-lockdown spending and pushing central banks to hike borrowing costs at an unprecedented clip to bring it under control. Yet despite poor projections and an overall decline in VC funding, 2023 represents an optimistic year for startups in the ConTech sector. Predictions point to trailblazing new technologies and business models entering the industry to improve sustainability and reduce the global carbon footprint.
That’s why CEMEX Ventures, the corporate venture capital and open innovation unit of CEMEX, goes beyond simply investing. Since 2017, CEMEX Ventures develops relationships between entrepreneurs, investors, CEMEX, and other corporations in order to revolutionize the construction industry as we know it today.
Chris Bone
Chris is CEO and co-founder of Modulous, the construction technology company that was formed to address the global housing crisis while reducing the climate impact of real estate development. Chris has 25 years’ experience in the construction industry, having managed businesses across consulting, manufacturing, and construction. At Modulous he is responsible for all aspects of the company’s growth and development in the UK, Europe, and the USA.
Modulous
Modulous was founded in 2018 by a team of construction, technology, and manufacturing specialists to create an asset-light model for the design and delivery of sustainable homes. Its integrated digital and physical product suite is designed to make the whole construction cycle - from feasibility right through to delivery on site - more efficient and effective.
Its software platform generates optimised schemes based on a Kit of Parts, which is manufactured within the supply chain, removing the need for dedicated factories. The Kit of Parts is a standardised set of assemblies providing a high-performance net-zero modular housing system, delivered in half the time of traditional housebuilding, with 70% less waste and 60% lower embodied carbon.
Modulous has offices in London and Seattle and is the first globally scalable technology solution to address both the worldwide housing crisis and escalating climate emergency.
Tim Davies
Tim has held Chief Executive & Board roles across a variety of sectors including green-tech, retail & service-providers working with both corporates and start-ups. He has a proven track record of identifying and delivering new business opportunities and considerable value creation including 20 years’ experience working for PE & VC-backed businesses. Now, as CEO of HiiROC, Tim and his team have developed a technology with a potentially transformational impact on Climate Change.
HiiROC
A transformational new technology for affordable, clean hydrogen production using world leading proprietary plasma technology. HiiROC's Thermal Plasma Electrolysis (TPE) uses renewable (or grid) electricity to split hydrocarbons (biomethane, flare gas, natural gas, propane, etc) into zero-emission Hydrogen and inert solid Carbon Black (i.e. without producing CO2).
TPE works at a fraction of the cost of Water Electrolysis, without the CO2 emissions of Steam Methane Reforming and is scalable from micro onsite (saving transport & storage costs) to industrial scale. The highly versatile technology is being piloted globally in 2023 across the hydrogen sectors from industrial decarbonisation to transport to grid blending and power management whilst also being used for flare gas mitigation and CO2 reduction using biomethane.
About Our Host
Louisa Dickins
Louisa is the co-founder of LMRE, which has rapidly become the market leading global PropTech recruitment platform and search consultancy with operations across North America, United Kingdom, Europe and Asia-Pacific.
To promote the industry she is so passionate about, Louisa set up the Global podcast ‘The Propcast’ where she hosts and invites guests from the built environment space to join her in conversation about innovation.
About LMRE
LMRE is globally recognised for leading the way in Real Estate Tech & Innovation talent management.
From the outset our vision was to become a global provider of the very best strategic talent to the most innovative organisations in PropTech, ConTech, Smart Buildings, ESG, Sustainability and Strategic Consulting.
At LMRE we are fully committed at all times to exceed the expectations of our candidates and clients by providing the very best advice and by unlocking exclusive opportunities across our global network in the UK, Europe, North America and Asia-Pacific.
Sponsors
Launch Your Own Podcast
A Podcast Company is the leading podcast production and strategic content company for brands, organisations, institutions, individuals, and entrepreneurs. Our team sets you up with the right strategy, equipment, training, guidance and content to ensure you sound amazing while speaking to your niche audience and networking with your perfect clients. Get in touch [email protected] -
In the eighth episode of Season 11 of the Propcast, host Louisa Dickins is joined by Maria Davidson, CEO & Founder of Kojo and Dan Babcock, President at James Babcock Inc
Episode Highlights:
• What was behind the creation of Kojo and the issues they believed they could resolve
• What Kojo stands for
• Common questions clients of Kojo want to have answered
• The reasons why Dan’s company became customers of Kojo and the benefits they get from it
• How Dan found introducing a new technology solution into the business that had been running since the 50’s
• The impact the increase in the cost of materials is having on profitability
• The different product changes that have occurred for Kojo and their future plans
• What drives the development of different products and their roadmap
• Other products Kojo integrates with
• Trends Maria is seeing within the industryResources:
• LMRE Global Recruitment and Search Consultancy
• LMRE YouTube Interviews
• PropTech Salary Report, LMRE 2022
• Procore
• OpenSpace podcastKey Takeaways:
• When we started Kojo back in 2018, the question that we were really obsessed with was how could we make the built environment faster, more efficient and less error prone to build? - Maria
• In the last three years, with an extremely volatile supply chain and volatile material prices, the difference between being profitable and unprofitable can really come down to one project going well or going badly. - Maria
• A big thing is pricing. We’ve seen huge savings. Because back in the day, my purchaser would've taken an order and called our favourite vendor and ordered the materials. Now we're sending it out if it's a smaller order, to three to four vendors and I can see on my dashboard the amount of savings between if we would've just gone with the one vendor. - Dan
• So we take baby steps on anything we do, because people in construction are a little behind on, I'd say technology, but we don't want to be, not all of us. - Dan
• We just had a customer who got an invoice for $12,000 that should have been $120 because the unit of measurement was off. And they said, that's the kind of thing that we could have just paid because we're getting thousands of invoices a month, and it's impossible for us to know that each one is being meticulously checked. - MariaAbout Our Host
Louisa Dickins
Louisa is the co-founder of LMRE, which has rapidly become the market leading global PropTech recruitment platform and search consultancy with operations across North America, United Kingdom, Europe and Asia-Pacific.
To promote the industry she is so passionate about, Louisa set up the Global podcast ‘The Propcast’ where she hosts and invites guests from the built environment space to join her in conversation about innovation.About LMRE
LMRE is globally recognised for leading the way in Real Estate Tech & Innovation talent management.
From the outset our vision was to become a global provider of the very best strategic talent to the most innovative organisations in PropTech, ConTech, Smart Buildings, ESG, Sustainability and Strategic Consulting.
At LMRE we are fully committed at all times to exceed the expectations of our candidates and clients by providing the very best advice and by unlocking exclusive opportunities across our global network in the UK, Europe, North America and Asia-Pacific.Sponsors
Launch Your Own Podcast
A Podcast Company is the leading podcast production and strategic content company for brands, organisations, institutions, individuals, and entrepreneurs. Our team sets you up with the right strategy, equipment, training, guidance and content to ensure you sound amazing while speaking to your niche audience and networking with your perfect clients. Get in touch [email protected] -
In the seventh episode of Season 11 of the Propcast, host Louisa Dickins is joined by Chris Oldham Senior Policy and Programme Manager at City of London Corporation and Hannah Vickers, Chief of Staff at Mace
Episode Highlights:
• What the ‘Skills for Sustainable Skyline Taskforce’ is and the work they are doing
• Why it is unusual to have a Chief of Staff role in the construction industry
• The trends that Hannah has seen within the sector over the last few years
• The workforce engagement campaign that Chris is helping to run to ensure they have the right people in key roles
• Why we need a more joined up approach to engage schools when looking to bring the
future workforce in
• The misconceptions on what a career in the build environment is like
• Creating a clearer path both into the industry and being able to retrain within the industry
• The importance of addressing the skills gap
• The current innovation trends within the sectorResources:
• LMRE Global Recruitment and Search Consultancy
• LMRE YouTube Interviews
• PropTech Salary Report, LMRE 2022
• Skills for Sustainable Skyline Taskforce
• Construction Leadership Council
• Women in Construction Tech
• BIM Academy
Shout outs:• Antonia Soler
• Bola AbisogunKey Takeaways:
• I began my career as a primary school teacher, which gave me a real interest in how we
can best equip our young people for the careers of tomorrow. - Chris
• We're encouraging the existing workforce for the full project lifecycle of sustainable
buildings to upskill, to reskill with those green skills that we've identified in the research,
and also to attract a large cohort of diverse new entrants from untapped pools of talent,
particularly looking at women, more young people, people from ethnic minority
backgrounds into the build environment. - Chris
• One of the first trends that I came across was how much our productivity improved during
covid. - Hannah
• We are the second highest paying sector in the UK. So if you think about people having
lifelong careers and retraining, you could potentially retrain and come into construction,
but still be as well paid or better paid than you might be in another sector. - Hannah
• I think how we tap into those pools of talent, we need to look at developing a more
flexible approach to work as well, which in practice is probably offering hybrid work. -
Chris
• We're going to need people who can work to those requirements, who can understand
what that means for the construction process. So if you like it's not a hard sell. It's a sort
of requirement to be able to function as a business going forward. So that's why for us, it's
so important. - HannahAbout Our Host
Louisa Dickins
Louisa is the co-founder of LMRE, which has rapidly become the market leading global PropTech recruitment platform and search consultancy with operations across North America, United Kingdom, Europe and Asia-Pacific.
To promote the industry she is so passionate about, Louisa set up the Global podcast ‘The Propcast’ where she hosts and invites guests from the built environment space to join her in conversation about innovation.
About LMRELMRE is globally recognised for leading the way in Real Estate Tech & Innovation talent management.
From the outset our vision was to become a global provider of the very best strategic talent to the most innovative organisations in PropTech, ConTech, Smart Buildings, ESG, Sustainability and Strategic Consulting.
At LMRE we are fully committed at all times to exceed the expectations of our candidates and clients by providing the very best advice and by unlocking exclusive opportunities across our global network in the UK, Europe, North America and Asia-Pacific.
Sponsors
Launch Your Own Podcast
A Podcast Company is the leading podcast production and strategic content company for brands, organisations, institutions, individuals, and entrepreneurs. Our team sets you up with the right strategy, equipment, training, guidance and content to ensure you sound amazing while speaking to your niche audience and networking with your perfect clients. Get in touch [email protected]
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In the sixth episode of Season 11 of the Propcast, host Louisa Dickins is joined by Geoffrey Lewis, VP Product Management and Tiffany LaBruno, Product Director who both work at Procore Technologies.
Episode Highlights:
How Geoffrey got involved in the PropTech sector from investment banking and a failed startup
How the construction industry beginning to utilise new technologies sparked Tiffany’s desire to work in the sector and further train people to continue this adoption
The trends they have seen with the growth of innovation
The challenges with the increased adoption of technology with the construction industry and how they are working to overcome them
Why Procore merged with Honest Buildings and the impact it had on business
The value Procore brings to its customers
The main differences they have found between working with general contractors and property owners
The partnerships they are forming with other software providers and what they are trying to achieve with this
The investment Procore is making into the pre-construction space and how this ties in with ESG
Resources:
LMRE Global Recruitment and Search Consultancy
LMRE YouTube Interviews
PropTech Salary Report, LMRE 2022
Honest Buildings
Shout outs:
Riggs Kubiak
Vantage Data Centers
UMT360
Key Takeaways:
So we really have seen over the 20 - 30 years that I've been in this industry, an evolution to utilise technology within construction. - Tiffany
If they get in there and it's too hard to use or too hard to configure, they're just gonna throw up their hands and go back to Excel. - Geoffrey
There's so many things we're seeing and utilising at Procore in terms of AI and ML and really driving data insights to owners. They're starting to see the value of utilising it across the platform because then they can make decisions on future projects based on how the last project went. - Tiffany
The one thing I would say for founders out there, you know companies are bought, not sold. Procore's got to really want to purchase Honest buildings. You can't just go to them and say, hey, we're for sale, that's not gonna be something that gets a deal done. - Geoffrey
Historically the tools have been built for these general contractors who are doing all the work and very much need software. But the owners who are holding all the risk, I think haven't necessarily availed themselves with the right tools to be able to really effectively manage that risk. - Geoffrey
What's interesting is a lot of our most used integrations are things that are used across every industry, not just construction. - Tiffany
About Our Host
Louisa Dickins
Louisa is the co-founder of LMRE, which has rapidly become the market leading global PropTech recruitment platform and search consultancy with operations across North America, United Kingdom, Europe and Asia-Pacific.
To promote the industry she is so passionate about, Louisa set up the Global podcast ‘The Propcast’ where she hosts and invites guests from the built environment space to join her in conversation about innovation.
About LMRE
LMRE is globally recognised for leading the way in Real Estate Tech & Innovation talent management.
From the outset our vision was to become a global provider of the very best strategic talent to the most innovative organisations in PropTech, ConTech, Smart Buildings, ESG, Sustainability and Strategic Consulting.
At LMRE we are fully committed at all times to exceed the expectations of our candidates and clients by providing the very best advice and by unlocking exclusive opportunities across our global network in the UK, Europe, North America and Asia-Pacific.
Sponsors
Launch Your Own Podcast
A Podcast Company is the leading podcast production and strategic content company for brands, organisations, institutions, individuals, and entrepreneurs. Our team sets you up with the right strategy, equipment, training, guidance and content to ensure you sound amazing while speaking to your niche audience and networking with your perfect clients. Get in touch [email protected]
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In the fifth episode of Season 11 of the Propcast, host Louisa Dickins is joined by Jeevan Kalanithi, CEO at OpenSpace and Parker Mundt, Vice President of Platform at Suffolk Technologies.
Episode Highlights:
OpenSpace’s founding story
How Jeevan and Parker initially met and started working together
The concept behind Suffolk Technologies and the companies they invest into
Open Space’s two products and the difference between them
How OpenSpace overcame the challenges when scaling their products
The broad challenges Parker sees startups facing with new products
How product trends change based on geographical locations
Parker’s investment predictions for 2023-24
Current macro trends and what this will mean for those ready to innovate and be tech forward
The firms involved in the Suffolk Boost Accelerator Program
Companies that are creating innovative solutions for sustainability
What steps Open Space are taking to reduce the ‘eight waste’ on construction sites
Resources:
LMRE Global Recruitment and Search Consultancy
LMRE YouTube Interviews
PropTech Salary Report, LMRE 2022
Sifteo
3D Robotics
Autodesk
Suffolk Boost Accelerator Program
Qflow
Carbon Titles
Shepherd Insurance
Shout outs:
Brittany Harris
Jade Cohen
Key Takeaways:
They started a company and sold it, and sure enough, they were working on a capture technology with these new 360 cameras. When I heard about it, I was like, you know, who could really use this? Building. - Jeevan
Suffolk has trialled over 180 different tech solutions. We pride ourselves in being a very forward thinking general contractor who has a deep desire to innovate within the construction space. - ParkerWe’re building more and more stuff upon that. It all works because we have a simple capture product and I think we've captured something like 12 billion square feet, some big number. So it's a lot of data that allows us to make the system smarter and more useful for our customers. - Jeevan
I think today we see a lot of companies that come in and maybe are naive or maybe just a bit out of touch with what some of the tech solutions in construction in particular would charge. And that can be a showstopper immediately, because the folks that you're selling to are still very focused on price and schedule, right? Those are the two main drivers in the construction industry. - Parker
For us we're really focused on making sure that the founders feel comfortable at the valuation that they're at and not necessarily pumping it up just for the sake of having a larger valuation. - Parker
We're at an innovate or die kind of portion of the life cycle right now where folks who are tech forward and are looking to see how they can do things better, faster, cheaper, safer, you know, those folks will emerge as the industry leaders, as a general contractor. - Parker
We really prioritise reliability and speed and efficiency with our technology and we hope that allows our builder customers to do the same. - Jeevan
About Our Host
Louisa Dickins
Louisa is the co-founder of LMRE, which has rapidly become the market leading global PropTech recruitment platform and search consultancy with operations across North America, United Kingdom, Europe and Asia-Pacific.
To promote the industry she is so passionate about, Louisa set up the Global podcast ‘The Propcast’ where she hosts and invites guests from the built environment space to join her in conversation about innovation.
About LMRELMRE is globally recognised for leading the way in Real Estate Tech & Innovation talent management.
From the outset our vision was to become a global provider of the very best strategic talent to the most innovative organisations in PropTech, ConTech, Smart Buildings, ESG, Sustainability and Strategic Consulting.
At LMRE we are fully committed at all times to exceed the expectations of our candidates and clients by providing the very best advice and by unlocking exclusive opportunities across our global network in the UK, Europe, North America and Asia-Pacific.
Sponsors
Launch Your Own Podcast
A Podcast Company is the leading podcast production and strategic content company for brands, organisations, institutions, individuals, and entrepreneurs. Our team sets you up with the right strategy, equipment, training, guidance and content to ensure you sound amazing while speaking to your niche audience and networking with your perfect clients. Get in touch [email protected]
-
In the fourth episode of Season 11 of the Propcast, host Louisa Dickins is joined by Antonia Soler, Director of Hilti Technology Office at Hilti and Vivin Hegde, GB and Founding Partner at Zacua Ventures, an early stage global VC specialised in investing in the Built Environment sector.
Episode Highlights:
How Antonia and Vivin both met whilst working at Hilti
The Women in Construction Tech Group that Antonia has co-founded
The events and chapters WCT are running
How Zacua Ventures started and where the idea came from
Vivin’s advice to founders looking to scale towards an exit
The evolution Vivin believes early startups need to go through in order to be successful
The challenges around digitising construction and how Antonia suggests these are addressed
The importance of understanding what it’s actually like to work in construction when trying to build a solution
Where Antonia and Vivin expect to see investment being made in 2023
The difference in investments between early stage and late stage
The reasons why interest in Series B is quieter in terms of investment
How construction technologies are helping with sustainability
The technologies being developed to address prefabrication and modular construction
Resources:LMRE Global Recruitment and Search Consultancy
LMRE YouTube Interviews
PropTech Salary Report, LMRE 2022
WCT
McKinsey
Fieldwire
Dusty Robotics
Built World
Trimble
Ecoworks
Carbon Title
Urban Machine
Kit Switch
Shout outs:Gregg Wallace
Mauricio Tessi Weiss
Juan Nieto
Julieta Moradei
Key Takeaways:
And this is where the seeds of Zacua Ventures were sewn, right? We had built a network, we'd seen how hard corporate innovation is for a lot of corporates, and we are also invested in funds. - Vivin
So a startup needs to be mindful of the exit options that they have. They shouldn't be driven by the exit itself. - Vivin
I find that founders that spend a lot of time with customers in the field and in the office come up with the best solutions. Because they are observing workflows, testing solutions on the job site and otherwise learning how their solution can best serve their customers. - Antonia
So women in construction tech, it's dedicated to creating opportunities and developing relationships for women driving innovation in the construction industry. We envision a construction industry where women are well networked, support each other, efforts to improve and advance in the space and otherwise. - Antonia
We did a survey of 80 contact focused VCs and corporate VCs a couple of weeks back. Just a little bit of the industry, I would say, and it's positive. We do see more investment happening in this space. Pretty much 70% of the VCs we spoke to said they're going to increase their investment rather than decrease in this space. - Vivin
I think everybody has a good view of how the market could look in the next 6, 12, 18 months. Even if it's not rosy, it's still more predictable than it was five months back. And therefore the deal flow should pick up slowly and the deal making should also pick up accordingly. - Vivin
About Our Host
Louisa Dickins
Louisa is the co-founder of LMRE, which has rapidly become the market leading global PropTech recruitment platform and search consultancy with operations across North America, United Kingdom, Europe and Asia-Pacific.
To promote the industry she is so passionate about, Louisa set up the Global podcast ‘The Propcast’ where she hosts and invites guests from the built environment space to join her in conversation about innovation.
About LMRELMRE is globally recognised for leading the way in Real Estate Tech & Innovation talent management.
From the outset our vision was to become a global provider of the very best strategic talent to the most innovative organisations in PropTech, ConTech, Smart Buildings, ESG, Sustainability and Strategic Consulting.
At LMRE we are fully committed at all times to exceed the expectations of our candidates and clients by providing the very best advice and by unlocking exclusive opportunities across our global network in the UK, Europe, North America and Asia-Pacific.
Sponsors
Launch Your Own Podcast
A Podcast Company is the leading podcast production and strategic content company for brands, organisations, institutions, individuals, and entrepreneurs. Our team sets you up with the right strategy, equipment, training, guidance and content to ensure you sound amazing while speaking to your niche audience and networking with your perfect clients. Get in touch [email protected]
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In the third episode of Season 11 of the Propcast, host Louisa Dickins is joined by Gregg Wallace, Partner at Building Ventures, who invest in companies reshaping the way we design, build, operate and experience our built environment and Matt Wegworth, Vice President of Dawson Ventures at McKinstry, whose goal is to advance early-stage technologies and offerings and support innovative startups.
Episode Highlights:
How Gregg as part of the Hilti Group invested in Building Ventures first funding round
How they have now launched Fund 2 and the different strategic partners this will bring onboard
The growth they have seen in the market and what it means for their organisation
The synergies between Building Ventures and McKinstry and why they started working together as strategic partners
The tagline that McKinstry work by and how that benefits their clients
Why Dawson Ventures was created
The stage and ticket size that both companies invest in and trends they follow
The different areas of growth they are seeing, despite the economic situation
The importance of having a go to market plan in the construction and proptech space
Gregg and Matt’s ideas for generating more innovation and adoption within the industry
Their view on the best ways to attract new talent into construction technologies
The battle the industry has between efficiencies and innovation
Resources:LMRE Global Recruitment and Search Consultancy
LMRE YouTube Interviews
PropTech Salary Report, LMRE 2022
ALICE Technologies
ICON
A/O PropTech Report
Hilti Group
Assemble System
Autodesk
Financial Times
ENR 400
TurboTax
BuiltWorlds Conference
Shout outs:Mayra Soto
Vivin Hegde
Key Takeaways:
We appreciated as Hilti the ecosystem that Building Ventures brought, so we made an investment in mid 2018, alongside a whole number of strategic investors as part of Building Ventures first fund, which launched in 2018 as $53 million and placed 16 startup portfolio companies. - Gregg
That's what we also represent as Building Ventures, looking at how do we create a fundamentally better built world? Not the transaction side of buying and selling and dividing buildings into crypto coins, but really creating a fundamentally better built world, connecting the historically disparate phases of the building lifecycle. - Gregg
What that does for us here and certainly for our clients is it brings a suite of thinking and offering to drive that desire to how do we remove the waste and climate harm out of the environment through innovation, so that it has 60 years of operation. - Matt
We believe by keeping really close to the industry, we can be very supportive. At the early seed stage, getting to know founders, making introductions, helping them think through strategically the problems. - Gregg
This is not a one-time transaction. This is the start of a five to 10 year relationship through all of its ups and downs that we want to support our portfolio company. - Gregg
So do we see a slowdown? Not at all. Are we continuing to invest in our own startups? Absolutely. - Matt
About Our Host
Louisa Dickins
Louisa is the co-founder of LMRE, which has rapidly become the market leading global PropTech recruitment platform and search consultancy with operations across North America, United Kingdom, Europe and Asia-Pacific.
To promote the industry she is so passionate about, Louisa set up the Global podcast ‘The Propcast’ where she hosts and invites guests from the built environment space to join her in conversation about innovation.
About LMRE
LMRE is globally recognised for leading the way in Real Estate Tech & Innovation talent management.
From the outset our vision was to become a global provider of the very best strategic talent to the most innovative organisations in PropTech, ConTech, Smart Buildings, ESG, Sustainability and Strategic Consulting.
At LMRE we are fully committed at all times to exceed the expectations of our candidates and clients by providing the very best advice and by unlocking exclusive opportunities across our global network in the UK, Europe, North America and Asia-Pacific.
Sponsors
Launch Your Own Podcast
A Podcast Company is the leading podcast production and strategic content company for brands, organisations, institutions, individuals, and entrepreneurs. Our team sets you up with the right strategy, equipment, training, guidance and content to ensure you sound amazing while speaking to your niche audience and networking with your perfect clients. Get in touch [email protected]
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In the second episode of Season 11 of the Propcast, host Louisa Dickins is joined by René Morkos, the Founder and CEO of ALICE Technologies, the world’s first construction optioneering platform and Shane Richardson, President of Lagrange, a management consulting firm providing project controls and program management services.
Episode Highlights:
The founding story behind ALICE Technologies and the problems it was designed to solve
The difference between the two products, ‘Alice Pre-Construction’ and ‘Alice Manage’ and their capabilities
How Rene and Shane met and how they started working together
How to use data to make better informed decisions
The hesitancies the construction industry have around technology
The issues they face and potential missed opportunities if they are brought in part way through a project, rather than the beginning
Early innovators in the space and their impact on implementation and integration
The biggest changes they have seen within the industry and what they predict over the next 20 years
The importance of finding the right tool when trying to digitalise data to increase productivity
Where they believe the skill gaps currently are in construction tech
ALICE’s sustainability pledge
Resources:
LMRE Global Recruitment and Search Consultancy
LMRE YouTube Interviews
PropTech Salary Report, LMRE 2022
Bechtel
Katerra
Canadian Nuclear Labs
Skanska
Stanford University
Key Takeaways:
What resources do you need to build to perform those tasks? That's the kind of information you give the system, and then the system generates 6 million different ways of building the project for you. - Rene
I noticed that was one of the things that wasn't being leveraged; how can we use this data to make better informed decisions? -Shane
A lot of times you're already 20 plus percent complete with a project, and there's a certain point where you can always minimise risk, minimise costs on a project, but as you progress on a project, the further you progress, you lose out on that opportunity. - Shane
What's happening in construction today is what happened to manufacturing in the seventies and eighties. It's really becoming digitised. It's becoming integrated across the supply chain. - Rene
I think that's one of the reasons why construction projects were plagued with delays, for decades and decades. It's because how do we fix that problem of being able to translate accurate data in its schedule, maintain it, and so ALICE takes care of that. - Shane
The way that I perceive it is that one of the major skill gaps is that construction is getting converted into algorithmic terms. And so that's something that's relatively new. - Rene
McKinsey article: over the last 20 years the industry as a whole has only only increased 1% in productivity. And the construction spending is about 13% of the world's GDP. And so you think about that, it's over 1.3 trillion in opportunity to try to leverage. - Shane
About Our Host
Louisa Dickins
Louisa is the co-founder of LMRE, which has rapidly become the market leading global PropTech recruitment platform and search consultancy with operations across North America, United Kingdom, Europe and Asia-Pacific.
To promote the industry she is so passionate about, Louisa set up the Global podcast ‘The Propcast’ where she hosts and invites guests from the built environment space to join her in conversation about innovation.
About LMRE
LMRE is globally recognised for leading the way in Real Estate Tech & Innovation talent management.
From the outset our vision was to become a global provider of the very best strategic talent to the most innovative organisations in PropTech, ConTech, Smart Buildings, ESG, Sustainability and Strategic Consulting.
At LMRE we are fully committed at all times to exceed the expectations of our candidates and clients by providing the very best advice and by unlocking exclusive opportunities across our global network in the UK, Europe, North America and Asia-Pacific.
Sponsors
Launch Your Own Podcast
A Podcast Company is the leading podcast production and strategic content company for brands, organisations, institutions, individuals, and entrepreneurs. Our team sets you up with the right strategy, equipment, training, guidance and content to ensure you sound amazing while speaking to your niche audience and networking with your perfect clients. Get in touch [email protected]
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In the first episode of Season 11 of the Propcast, host Louisa Dickins is joined by Ibrahim Imam, and Sander Van de Rijdt, joint Co-Founders and Group CEO’s of PlanRadar.
PlanRadar is a digital platform for construction documentation, task management and communication. It is currently used in over 65 markets and has 120,000 construction professionals as users.
Ibrahim and Sander met at University and prior to PlanRadar founded other technology businesses together.
Episode Highlights:
Why they launched PlanRadar and the industry issues they were trying to solve
Why they believe the construction industry is so under digitalised
What helped them to achieve such rapid growth
The decision making process behind why they move into certain regions
How word of mouth is one of their most powerful business drivers
How customer feedback dictates the development of the product
Misunderstandings that can arise from conventional paper and pen usage
Overcoming people’s hesitations with new technology
Their aim to make the construction industry more ESG compliant
The need for diversification within the industry to continue to drive growth and innovation
Their future aspirations for PlanRadar
Resources:
LMRE Global Recruitment and Search Consultancy
LMRE YouTube Interviews
PropTech Salary Report, LMRE 2022
Shout Outs:
Constantin Kock
Domagoj Dolinsek
Clemens Hammerl
Key Takeaways:
We decided to get on that mission to try to improve the lives of all the people out there on the construction sites and in the real estate projects. - Sander
We have around 20,000 customers, which is a lot. But when you realise that there are around 2.5 million potential customers just in Europe, then it's nothing. - Sander
But what PlanRadar has figured out throughout the last few years is to make the customisation level that every organisation requires, to really meet their own processes. - Ibrahim
We hired last quarter, I think 134 new people. We plan to hire this quarter, 82 new people. So we're still growing. - Sander
PlanRadar is a tool that everybody can now download from the App store or the Play store and just instantly use it and start adding value to their corporations. - Ibrahim
The main lesson is if you want to build a successful company, it's all about the people that you hire. Because a good team can deliver good results. Simple as that. - Ibrahim
About Our Host
Louisa Dickins
Louisa is the co-founder of LMRE, which has rapidly become the market leading global PropTech recruitment platform and search consultancy with operations across North America, United Kingdom, Europe and Asia-Pacific.
To promote the industry she is so passionate about, Louisa set up the Global podcast ‘The Propcast’ where she hosts and invites guests from the built environment space to join her in conversation about innovation.
About LMRELMRE is globally recognised for leading the way in Real Estate Tech & Innovation talent management.
From the outset our vision was to become a global provider of the very best strategic talent to the most innovative organisations in PropTech, ConTech, Smart Buildings, ESG, Sustainability and Strategic Consulting.
At LMRE we are fully committed at all times to exceed the expectations of our candidates and clients by providing the very best advice and by unlocking exclusive opportunities across our global network in the UK, Europe, North America and Asia-Pacific.
Sponsors
Launch Your Own Podcast
A Podcast Company is the leading podcast production and strategic content company for brands, organisations, institutions, individuals, and entrepreneurs. Our team sets you up with the right strategy, equipment, training, guidance and content to ensure you sound amazing while speaking to your niche audience and networking with your perfect clients. Get in touch [email protected]
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