A housing crisis, the rising cost of living, building safety scandals, and an unstable market — current events have come together to give the property industry a bit of a PR problem. With so much additional pressure being put on operations’ staff and managers alike, it’s easy to fall victim to the cynicism of our time. However, property industry thought leaders believe negative attitudes could be the start of a slippery slope.
"Block management is beautiful"
This was the sentiment shared by a group of ten experts at Fixflo’s 2023 block management expert panel event. Joaquim Fillola, CEO of Encore Estate Management, spoke passionately about what he sees as the hidden power of block management:
“We talk a lot about attracting people into our industry. We have a high turnover rate, and we are significantly impacted by large-scale economic factors largely outside of our control. The press can contribute to the negative feeling, with stories going out about high levels of stress within the sector and our staff being unfairly blamed for building safety problems. With so much negativity, how on earth is anyone going to be attracted to estate management?”
“Words are the solution. Words can be very powerful, especially when there is real meaning behind them."
“We have so much power in our hands. Our managers are skilled in finance, building technology and communication. It’s a diverse, multi-disciplinary industry with so much to offer. All of it is absolutely beautiful. When you think about the goal of our work, we protect the places people live and work and thrive. We need to use the word beautiful, because there is beauty in what we do, and that beauty deserves to be spoken.”
Can words help change the property industry?
Fixflo’s panel of experts from across the block management industry, including Joe Goss, Nigel Glen, Martin Perry, Richard Benson, Danielle Parker, Alec Guthrie, Nygel Scourfield, Niall McGann and Fiona Docherty all echo Joaquim’s sentiments.
“Estate management is multidisciplinary, and that means we face a wide variety of challenges. We have to reset the dial on how people see our industry,” Nigel Glen concludes.
Keen to hear what else the experts had to say? Watch their full discussion completely free.
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