The UK ULI Young Leader group continues their work to provide one of the most compelling membership offers for young professionals under the age of 35, working in the UK’s Built Environment. Building on a busy 2014, this year has seen a full calendar of events aimed at delivering member opportunities for personal and professional development, industry insight and intelligence and networking amongst peers and senior industry colleagues.

The Young Leader programme is designed and delivered by its members with support from ULI and Senior members. It has an active executive committee of 26, chaired by Ryan Matenchuk (Stanhope PLC) and Ben O’Neill (Hammerson PLC). The committee hosts very popular “open meetings” for active members considering becoming more involved in the executive group. The committee continues to welcome new members from abroad as they land in the UK, and engage with new members from the UK market.

This year the Young Leaders mentoring programme was re-launched with a targeted coaching session from Erica Sosna for participants and made over 60 one-on-one mentoring pairings. Building on the ULI network the programme benefits from some of the UK’s most senior practitioners across investment, advisory, development, law and design who act as mentors to YL members. The programme hit coverage in both Property Week and Estates Gazette.

The Young Leader’s events programme in 2015 was a huge success. Starting in January with over 300 attendees to our first dedicated YL “Emerging Trends” launch hosted by PWC and over 100 attending Winter Drinks, hosted at the Heron Tower with engaging talks by Malcolm Kerr (DP9) and Robert Tavernor (LSE). The YL Group also hosted Summer Drinks with a tour of Delancey’s East Village and the Olympic Park finishing with drinks and canapes overlooking the Olympic Park.

The Young Leader’s public sector engagement programme reached new heights with a thought provoking event hosted at City Hall for members to debate partnerships working between the public and private sector. The event also welcomed a number of senior colleagues who joined in including, John Forkin of Invest Derby, Simon Powell of the GLA and former deputy mayor Nicky Gavron AM.

The year’s Lunch & Learn programme was also busy. These small, intimate and often candid events are in high demand as 12-15 members have the opportunity to lunch with an inspiring senior industry professional. These events are free and restricted to ULI members and continue to be a sell-out success. This year the Young Leader’s welcomed Simon Clarke of Linklaters shortly after his assumption of ULI UK Chair, Ashley Muldoon of Brookfield Multiplex, Jim Garman of Goldman Sachs, John Carrafiell of GreenOak and many others.

Utilising ULI’s international reach, the YL’s organised an interesting program at this year’s Paris Conference specifically dedicated for professionals under the age of 35. The group worked with the YL European committee to visit a large scale urban regeneration project within Paris, and held a skills session with European Senior Leaders. In addition to the Paris conference, the European YL committee, with a strong voice from UK YL’s, completed a ULI YL European summer school. Over 25 European YLs travelled and participated in the European forum and learning experience, which looks set to continue in 2016.

This year the Young Leaders also looked to reach out to the wider property industry. They held their first University focused event strategically aimed at engaging student members saw us partnering leading schools including UCL, LSE, Cambridge and the LBS. The group continues to cement its recognition amongst members and employers as a place to nurture young – and most importantly as a place where people build great professional relationships – and is growing its membership as a result.

Next year is already set to be another eventful year as we welcome two new chairs, Hala El Akl (PLP Architects) and Charlie Royle (AEW Europe). The committee is already busy planning Winter Drinks, our second dedicated Emerging Trends launch and the re-launch of the mentoring programme in January alone.

Ben O’Neil, Project Manager, Hammerson

Ryan Matenchuk, Senior Analyst, Stanhope

ULI UK Young Leaders Co-Chairs