This year’s ULI UK Summer Drinks on 25th July, was located at the hearth of the City, at Angel Court. The lounge on the 7th floor gives into a pleasant garden terrace, that could be located anywhere on the ground floor in Paris or London. From the garden, we had a great panoramic view of the past, present and future buildings that form the City of London. The 140 participants had the chance to mingle with ULI trustees, as the event coincide with the annual meeting of ULI’s Global Governing Trustees.

The Summer Drinks kicked off with a punchy reminder from Chris Choa, Chairman, ULI UK, of why ULI is so uniquely placed to understand how change – technological and others – is affecting the real estate industry: ULI’s cross-sector membership and large geographical footprint across five continents allows for a comprehensive view of those changes.

Kevin Darvishi, Leasing and Asset Manager at Stanhope, then gave a quick history of Angel Court. The refurbishment took two full years and had its rounds of challenges mostly due to the very difficult access to the building possible only via small entrance points. Yet, the carbon footprint of the building’s refurbishment was very low and brought two inspiring features to the City, namely the plaza area with restaurants on the ground floor, which has a nice West End vibe, and the free access for occupiers to the garden on the 7th floor.

‘What you’ve always wanted to ask’ was the intriguing title of the last item on the programme. The short panel discussion between Alexandra Jezeph and Chris Roche, ULI Young Leaders Co-Chairs, and Richard Prize, Chief Executive officer – Asia Pacific at CBRE started with a blunt question to Richard: “When do you actually stop faking and feel that you have really made it?’’ and finished, not that surprisingly for the ULI, with interesting thoughts on land property in China.

Indeed, this year’s ULI UK Summer Drinks was certainly another great success!

Further photos can be viewed here

Words by Pauline Niesseron, GLA, ULI UK Young Leaders Committee Member

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