Senior Development Manager - property
Tritax

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I’m Tom, I’m a senior development manager here at Tritax, based in London.

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You’re involved from the site inception through to completion.

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So that’s – you’re involved in the design
in the planning,

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the construction process, as well as the letting process as well.

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I definitely enjoy the responsibility.

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So you’re the development manager.

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You’re leading on the project.

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You’re making decisions.

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You’re negotiating deals.

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And I really enjoy that side of things.

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Other things I enjoy is that you get to travel,

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you get to learn about different markets, and you get to meet various people

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along the way.

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And obviously with development, you’re actually creating something

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that’s tangible, that’s there physically at the end of it.

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And it might take a while to get there,

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but seeing that through from start to finish

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and being able to be proud, having sort of influenced the environment,

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hopefully provided opportunities for the local communities.

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I guess with responsibility comes pressure.

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So you’re often working to a budget and to timescales

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but over the years you kind of learn how to deal with that a little bit better.

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Networking is a huge part of the role.

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Pitch your scheme in front of the local authority, to meeting

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with customers, to meeting with agents, and also all the various

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consultants, architects, engineers, planners that you work with.

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The subjects that I studied A-level were geography, PE and psychology.

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Now, I wouldn’t say any of those have been particularly helpful for my role.

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But having a good understanding of maths and English is key, but

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not necessarily having to go all the way through to A-level and studied those.

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I think if I had my time again,

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I would probably chosen to study economics if I had the opportunity.

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I didn’t really know what I wanted to do for a career in school.

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I was really confused from an initial conversation

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I had with the careers advisor.

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And I thought the best thing to do

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Was to just jump straight into work or try and obtain work experience.

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So I had part time jobs as a coach,

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I did a bit of teaching assistant work, and I also worked in a bar.

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And then my dad works as a building surveyor,

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in Cardiff, which is where I’m from.

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And from there, he got me counting cracks in the

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car park floor, which I thought was probably not quite what I wanted to do.

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But, yes, it was through him that

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I went to seek other property work experience to get exposure

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into sort of roles in investment, property management and agency.

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And I thought if I decided to pursue

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or study property at university, the sector is so broad,

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that there will be some routes that you’ll end up following.

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I started working at Segro, on the graduate scheme.

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Then, I moved over to the London development team

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after I qualified as a chartered surveyor. And then an opportunity came up

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to go and work for a company called Saint Modwen’s Logistics, who are now Indurent.

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And then opportunity then came up to join Tritax a year ago.

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I would definitely say to be open-minded,

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get involved from day one, be present,

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and demonstrate a willingness to learn.

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But also just take on any opportunity that comes your way.