17 Jul 2024

Paul Richards

Chief Executive, The Association of Real Estate Funds

Comments on the proposed planning laws in the King’s Speech, 17 July 2024

This is terrific news. 

Planning laws and regulation have been a sticky mess for too long. 

Thanks to the Planning and Infrastructure Bill outlined in the King’s speech just now, we have a blueprint for more streamlined planning – enabling builders, developers and property funds to enact long-awaited solutions to the housing crisis.

Our members – property funds managing £50bn of British savers’ money – simply want long-term opportunities to deploy capital in the UK, with a stable political and regulatory backdrop. They want to get Britain building just as much as the Government does.

This will give them the opportunity to do so.

We were also disappointed to see no mention of much-needed pensions reform. Defined contribution schemes – growing at a remarkable rate – find it too hard to invest in property. So they can’t properly finance the housing revolution. We’ll continuing engaging with the Government until they can.

 

Tags

Press Release housing

Author

Paul Richards

Paul Richards

CEO, AREF

Paul is the CEO of AREF.  Before joining AREF in 2020, Paul was Head of the European Real Estate Boutique within Mercer’s investment consulting business for almost 10 years, previously he was Head of Indirect Real Estate Investment and Global Managed Accounts at LaSalle Investment Management, where he was responsible for managing global portfolios of unlisted real estate funds for clients from Europe and Asia Pacific.

He has over 25 years of real estate experience in investment, corporate finance and research, and has advised investors, occupiers and venture capital companies on property portfolio strategy and on financial structuring, including PFI, senior and mezzanine debt and joint venture arrangements. His employers have included LaSalle Investment Management, Cushman & Wakefield and Henderson Investors.

Before coming into the world of real estate, Paul worked in marketing and market research. He originally studied Physiological Sciences at Lincoln College, Oxford and has a Master of Science in Real Estate from City University Business School, London, now Cass Business School.

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