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Christopher de Gruben
Property Expert at ARCA BLANCA
Christopher de Gruben is a seasoned entrepreneur and business operator with a strong passion for real estate, emerging markets, impact investments, and urban planning. With over 15 years of experience in various roles including Chartered Property Valuer, Expert Witness, Urban Planner, and Geographer, Christopher brings a wealth of technical knowledge and real-world expertise to the table. His skill set encompasses areas such as development appraisals, market research, financial feasibility, operations management, capital raising, and corporate culture development. Fluent in English and French, with proficiency in German, Christopher thrives in dynamic and innovative environments, excelling in client engagement and fostering positive change. He is known for his adaptability, quick skill acquisition, and ability to work effectively with diverse teams, drawing on his experiences as a diplomat's child who has lived in various countries.
Highlights
I'll be attending the The Oxford Real Estate Society conference on the 7th of May at Said Business School. If you are planning on also attending let me know so we can grab a coffee.
A busy day of conferencing today on behalf of Artefact
Breakfast start at the Boodle Hatfield LLP offices this morning for an insightful round table on why PropTech hasn't quite taken off yet. James Pellatt gave us a really great presentation on the EPRA (European Public Real Estate Association) framework and the importance of the data management system and stakeholder engagement as critical building blocks which are often missed out. We discussed how IoT elements were too often siloed to lead to holistic building management, the significant lack of drive towards FTE efficiency and improved used of digital twins (without needing costly 3D elements).
My own thoughts is that the property sector in the UK is essentially dominated by an oligopoly of large landowners and developers who have recurring revenues or infrequent very large transactions. Their staff is a relatively low cost centre compared to property spend. The industry remains dominated by a close networking group who treats all things AI and PropTech with a degree of suspicion. There also remains an overriding perception that AI projects are expensive, take very long to implement and require excellent quality data and systems architecture (something very few property companies have). This leads to decision paralysis and importantly budgets are not being allocated to this.
I then went on to the RICS Valuation Conference where I heard about the future of AVM's from REalyse (UK), the uses of AI and Data in property from the ever popular Andrew Knight and the future of data and tech in the sector from Nick Knight. The event was full of really good conversations on the sidelines, all pointing to the same conclusions that Property Execs remains reluctant to really embrace the AI and data transformations coming its way. Its a cautious approach but the mood is changing and evolving.
Finally finished the data at the Big Data & AI World London event in Excel. The panel with Andrew Mason was particular insightful on how Grainger PLC is carrying out data analytics. A busy show which highlights to me how much more work the property sector has to do to catch up with some of the other industries on show. The space is moving so fast and there are so many opportunities for real change to our ways of working and our productivity. We must truly start embracing it, not as a nice to have but as business as usual.
Artefact is perfectly placed to help anyone in the property sector considering improving their uses of data and bespoke AI in their operations. We combine incredible change and transformation experience, high-end data science and property sector expertise to drive real results across the industry. Our past work speaks for itself and we are always delighted to connect potential clients with existing ones.
