Our values are rooted in action, inspiration and a belief in doing better, and our drive to inspire the next generation of property industry leaders sees us regularly welcoming work placement students to the Socius team.
Last week, we invited Gareth into our world, for a taste of real estate and impactful development. Here’s what he told us about his experience…
My week with Socius was some of the most engaging work experience I’ve had. Everyone I spoke to was willing to lend me their time and answer my questions. I had the valuable opportunity to meet Joel, Vic, Daniel, Mike and Izzy for one-to-one chats, which were really informative, and helped me to understand Socius’ business objectives and how each of their roles contribute. I learnt how projects are established, from prospects to planning, and beyond, the challenges of working with contractors, managing stakeholder expectations and how Socius interacts with investors. Finally, but perhaps one of the most important parts of the process, the team explained how important it is to get the messaging and communication right for each project, to ensure continuity, consistency and community engagement at every stage of the development.
Work experience began on a Monday morning in Soho, diving straight in with the weekly review meeting for the London Cancer Hub project. The complexity of the development process was clear from the very start, and it was interesting to hear about all of the moving parts involved and the number of stakeholders involved. I wasn’t prepared for the volume of acronyms and unknown terminology I heard in the meeting, but everyone was so friendly and keen to help me learn, and I soon started to expand my property development vocabulary. I later sat in on a meeting about autonomous vehicles, which was both engaging and eye-opening, as I hadn’t expected to gain this type of experience from a property development company.
The next day, I was given some work to complete, including conducting research on current developments in London, which involved learning how to use real estate software and developing my wider research skills. I also attended a review of one of Socius’ completed projects. It was very interesting to find out about the successes of the project and to discover how the team addresses potential improvements and learnings for other current and future projects.
On Wednesday, I visited the London Cancer Hub in Sutton with Joss, helping Populate to host a walking tour as part of the London Festival of Architecture. It was amazing to see the scale of the site and to hear first-hand how it will be transformed into a world-leading cancer research centre. It was here that I really began to understand the importance of the work Populate does and how important it is to engage the local community at the very early stages of a project.
Thursday began with a meeting about the strategy for the residential site at the London Cancer Hub. It was really interesting to learn how developers navigate the multitude of industry regulations, and how Socius balances these with its core aim to make places that are vibrant and enjoyable to live. We then looked further into the financial model for the London Cancer Hub, which was fascinating, and totally new to me. It’s now definitely something I’m interested in learning more about. In the afternoon, I joined a tour of sites in Canada Water, where I saw how meanwhile-use campaigns can transform places. I got the opportunity to see inside Harvest London’s vertical farm. This was a really cool and unique experience, and we got to try some of the rocket, basil and kale grown there - all of which were very tasty.
On my final day, I returned to Sutton, to revisit the sprawling site of the London Cancer Hub. It was an inspiring way to end my work experience and I can’t wait to come and see this campus again in the future, when Socius has finished the development.
My week at Socius was full of diverse experiences, which opened my eyes to how diverse the world of property development is and really highlighted the important role that impactful developers like Socius play in creating future-proof places for local communities and people. I thoroughly enjoyed my work experience and I am very grateful to everyone at Socius for the opportunity.
Want to know more about our work experience and internship opportunities? Email hello@socius.dev
