Meet Team Socius: Senior Project Manager, Joel Colthart

I was recently out to dinner with my wife and found myself commenting on the quality of the construction and interior in the restaurant… she looked at me as if I was talking a different language and I found myself silently reflecting on how I ended up here!

I grew up in East London, as part of a family that ran its own design and print business. The property industry wasn’t on my radar back then, my passions were football, music and being creative, but I didn’t really have any idea what I wanted to do for a career.

At 16, my auntie helped me to find work experience at CBRE, the global leader in commercial real estate services and investments, where I shadowed a director in the project management team. I remember on day two of my week-long placement, being in a meeting room on one of the top floors of the HSBC building in Canary Warf. My mentor chaired the meeting, to a room full of people, with humour, clarity and direction, it was really inspiring. There were a number of other meetings, site visits and networking events that I attended that week and by the end of it I could see myself choosing this path for my career. That’s where it all started.

I went on to study Building Surveying at university, because I was told that was the best route into project management. It was difficult to find a post-graduate job in either of those fields though and I found myself on an Estate Agent fast track Management Scheme. I quickly realised that competing with my colleagues for sales wasn’t for me and three months later I left.

A short while after that, the opportunity for some temp work came up at CBRE, working in compulsory purchase on HS2. When that came to an end a few months later, I moved onto project management, supporting the team on a challenging commercial refurbishment project. As they say, the rest is history!

I stayed at CBRE for a number of really fulfilling years, becoming a member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) during my time there. Since then, I’ve enjoyed a number of project management positions, all leading to my current role as Senior Project Manager at Socius. I’ve now been working in the industry for more than 10 years, and have worked on some amazing projects with some truly inspiring people.

I’m thankful for my introduction into the property sector and I’m passionate about sharing the opportunities within the industry with people who are unaware and unsure of what it has to offer.

I joined Socius in November 2019, and started by working with Steve Eccles to oversee our recently opened Edward Street Quarter development in Brighton. This year, I’m really looking forward to progressing our MK Gateway site in Milton Keynes and Devonshire Gardens in Cambridge, both of which are really exciting mixed-use developments that will create inspiring and sustainable places for the local community. I can’t wait to see what comes next on my project management journey.