Bisnow Wants To Hear About Your Diversity Programmes With The Launch Of The Rise Initiative

There’s been enough talk. It is time to see evidence of what’s really making a difference. Bisnow is launching Rise, a new initiative looking to champion organisations that are advancing racial diversity in the UK’s real estate sector.

Following the success of the Rise Initiative in the U.S., Bisnow is ready to harness the collective movement toward boosting diversity in the UK. We want to create a roadmap of tried and tested ideas that can keep the industry on the right course. 

Bisnow is inviting organisations to submit their successful DEI initiatives from 9 January until 24 March 2023. We want you to be specific: Submissions need to detail a specific initiative, action or programme that has improved racial diversity in either recruitment or retention in your organisation. The submissions will be assessed by a steering committee of industry experts, and a collection of them will be highlighted in Bisnow events and editorial coverage. You can enter your submission here.

We are looking for initiatives that have tangible goals and that use hard data to track and measure progress and outcomes, rather than serving up warm words and vague promises. 

We’re not looking for submissions that detail an organisation’s wider DEI strategy. If your submission is accepted for Rise, there will be a time to tell your organisation’s wider story, but that will come later. Right now, Bisnow wants to showcase specific actions that other companies can replicate.

By showcasing what works, we can make sure that good intentions don’t become failed executions. Highlighting best practices will allow these strategies to become part of the industry’s collective knowledge base and path forward.

To help evaluate submissions, we have put together a steering committee that spans the real estate sector. Their challenge will be to separate good intentions from good intentions and successful execution. Members are:

• Gregor Bamert, Aviva.
• Munish Datta, Specsavers.
• Nassar Hussain, Brookland.
• Rebeca Guzman, Chelsfield.
• Ian Marcus, Eastdil Secured.
• Justin Carty, CBRE.
• Sanjeev Sharma, M&G.
• Liz Peace, Real Estate Balance.
• Naqash Tahir, PGIM.
• Zoe Lamb, Barclays.
• Sasha Covington, JLL.
• Hanna Afolabi, Mood and Space.
• Ally Reid, Landsec.

The submissions selected by our steering committee will be announced online ahead of Bisnow’s Rise event in June 2023. Following the event, initiatives will be covered in detail in Bisnow’s editorial coverage, networking events, webinars and podcasts.

We want to shout about what works. In the last few years, there has been a swell of attention directed toward diversity, particularly racial diversity. Across industries there is increasing recognition that a workforce narrow in diversity is ill-equipped to create products and services that people are really seeking today. Without a diverse talent pool, no sector can tackle future challenges.

Movements such as Black Lives Matter are calling for action. The UK government has launched Inclusive Britain to tackle racial disparities. We are at a pivotal moment in history, and there are clear opportunities to improve the way people are recruited, retained and supported in their careers.

The real estate sector in particular has a long way to go. Many companies put a lot of money and time into producing initiatives to improve racial diversity that then come to nothing. Programmes fail because the company has misdirected valuable resources due to ineffective planning.

But there are companies that are making a difference. These organisations are recruiting and retaining a diverse group of people, deconstructing the social barriers that exist within the commercial real estate sector. The result is vibrant organisations full of people able to use their own viewpoints and experiences to create real estate that is a much better reflection of the world around them.

The question is, how are they doing it?

If this is you, get in touch. We want to champion the inspiring achievements that are pushing the real estate sector into the future. Read more about The Rise Initiative and get involved.

For more information, contact [email protected] or [email protected].