Three rules of work, two DBFOs, and a footbridge for a uni

It’s all been a bit of a whirlwind since joining SFG in March along with Robert Kingham. It’s always slightly daunting to start work in a new job, but I was very lucky that I already knew that my three rules of work had been satisfied. The first rule is to work for someone I want to work for. I was moving across with Robert, so already had this one in the bag, but also having known and worked with Martin for many years we both knew that we would be happy moving across to SFG. The second, of working with a team of people I want to work with, was made all the easier through the welcome I received at last year’s Christmas party which I’d been invited to prior to starting. This was an extremely friendly bunch of both familiar and new faces, who appeared more as a group of friends working together than colleagues. The third, of doing something I am passionate about would only be heightened by the additional opportunities on offer with SFG, who recognise student experience through its core.

I have been in student accommodation for over 20 years now, working both on the university side and latterly as an advisor. Over this time I have seen the great strides it has made as an industry over the years in gaining more recognition for its importance as part of the overall student experience and as a key driver for academic success. Despite this I still feel as though it is an under appreciated area of the hospitality industry. For me, it has always been a much more interesting business than almost all others as there is the additional element of ‘should we’ to consider, rather than simply ‘could we’. Pressure on student finances has always been high, but at the moment, with maintenance loans failing spectacularly to keep up with inflation, living costs being sky high, and much less in the way of part-time job opportunities than there were in my time at university this all adds to the challenges. As such it is all the more important to question every pound to make sure that huge investments that we help facilitate provide the maximum benefit to the student and deliver what is actually valued, not simply what may tick boxes and look great in a marketing brochure.

This year has seen us work on a number of exciting projects, all in various stages of their journeys. From a partnership project perspective, while the industry generally sees the launch of a contract notice as the start of any project, what doesn’t get seen is the months of work undertaken on initial strategy (to determine the broader questions on how many beds do you need of what type, quality and price point), feasibility and procurement options. Once the procurement route becomes clearer, there is then a huge amount of work to get to what we refer to as project ‘Base Camp’, which is a position where the portfolio and opportunity is ready for external review, data collated and all due diligence is undertaken to ensure that all potential challenges are identified and can be mitigated. Our launches of Project Cornerstone for the University of Chichester and the Staffordshire University Student Village Project this year were a culmination of efforts from the respective universities and advisors to get to the stage that they were confident in what was needed and that it would be deliverable. As advisors, we can’t stress enough how important this phase is to not only position the opportunity to the market in the best light possible but also make sure our University clients are prepared for and ready for the significant commitment of time and resources it will take to see a project through to fruition.

These two clients are those who have reached this point during 2022, but we have been very busy during the year with a number of different university clients around the country who are in the earlier stages of potential projects. It has been fantastic to be in at ground level to help them explore and quantify the art of the possible, and to help them set themselves up to deliver on their strategy in the most appropriate way for their individual situations and requirements.

My most memorable moment this year has been running a set of student workshops on one project to help the three bidders get a better feel for the needs of the particular university’s students, and hopefully lead to higher quality solutions. It can sometimes be difficult to create the right atmosphere in these sessions to make the participants comfortable enough to share their thoughts and feelings, and we therefore spent a bit of time before the sessions putting the students at ease, letting them know how things were likely to play out and convince them that their voices were important and valued. Any fears I may have had prior to the sessions, however, turned out to be completely unfounded. The students attending were hugely engaged, to a level I’d not seen before, and some of the questions and discussions which arose that day were both surprising and profound, making us all think about things a little differently. I was particularly struck by how thoughtful they were towards each other’s needs, rather than their own, and it demonstrated clearly that the themes around inclusivity and sustainability are fundamental, and carry the weight that we try to always keep front and centre in our work.

Overall it has been a truly brilliant year. The SFG team is a group of individuals, each with unique experience, talents and perspectives. The work we do is varied, interesting, and in some cases surprising. The culture that Martin and Rich have created, however, makes it so much more than the sum of its parts. Working as a team together we achieve great things, and I’m really looking forward to what 2023 brings.?

David Stephens, Assistant Director - University Advisory