Last week saw the return of Liverpool Property Club, but not as we know it. So, I’d best start at the beginning, which was circa 2009. Myself, at the time MD of Innov8 Safety Solutions, Oliver Crook (now Delucia-Crook, Curtin’s Consulting) then of Todd + Ledson, Susan Patterson (Morgan Sindall) then of Sutcliffe + Paul Buttery (Carefoot) then of Nobles Construction had talked (a lot) about pulling an informal but selective property focused social event together for Liverpool, and the City Region. An event that was less about sales + more about building existing + new relationships. The four of us were out attending various networking, CPD + other professional/business events + meeting other businesses right across the UK on a daily/weekly basis, and we felt Liverpool lagged behind other cities when it came to construction specific events – as many of us were fed up of networking with web designers + cake makers (no offence to either professions/sector, by the way – I like cake).
Now here’s the big news, the LPC event wasn’t anything ground breaking…a venue, organisers/sponsors (to pay for drinks + advertise the event), guest list + agree a date. And if I am being honest the event format was taken from our chums up the M62 in Manchester, who use to have a similar event called COPS (and I cant actually remember what it stood for, if anyone cares to enlighten us?).
LPC soon gathered positive momentum, with the sponsors hosting circa 3-4 events per year + the feedback was really positive, the attendees from all walks of construction: public, private, clients, developers, designers, construction professionals, contractors. The events continued to grow + even attracted many of our Manchester, Leeds + London colleagues. With the majority of events averaging 100+ invite only guests, running until about 2016/17 the sponsors/contributors proved there was an appetite + desire for this style of event. One of the sponsors changed, and this lead to the introduction of our friends at Ellis Williams Architects joining the LPC sponsors.
If I was to criticise the LPC or more so, learn from the experience (and improve/change), was that events became far too big + the success of an event was judged by how many attended, we relaxed the guest list/invites resulting in the attendees being diluted into other sectors. I am happy to plead guilty to that, after plastering the events over social media, again, another learning curve. As we look to develop LPC + recreate the early successes, the primary objective is to ensure the events are strategically planned, invite only, informal + with fewer invites being sent out, we’d rather have a room of 15-20 people whom we can help + work with, over a room with up to 150 with no real structure or prospect of having any meaningful discussions. LPC is aimed at strategically focused events, anyone giving up their valuable time to attend – will see great value, build relationships over many years, share intelligence + enjoy the time taken to network in a nice informal environment – quite the opposite of those loons who attend BNI.
The event moved around various different bars, restaurant’s + hotels, most notably The Racquets Club on White Chapel and Bean Coffee + Cocktails on St. Pauls Square both looked after LPC for several years, both venues still operating (or will be next week).
After joining forces with Downtown in 2019 + seeing that LPC had not been organised or promoted for several years, and now in position as Managing Director of Project Four, we thought it was time to have another go with Downtown in Business. Regardless of who sponsors (it really isn’t that important) the event is very much focused on the points above. We are also exploring some other formats for 2021 breakfasts, lunches, round tables.
After face to face events being cancelled in March (which had keynote speaker Sir Howard agreed to join the relaunch of LPC) + again cancelled this month, so last week we took things online with organisers Downtown hosting a roundtable (virtual of course) discussion with circa 30 construction + property professionals, from all walks of the sector.
We had some of Liverpool’s finest construction sector folk on the call + you can listen to the discussions here: https://downtowninbusiness.com/downtown-den-124-liverpool-property-club/
You can also watch/listen to the event we did May: https://downtowninbusiness.com/downtown-den-076-liverpool-property-club/
The diverse mix of construction professionals further highlights the purpose behind LPC – to share intelligence, ideas + promote a positive construction outlook (even during these darkest of days).
After a very difficult year for all, The Property Club used the platform to promote all that is positive, focus towards a brighter + (hopefully) a NORMAL 2021. Anyway, thank you for reading my ramblings about The Property Club, we are excited for developing our work with Downtown in 2021. If you are interested in talking to the team at Downtown, contact clare.odoherty@downtowninbusiness.com
Alan Robson alan@projectfoursafety.com or 07786447777