The property sector is transforming itself as it looks forward to a future where diversity will be at the heart of developments, creating places where we will all live, work and enjoy ourselves.
“I am proud of the fact that at CBRE in Scotland we have excellent gender diversity with 30% of our fee earners being female and strong female representation through every tier of our business (3 of our 8 Scottish teams are led by women). While 30% may seem poor you have to consider this in the context of only 14% of the RICS membership being female. The problem is therefore clear: how do we attract more women into our profession? From my experience, the property profession is actually very good at retaining women in the profession once they are in.
“The area where the profession needs to improve radically is socio-economic diversity. The profession does not reach out to all potential candidates and this is seen through the background of the graduate population. We need to do a lot more to improve this in order to attract the talent that exists. I am optimistic that the growth of the apprenticeship model may help extend the reach of the property profession. This has been successful in our London business and it is now becoming established here in Scotland.”
