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Have you seen growth last year and an onslaught of exciting projects? 
2019 was an odd year for commercial property, as I’m sure many in the industry would agree. That said, it was also one of our most exciting years. We delivered new tenants to long-term projects in Hayes, The Old Vinyl Factory, with U+I where we placed The Really Local Group’s second cinema as well as The NEST which is a first class climbing centre, with a collaborative workspace, café and fitness studio all under one roof. We also worked alongside Blackstone to reimagine Broadgate Quarter London and placed Junkyard Golf and Hijingo there, further cementing our speciality in competitive socialising. Probably most exciting was letting 14 units in the first phase of the regeneration of Lend Lease’s Elephant Park where we put renowned Mercato Metropolitano Factory spanning 17,500 square feet of micro-food concepts and sustainable street food as the anchor alongside up and coming independent restaurants including Pot & Rice, Tasty Jerk and Beza Vegan Food. It’s hard to say retail is dead with those results!

What about the office /maker agency department? Has that seen the same success as retail & leisure? 
Our office agency has also seen great successes in 2019. We completed Three Colts Lane in Bethnal Green and helped to redefine it as an artist and maker destination, placing artist Maureen Paley in one of the units. Over at Delta Wharf on the fringe of the Design District, we worked closely with Knight Dragon to create a really exciting run of maker and quasi-retail tenants such as Borough Wines and Dazed Media Group.

Our newest department is focused on mixed use advisory. How was the year for that?
Mixed use is quickly becoming our bread and butter, and something that I’m particularly invested in. Throughout 2019, we aligned with the likes of TfL, Barratt, St Modwen and Grainger where we worked through the commercial strategy of major new mixed-use sites in emerging parts of London. This is where we’ve seen loads of growth for CFC furthering our foothold in emerging parts of London as we work with TfL and Grainger on Canning Town’s Limmo Peninsula and Montford Place; St Modwen on Woolwich’s Spray Street Quarter; and TfL and Barratt’s Blackhorse Point at Blackhorse Road.

What were some of your challenges in 2019? 
I’d say political uncertainty made 2019 a challenging year. While we were awarded some exciting projects, we also found people were most cautious with shell & core units. Firstly because tenants were wary of putting too much capital into a unit when they were not certain what 2020 would bring. At the same time, we found less movement in the market and companies waiting until they felt more secure.

What were some of the highlights of 2019? 
Taking on the challenge of shell & core, we found that landlords began adapting and evolving from the outset. Their effort to make adjustments meant that we were able to fill spaces that would be remained otherwise empty. It’s been an interesting learning curve for us, and one we feel that will help us weather future economic challenges.

2019 also brought an exciting amount of change at CFC. While we said goodbye to some of our team, we invested in our growth bringing on board a marketing manager, a graduate surveyor, a seasoned office manager and two new hires to our retail and mixed use agency, including someone to work alongside me to head up our rapid growth in the mixed use advisory sector.

We’re looking forward to an even more successful 2020 where we dive deeper into the world of mixed use and continue to grow our retail and office/maker agencies. As we focus more on Emerging Markets more than ever before, we’re thrilled to be working across London on projects in East, North, West and South London, and beyond.