Will Rowson, Founder of Newland Capital Partners – Reinventing Through Every Cycle
Release Date: 11/03/2025
Dr. Kate Jarvis, CEO Of Fifth Dimension - Why AI Native Firms Will Win in Real Estate
People Property Place
This week, I sat down with Dr. Kate Jarvis to unpack a journey that spans childhood instability, academic rigour, early machine learning, and the building of an AI native platform designed to fundamentally change how real asset decisions are made. Kate is CEO and co founder of Fifth Dimension, a technology company powering decision making across real assets, underwriting, asset management and portfolio strategy for some of the world’s largest real estate and investment organisations. With a PhD from Stanford and more than fifteen years building machine learning backed businesses across the...
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Ian Rickwood, Chairman of Henley - The Hard Lessons Behind Long Term Real Estate Success
People Property Place
This week, I sat down with Ian Rickwood to unpack a career that spans entrepreneurship, private equity, consumer businesses, failed exits, market downturns, and ultimately the building of a long term real estate investment and capital platform. Ian is Founder and Chairman of Henley, a fast growing private equity real estate investment and venture capital business operating across the UK, Europe and the US. Over the last two decades, Henley has invested across residential, industrial, social and supported housing, urban regeneration and large scale development, working with institutional...
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Niall Farmer, Head of UK Gamuda Land – How Global Capital Really Chooses UK Property Partners
People Property Place
This week, I sat down with Niall Farmer to unpack an unconventional real estate career that spans retail property, residential development, masterplanning, construction, and now leading the UK platform for one of Asia’s most powerful real estate and infrastructure groups. Niall is Head of UK at Gamuda Land, part of the Gamuda Group, a global infrastructure and property developer with operations across Asia, Australia and Europe. Gamuda Land has delivered tens of thousands of homes globally and is now deploying significant balance sheet capital into the UK across offices, student housing,...
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Nick Leslau, Chairman and Founder, Prestbury Group – Why Capital Is Turning Away From Britain
People Property Place
In this episode of the People Property Place podcast, Nick Leslau, a real estate investing legend who has built and backed some of the most influential UK property vehicles of the last few decades, shares what really matters when markets turn and leverage starts to bite. Drawing on a career spanning Prestbury, listed platforms, major exits, and multiple cycles, Nick explains why credit, not property, has always been the real risk. He reflects on early lessons from the securitisation era, the danger signals he watches in bank behaviour and loan to value ratios, and why every property crash...
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Harm Meijer, Founding Partner, ICAMAP – Why Private Equity Is Buying Listed Real Estate
People Property Place
In this episode of the People Property Place podcast, Harm Meijer draws on decades of experience across listed real estate and capital markets to unpack how cycles really play out when sentiment turns and leverage starts to bite. From his early career on the sell side to building ICAMAP, Harm explains why investors repeatedly misjudge market turning points, how incentives inside listed vehicles quietly shape long term outcomes, and why management alignment often matters more than the assets themselves. He reflects on the lessons learned during the Global Financial Crisis, the risks of catching...
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Martin Towns, Global Head of Real Estate – The Playbook Behind M&G’s $50bn Global Real Estate Business
People Property Place
This week, I sat down with Martin Towns to unpack a career built across brokerage, private equity, institutional fund management, and now global leadership, and what it takes to scale a real estate investment platform across multiple cycles and geographies. Martin is Global Head of Real Estate at M&G, responsible for the strategic direction and growth of a real estate business managing approximately $50bn of assets across 26 countries in Europe, Asia and North America. He has more than 20 years’ experience in real estate investment management, including 15 years at M&G, and...
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Randeesh Sandhu, Co-Founder and CEO – From the Brink of Death to £4BN in Private Credit
People Property Place
This week, I sat down with Randeesh Sandhu to unpack a career that spans investment banking, real estate development, private credit, and public markets, and what it really takes to build a durable lending platform across multiple cycles. Randeesh is Co-Founder and CEO of Precede Capital Partners, founded in 2021 as a portfolio company of TowerBrook Capital Partners. Prior to Precede, he co-founded and led Urban Exposure Plc for nearly two decades, growing it into the UK’s leading residential development financier. Under his leadership, the business deployed more than £1.7bn in development...
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Tom Livelli, Partner at EQT Real Estate – Europe’s Housing Imbalance and the Living Opportunity
People Property Place
Europe’s Housing Imbalance and the Living Opportunity with Tom Livelli, Partner and Head of Living Strategies, Europe at EQT Real Estate This week, I sat down with Tom Livelli to dive into how Europe’s chronic housing undersupply, shifting renter behaviour, and capital rotation are shaping one of the most compelling living strategies in global real estate today.  Tom is a Partner with EQT Real Estate and Head of Living Strategies, Europe, based in Madrid. Before EQT, he helped build Greystar’s South American business from a laptop in a Santiago coffee shop into a billion dollar...
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Simon Wallace, Head of UK Real Estate & Global Co-Head of Research DWS – Strategy, Cycles and Conviction in Real Estate
People Property Place
The Future of European Real Estate: Strategy, Capital, and Structural Change with Simon Wallace, Head of UK Real Estate & Global Co-Head of Research - DWS. This week, I sat down with Simon Wallace to explore how Europe’s real estate landscape is shifting - and what that really means for investors, fund managers, and operators in the next cycle. Simon began his career as an economist before moving into real estate on the eve of the financial crisis. Since then, he has become one of the most influential strategists in the industry, shaping how research informs underwriting, capital...
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Bay Downing, Joint CEO at Downing – How Technology Is Transforming PBSA
People Property Place
Technology, Talent, And The Future Of Purpose Built Living with Bay Downing, Joint CEO of Downing and Co Founder of Aboria Capital. One of the UK’s leading vertically integrated living platforms with 6000 plus operational beds across top university cities. This week, I sat down with Bay Downing to explore how a second generation family business is evolving into a tech enabled, institutionally backed platform shaping the future of student accommodation and urban living. With property in his DNA, Bay has spent the last eight years working across investment, development, operations and...
info_outlineWhat does it take to stay relevant through four decades, across every market cycle, and still have the hunger to build something new?
This week, I sat down with Will Rowson, Founder of Newland Capital Partners, to unpack his 35-year journey across global real estate — from gritty East London industrial estates to leading Europe’s largest investment platform — and what it really takes to adapt, evolve, and keep learning.
Will’s career includes senior roles as EMEA CIO at CBRE Investment Management, Equity Partner at Hodes Weill, and CEO of Global Student Accommodation (GSA), where he helped raise over $2 billion in equity. Now, through Newland Capital Partners, he advises leading European managers on capital strategy, equity raising, and navigating a market in flux.
We discuss the power of reinvention, lessons from leadership, and where he believes opportunity lies in the “living” and logistics sectors over the next cycle.
Key Topics Covered In This Episode:
✅ From Strutt & Parker to CBRE — Lessons from the early days of valuation and leasing
✅ Across the Cycles — What 35 years in European real estate has taught him about timing
✅ Facing Cancer — How a life-changing diagnosis reshaped his outlook and leadership
✅ The Squeezed Middle — Why mid-sized fund managers must adapt or consolidate
✅ Continuation Funds — What they reveal about today’s market
✅ Living & Logistics — Why these two sectors still offer the best risk-adjusted returns
Oh, and one last thing…
In every episode, I ask each guest: Who are the People, what Property, and which Place they’d invest in if they had £500 million at their disposal?
Will’s answer was pragmatic, data-driven — and full of hard-won perspective 👌
Got any thoughts or questions about this episode? Drop them in the comments — I’d love to hear from you.
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