Built environment salaries & market trends

What key trends have you witnessed in 2017?

One of the fastest growing sub-sectors of the property industry has been the co-working space phenomenon. Established companies are setting up their own coworking brands and so marketers are very much in demand to help launch their growing business and attract tenants. Due to the sudden surge in competition, there is greater amount of creativity allowed in marketing departments than some more established sectors of the built environment.

Placemaking has been in demand in 2017. Whether for newly created placemaking roles or broader senior manager roles, the skills of ensuring the effective collaboration with an existing community or the building of a new one has been highly sought after.

The uncertainty of Brexit impacted larger organisations and we saw a reluctance for candidates to move in case their new company is negatively affected. Candidates were also wary of crossing over into the built environment due to the uncertainty around future growth in the market. This is compounded by the fact that the marketing talent pool is smaller compared to other sectors, due to the lack of cross-over in experience from external sectors and the built environment sub-sectors that do not necessarily lend themselves to each other. On the positive side, however, senior marketers with the right sub-sector experience and digital marketing skills can demand a premium to move.

What key trends do you expect to see over the next 12 months?

Success in the built environment has led to traditional consultancies expanding and new business launches. The re-propositioning and increased services now on offer will increase the need for marketers throughout 2018. It is expected that this will also broaden the pool of marketers in the sector to include more from a consulting background.

With the property sector historically being built on face-to-face customer relationships, online access has allowed companies to reduce service cost and increase marketing budgets. The rise in proptech opens up a new avenue for marketers to join exciting new businesses and online or ecommerce experience will be highly sought after. In fact, digital has moved from an ‘in demand’ trend to an integral part of most general marketing roles and employers will expect to see some form of digital experience or training from candidates.

We expect the demand for commercial property experience seen in 2017 to continue in 2018 and will begin to even up the opportunities, which have been heavily in the favour of residential experience in recent years

What methods are companies using to attract and retain the top talent?

Companies are recognising the importance of a work-life balance through social programmes and offering flexible working hours. Sporting activities, social events, charity days and support through mentoring are now seen as a way of attracting candidates.

Do you anticipate any changes to permanent salaries and bonuses over the next 12 months?

There has been very little movement and even the strongest candidates do not stretch fixed salary bandings, as budgets tend to be difficult to manoeuvre once set in place.

Contract roles & day rates

In 2017, the built environment’s seasonal projects kept interim marketers busy with public spaces in London addressing summer and winter themes. There was a demand for all round marketers with sector experience to assist with strategy and planning along with covering events, PR and communications. In 2018, we expect seasonal projects to continue to require interim injections of experienced marketers. Day rates for these project-based marketers would typically be in the region of £250 - £350 per day.