A student from Liverpool John Moores University has won our annual real estate prize with the faculty.
25-year-old Francesca Sloane, from Liverpool, has become the second recipient of the Assura PLC prize for the university’s Best Overall Level 5 Student in Real Estate award, which was launched in 2019.
The prize is awarded each year to one student who is recognised by the faculty as showing overall promise for their future career in real estate.
Sarah Buxbaum, Programme Leader at LJMU, said: “Fran is an excellent student, committed to her studies and always fully engaged with the subjects being studied. This is evident from her results and is on track to secure an excellent degree outcome. Her work demonstrates a mature professional approach and, despite the restrictions placed on face-to-face contact due to Covid-19 and move to online teaching, remained focused throughout this challenging period. Fran has been keen to engage with opportunities linked to real estate and is currently undertaking a placement year with a well-known residential surveying practice.”
Level 5 at Liverpool John Moores University aims to help students gain relevant work experience to strengthen their CV before their final year, and to develop their employability skills.
Francesca said: “One thing the real estate sector could do to make the world a better place is by addressing the housing crisis, which has only been exacerbated due to the pandemic.
“As a result of national lockdowns, many retail stores and offices were forced to close their doors. As the popularity of online shopping increased and footfall declined, many high street retail stores struggled to thrive and there were many store closures across the UK. As remote working for office-based businesses became compulsory during lockdown, many businesses (post lockdown) introduced hybrid roles and are considering opting for smaller office space. Therefore, there is a surplus of unoccupied commercial space that has the potential to be converted into residential use.
“Furthermore, there are also a number of brownfield sites across the UK that are currently vacant and unused. Redevelopment of these sites into residential property, opposed to Greenfield sites, would not only regenerate barren lands but protect our community’s greenery.
“Development of residential property is necessary in order to help combat the housing crisis that we currently face. However, utilising space and derelict land that we already have means protecting our environment whilst building back up our economy; that in turn will make society a better place to live.”
Simon Oborn, our Head of Property, said: “We are delighted to be able to give out this award; education and skills are issues that our whole team is passionate about. We’re proud to support the next generation of real estate talent and Francesca thoroughly deserves this recognition.”