Sowing Social Infrastructure
Four part Q&A with Hugo Llewlyn, CEO, Newcore
3. What do you see as being the biggest need emerging within the Arc from a social infrastructure perspective, and are some areas lagging behind while others meet local needs?
The biggest area of need in my view in the Arc is the provision of good quality modern educational facilities (councils do understand this, but often s106 contributions get whittled away), which are set up to educate children of the 21st century, having in mind rapidly changing curricula. These will facilitate the growing demand, be attractive to high quality employees who are also parents potentially moving to the area and also attract a great workforce of teachers. Everything else in the long-term flows from this realistically, including health and living outcomes. From a Newcore perspective and where society is lagging the need from an environmental perspective, we would also love to be at the forefront of the food security revolution with our real estate capital.
4. How does social infrastructure benefit people living, working and studying in the Arc?
Without good quality social infrastructure, society cannot function, full stop, as you will gather from the explanations above, whether in the Arc or elsewhere. This is why this sector has never been “alternative” as an asset class, but, as it emerged in investible terms, might be described as a new core area, albeit very specialist in its delivery, operation and capital management.