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The OBREMS Annual Dinner 2019

On the left of the photo: Ramin Keivani (Head of the School of the Built Environment at Oxford Brookes)
talking to Katherine Grainger (Chancellor of Oxford Brookes)

The 9th OBREMS Dinner was held on 7 November 2019 and Dame Katherine Grainger (Chancellor or Oxford Brookes) was invited to attend as the guest speaker. The Oxford Brookes Real Estate Management Society (OBREMS) is the alumni association of OBU for graduates who work in the real estate industry - more on the OBREMS website.

The evening went something like this...

Location: the Institute of Directors, Pall Mall, London
Guests: more than 200
Drinks: from 6.00 pm
Welcome: from Jason Antill (Chair of OBREMS) and the premiere of the new OBREMS video
Game: Heads or Tails compered by Jason Antill and Harriet Costello (OBREMS Committee)
Dinner: two courses
Guest Speaker: Dame Dr Katherine Grainger - Chancellor of Oxford Brookes
Dessert: STP
Auction and Coffee: with Will Clough from Allsop (Commercial Auction)
Networking: and a few drinks until midnight

The guest speaker, Katherine Grainger, was introduced by Andrew Hynard (President of OBREMS). Katherine Grainger talked about how she was persuaded to try rowing during her first week at university (during the Freshers' Fair) and how she became hooked. She talked about the importance of determination, believing in yourself (and your team) and what it felt like to win. She also answered questions from the audience.

Heads or Tails

Below is a short video from the evening featuring staff and students from the School of the Built Environment. And all the really good photos (taken by freelanceeventsphotographer) are in our album on Facebook.

The Launch of the 2019 OBREMS/OBU Mentoring Scheme

The launch of the 2019 OBREMS/OBU Mentoring Scheme took place on 21 March and was hosted by CBRE at their offices in Henrietta House, London. The launch brought together mentors and students (mentees) for the first time at a fantastic networking event. The Mentoring Scheme (now in its 7th year) is managed jointly by OBREMS (our alumni association) and the School of the Built Environment and is open to second year students on the BSc Real Estate Management and the BA Planning and Property Development as well as students on the MSc Real Estate.

This year, applications to the Mentoring Scheme reached 100 and thanks to the work of OBREMS in promoting the scheme amongst their members, we have been able to allocate a mentor to each student that applied. Once again this year we have seen an increase in the number of younger mentors, some of whom took part in the Mentoring Scheme themselves when they were students which is great news!

David Tudor and the Talent and Learning Team at CBRE

Dan Sames and Rebecca Gee from the School of the Built Environment at Oxford Brookes introduced the Mentoring Scheme and then passed over to David Tudor, Senior Director at CBRE who welcomed everyone to the event. Sigrid Ferguson and Charlie Wesson from the CBRE Talent and Learning Team presented a short session on the importance and effectiveness of mentoring and then Dan introduced...

Harriet Costello (Senior Surveyor at JLL) and Cameron Johnston (Asset Manager at The Office Group) both took part in the Mentoring Scheme when they were students at Oxford Brookes - they talked about their experiences on the Mentoring Scheme as students (in 2013) and subsequently as mentors, offering students and mentors lots of useful advice on how to get the most out of the experience.

Harriet Costello

One of the unique features of our Mentoring Scheme is that all of our mentors are graduates of either Real Estate (BSc or MSc) or Planning and Property Development (BA) at Oxford Brookes (or Oxford Polytechnic as it used to be). This means that mentors and students have an immediate connection. Students had the opportunity to chat with a wide range of mentors during the event before meeting up with their mentor for an individual 'first' meeting. The energy and buzz that filled the room at the launch event is reflected in some of the photos...

The networking continued round the corner at the pub

For more information on our courses and the Mentoring Scheme, take a look here:

BSc Real Estate Management
BA Planning and Property Development
MSc Real Estate
The OBREMS/OBU Mentoring Scheme

OBREMS celebrates 50 years of Real Estate at Oxford Brookes

The 8th OBREMS Dinner was held on 8 November 2018 and celebrated 50 years of Real Estate at Oxford Brookes. The Oxford Brookes Real Estate Management Society (OBREMS) is the alumni association of OBU for graduates who work in the real estate industry - more on the OBREMS website.

The evening went something like this...

Location: the Royal Horseguards, One Whitehall Place, London
Guests: more than 200
Drinks: from 6.30 pm
Game: Heads or Tails compered by Jason Antill (Chair of OBREMS)
Welcome: from Andrew Hynard (President of OBREMS)
Dinner: three courses
Coffee: with Rebecca Gee (Oxford Brookes) and a presentation about the Chartered Surveyor Apprenticeship and the OBREMS/OBU Mentoring Scheme
Conversation: Charlie Green, Joint Founder and Co-CEO, The Office Group in conversation with
Ian Marcus, from Ian Marcus Consultants
Auction: with Will Clough from Allsop (Commercial Auction) and some great lots
Networking: and a few drinks until midnight

And all the really good photos (taken by Oleg from www.freelanceeventsphotographer.co.uk) are in our album on Facebook (click on the red link).

The OBREMS/OBU Mentoring Scheme 2018: The Launch

The launch of the 2018 OBREMS/OBU Mentoring Scheme took place on 21 March and was hosted by Cushman & Wakefield at their offices in Portman Square, London. The launch brought together mentors and students (mentees) for the first time at a fantastic networking event. The Mentoring Scheme (now in its sixth year) is managed jointly by OBREMS (which, by the way, is our alumni association) and the School of the Built Environment and is open to second year students on the BSc Real Estate Management and the BA Planning and Property Development.

This year, applications to the Mentoring Scheme have more than doubled and, thanks to the work of OBREMS in promoting the scheme amongst their members this year, we have been able to allocate a mentor to each student that applied. An exciting development this year has been an increase in the number of younger mentors, some of whom took part in the Mentoring Scheme themselves when they were students.

George Roberts welcoming everyone to Cushman & Wakefield

Dan Sames from the School of the Built Environment at Oxford Brookes introduced the Mentoring Scheme and then passed over to George Roberts, Head of UK and Ireland at Cushman & Wakefield (and one of our alumni from the BSc Real Estate Management), who welcomed everyone to the event and to Cushman & Wakefield. And then Dan introduced the following speakers:

Chris Wilton (Cushman & Wakefield) and John King (CBRE) both took part in the Mentoring Scheme when they were students at Oxford Brookes - they talked about their experiences as students on the Mentoring Scheme (in 2013 and 2014) and gave the new mentees lots of useful tips. Both Chris and John are taking part in the scheme again this year as mentors.

Chris Wilton (left) and John King talking about their time as 'mentees'

Laura Sweet (Mayfair Capital) and Andrew Hynard (Howard de Walden Estate) have been involved with the Mentoring Scheme for a number of years. They talked about their experiences as mentors and the need to adapt to different students and their individual needs...they also spoke about how much enjoyment they got out of taking part in the Mentoring Scheme as mentors.

Laura Sweet and Andrew Hynard giving our new (and old) mentors some advice.

One of the unique features of our Mentoring Scheme is that all of our mentors are graduates of either Real Estate (BSc or MSc) or Planning and Property Development (BA) at Oxford Brookes (or Oxford Polytechnic as it used to be). This means that mentors and students have an immediate connection. Students had the opportunity to chat with a wide range of mentors during the event before meeting up with their mentor for an individual 'first' meeting. The energy and buzz that filled the room at the launch event is reflected in some of the photos...

For more information on our courses and the Mentoring Scheme, take a look here:

BSc Real Estate Management
BA Planning and Property Development
The OBREMS/OBU Mentoring Scheme

School of the Built Environment Graduation 2017

Graduation 2017 took place on one of the hottest days of the year, Monday 19 June. The actual ceremony took place in a transformed sports centre and the reception in the beautiful grounds of Headington Hill Hall. Which meant that the students and staff had to walk across Headington Hill Bridge...and I was there to catch them.

School of the Built Environment staff outside the sports centre

Waiting on the bridge...

...the students...

...and staff.

And in the grounds of Headington Hill Hall...

...celebrating

...the paparazzi

Prizes being handed out by (a very hot) Professor Joe Tah (Head of School)

Where's everybody gone? Retreating into the shade as the day got hotter...

Now that you've graduated, don't forget to keep in touch. Join one of our alumni groups on LinkedIn/Facebook...a great way of keeping in touch with your mates and the School of the Built Environment at Oxford Brookes. We use our groups to post job opportunities, source mentors (for the Real Estate Mentoring Scheme), share news and to use your experiences to inform our course development, so make sure you join!

LinkedIn: Real Estate Management
LinkedIn: Construction, QS and Project Management
Facebook: Planning and Urban Design

Finally, for a full set of photos, take a look at the Graduation and Prizes 2017 album on the School of the Built Environment Facebook page.