Now in its twentieth year, Red Loft is about to embark on a period of major growth, and its popular graduate scheme gives a yearly intake of new starters the opportunity to work across all disciplines within the company – fostering a new generation of housing specialists with Partner-level attention and training, and support through official accreditations.
Red Loft is one of the South East’s most respected housing and regeneration consultancies. Founded in 2002, the company has grown from three founding partners into a nearly 60-strong team, operating across three core business areas – Land, Delivery, and Sales and Marketing.
Specialising in development and regeneration services for Registered Providers (RPs), ALMOs, housing charities, local authorities and private developers, the highly experienced team delivers a uniquely wide variety of services to an impressive list of clients – including L&Q, Peabody, Optivo and numerous local authorities and London boroughs including Camden, Kingston-upon-Thames, Enfield, Harrow, Waltham Forest, as well as smaller RPs and bespoke housing and charitable organisations.
As well as developing a team of seasoned industry experts, an important string to Red Loft’s bow is attracting new, fresh-faced graduates.
Wendy Hegarty, partner at Red Loft who heads up the company’s sales and marketing team, commented: “We’re constantly trying to protect our culture as we grow. We have a five-year growth plan in place, and it’s important that we don’t get too corporate the company expands. At Red Loft, it’s about being part of something, not just working for someone – for us, it’s heartfelt, it’s genuine, and people pick up on that quite soon after joining us. That’s why hiring graduates is so important to us. It keeps us grounded and helps us retain that energy and passion in the office. The drive and dedication in these enthusiastic new grads is palpable, and it’s contagious.”
Red Loft’s longest-standing graduate is Rob Bloss – the company’s first-ever graduate trainee back in 2014. Having been supported through the RICS APC qualification and several promotions, Rob has now been with the company for over seven years and is currently head of land and viability.
Looking back on his first few months at the company, Rob said: “I started at Red Loft part-time in 2014. I was studying for my masters in London, and Red Loft allowed me to do some ad hoc hours around lectures. My first title in the company was graduate developer surveyor, but the office was so small back then that I was able to informally get an insight into all aspects of the company, not just development.”
“My progression over the years has been very organic, much like the company’s growth. As the teams got bigger and bigger, my responsibility naturally increased. Red Loft have a very unique strategy when it comes to hiring new staff – they intentionally try and get people in quite early, either as a graduate or early career, and then train them up. In doing so, we naturally foster a team of extremely well-suited and experienced housing professionals.”
Speaking about why he has chosen to stay at the company for so long, Rob commented: “The people at Red Loft are brilliant, and the company culture is excellent. Everyone that joins the team from other places says its one of the best places they’ve worked. It’s very sociable and very genuine.”
A strategy that seems to be working, over 20% of Red Loft’s employees are either current or former graduate trainees or apprentices. Of all the previous graduates that Red Loft have taken on, the average length of service is around four years – with many still employed by the company today.
The current pool of graduates all sing Red Loft’s praises, delighted to have found a role that gives them an opportunity to work across almost every aspect of the housing industry, and partner with a plethora of impressive clients.
Anna Ivic, who graduated from Edinburgh Heriot-Watt University with a Masters in Real Estate and Urban Planning, joined Red Loft on the graduate programme at the start of September 2021. She commented: “The role really stood out to me because of the diverse working opportunities. I’m currently in the development team right now, but I’ll get to take on a rotation and do six months in the land team and six months in the sales team. It really gives you a holistic overview of all the services that a development consultancy offers, which I think is something that every grad should go through.”
Enjoying her work with Shared Ownership and social housing schemes, Anna said: “I really enjoy that through Red Loft’s work with its housing association clients, our roles are having a wider social impact. It feels as though we’re really contributing to a greater good, and it’s extremely rewarding.”
She continued: “Red Loft supports you from day one. As a graduate, you feel empowered to share your ideas and ask questions – it’s a very collaborative environment. I’m going to be undertaking my APC and the team wasted no time in getting me registered and enrolled, which is really exciting.”
Joining a busy consultancy, Red Loft’s graduates support the team with a remarkable range of projects; from site finding to development programming, financial viability assessments, right through to project management, sales, lettings, marketing and interim staffing. This enormous scope gives graduates a total overview of Red Loft’s services from day one.
Omar Ahmed joined Red Loft in the same intake as Anna, back in September 2021. Speaking about what drew him to the role, Omar commented: “Growing up I did a lot of work experience with homelessness charities, so I was aware of the acute demand for housing across the country from an early age.
“I was really attracted to the variety of projects that Red Loft work across, and the plethora of services they offer – from delivery of large-scale schemes to supporting on just a couple of units – and then the different services within that, from project management to land and viability.
“I’m currently working on two projects that are on the complete opposite ends of the scale. One is a large complex regeneration project with a local authority converting unused football fields into 200 new homes. My other project is with another local authority that has a programme of smaller sites, so we’re helping them with obtaining planning permission and to agree wording of their Section 106s.”
Echoing Anna’s sentiments, Omar continued: “Nothing in the Red Loft grad scheme is set in stone, which is a good thing. It gives me the freedom to try loads of different things. I’m currently a graduate development consultant, but I’m not going to shy away from experience with the land team or the sales team – you never know, I might end up discovering that fits me better and switch!”
“The thing I like most about Red Loft is that it almost feels family-run in a sense – you walk into the office and you know everyone. Everyone is welcoming and willing to help you out, from graduates to partners. No-one is too big or important to talk to you, and you do feel like your opinions are heard. Ultimately, you don’t feel like you’re working for Red loft, you feel like you are Red Loft.”
Find out more at www.redloft.co.uk.
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