Sammy Pahal
Managing Director of UK PropTech Association/Director of the British Property Federation
The past decade, real estate has navigated a wave of PropTech, piloting new solutions and exploring what’s possible.
That period of experimentation has delivered valuable learning, generated data and helped the industry build confidence. But the next chapter is less about adding more tools and more about fixing the foundations and the plumbing beneath them.
Connecting over layering technology
Chairing a panel with leaders from Grainger, British Land, Indurent and Canary Wharf Group, a consistent theme emerged: the industry is shifting from layering technology on top to revisiting how it all connects.
The “plumbing,” i.e. the sensors, integrations, data flows and processes that carry information from assets into operational and investment decision-making, is increasingly recognised as critical infrastructure.
Across the sector, shared priorities are becoming clearer:
- Simplifying fragmented tech stacks
- Improving how data flows from buildings into core systems
- Building robust, connected data lakes
- Strengthening the processes that sit around technology
- Creating incentives that support adoption and high-quality data input
As leaders explore AI-plus-human strategies, teams are confronting a simple truth: without clean, connected, well-governed data, even the smartest tools will underdeliver.
Technology should help, not complicate, jobs
At our kick-off event, British Land spoke about moving beyond pilots to embedding technology into core strategy. Grainger shared how becoming a more customer-centric, B2C business has sharpened its approach to data capture. Indurent highlighted the advantage of being “legacy-free,” while Canary Wharf Group reinforced that technology should help people do their jobs better, not make them more complex.
As leaders explore AI-plus-human strategies, teams are confronting a simple truth: without clean, connected, well-governed data, even the smartest tools will underdeliver.
The next chapter of real estate innovation won’t be defined by who adopts the most technology. It will be defined by who gets the basics right: foundations, plumbing, data, governance, skills and culture. Fix those, and everything else, including AI, flows.
Later this year, the British Property Federation (BPF), Association of Real Estate Funds (AREF) and the Investment Property Forum (IPF) will merge to form Real Estate:UK, creating a more powerful and effective single voice for the UK’s real estate industry. The UK PropTech Association will sit within this new organisation, ensuring technology and innovation are at the heart of its agenda.
