"Diversifying a business so it's not solely reliant on retail is a very sensible thing in the retail environment that we find ourselves in," says James Dunne, head of UK living at Cushman & Wakefield.
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In the latest episode of the Top CREdentials podcast, Dunne, who joined the business from Aberdeen in March, discusses his work there helping John Lewis to fund and develop its residential platform.
He says: "The skillsets that you need to run a retail business are actually not very far away from the skillsets you need to run a successful residential management business. It's about giving the customers what they want, at the right price point, with, certainly in the case of John Lewis, exemplary service."
In the episode Dunne describes how he "fell into" the real estate industry after studying Computer Science at university, undertaking early tasks like measuring 200 shops for a local greetings card retailer before it was acquired by Clintons.
He also outlines his "wide-ranging" role at Cushman & Wakefield, where his role is to bring together the firm's living sector teams, ensuring they talk with a "single voice".
You can also subscribe to the series on Spotify or Apple Podcasts as well as all major podcast platforms.