Foreword

Citation

Eriksson, C. and Folkes, C. (2015), "Foreword", Journal of Property Investment & Finance, Vol. 33 No. 5. https://doi.org/10.1108/JPIF-05-2015-0032

Foreword

Article Type: Foreword From: Journal of Property Investment & Finance, Volume 33, Issue 5.

The 2015 Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS)/Society of Property Researchers (SPR) Cutting Edge Conference was built on a rich history spanning many years that brought the property research agenda to the forefront of our industry sector. The RICS identified the need for a more comprehensive, co-ordinated and proactive research approach. There was also the importance of sharing best practice research, forging relationships and research links between researchers and practitioners to deliver better research outcomes. The establishment of the RICS “Cutting Edge” Conference in 1993 provided a forum for the presentation and dissemination of property research results with a focus on commercial property, economics and finance. Whilst other areas such as construction, planning and housing policy had their own platforms for research at the time, commercial property did not.

The RICS research strategy originally outlined three principal areas of activity in terms of stimulating, facilitating and communicating research through the conference. The original focus of the conference was on academics presenting their findings, and linking those findings to practical applications. Practitioners traditionally made up a much smaller part of the contributors, but their numbers grew to outrank the contributions by academics over time.

There have been more changes: since Cutting Edge’s inception, more associations and conferences have been created, offering a platform to showcase their research. Cutting Edge still contributes to the UK property industry by carrying on the tradition of what it was originally set up to do. Since 2010, with the steady support of the SPR, it became a joint conference.

Cutting Edge still continues to disseminate published and unpublished research findings, and to addresses the latest thematic priorities in property research, constantly renewing the focus and exploring boundaries through applied academic and industry papers with links to practical challenges and real-life issues.

Interestingly, the 1999 RICS Cutting Edge Conference included a special session with SPR to debate the real estate research agenda. The need to balance the investment-led bias in property research over the past two decades with a greater consideration of the changing occupier agenda was identified. This is something which still rings true today. The 2015 Cutting Edge Conference brought together the investor and occupier focus in a successful manner and highlighted how a fuller understanding of the drivers of these stakeholders’ interests increases building performance.

Clare Eriksson and Cleo Folkes

Editor’s Note

“The papers in this issue are the Proceedings of the RICS/SPR Cutting Edge Conference 2015. As such, although peer reviewed for the conference, the normal double blind refereeing of the journal has been suspended for this issue”.

Nick French

JPIF Editor-in-Chief