Research & Our Research Themes
Real Estate and Planning (REP) has been a major research centre into both real estate and planning since it was formed over 40 years ago when the College of Estate Management moved from London to the Reading campus in 1972. It has had a major impact on the development of research in the real estate/planning disciplines with a long tradition of close interaction with industry, policy and professional practice. The research strategy is formed around a commitment to addressing 'real world' problems with high-quality interdisciplinary research. The objective is to engage in research that has quality at its core but is also aimed at impact on the users of research.
Research in REP is organised under 4 main inter-related groups with a number of academic staff ranging across more than one group. The Real Estate Investment & Finance (REIF) group focuses mainly on applied industry research into commercial direct and indirect real estate markets. The Valuation, Leasing and Market Practice (REVLMP) group has a longstanding programme of research in commercial real estate appraisal/valuation, commercial lease policy and practice and property management. The Environment, Sustainability and Participation (ESP) group has a wide ranging policy and practice agenda from World Cities to community planning policy. The Housing Economics (HE) group has developed recently from collaborations with the Department of Economics on housing supply issues into a separate unit and information on the current activity of all four groups can be found under the separate links.
The integration of planning and real estate has been long been a distinctive feature of Reading. This has been enhanced by new appointments widening our international land and property development based research agenda, and consolidating strengths in the broad field of governance studies. This inter-disciplinarity means REP is well placed to offer a wide range of perspectives on the global development process, as well as developing related theoretical insights. REP is housed within the Henley Business School (HBS) and internal collaborations within HBS include a joint professorial post with the International Capital Markets Association (ICMA) Centre, pulling together the largest group of academics with interests in direct and indirect property pricing in the world. Other major collaborations internally include the Schools of Construction Management and Engineering, Economics and Geography and Environmental Science and other inter-disciplinary University research centres such as the Walker Institute for Climate Change and the Sustainability in the Built Environment Centre.
Reading has been identified by research for the Urban Land Institute as the leading centre for real estate in Europe and is regularly the most prolific contributor to the European Real Estate Society conference, the major European academic event of the year. REP academics regularly collaborate internationally across the world and this global collaboration has increased over the years as research agendas have internationalised. We have strong connections with the property and planning communities and enhance those linkages through engagement with agenda setting bodies in both the private and public domains. Our staff play a full part in the research activities of the UK professional institutions involved with land, property and planning including the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, the Investment Property Forum and the Royal Town Planning Institute. Increasingly, these bodies have also internationalised and the work of the School reflects this global perspective. REP research themes are also driven by the priorities of the research councils and Government and REP research, collaborating widely with key individuals and research groups, has contributed therefore to more informed public policy and private practice.
For more information on our research themes: