The Development & Regeneration Series – An Interview with Pat Hayes

Earlier this month, Panoramic Associates’ Lead Senior Consultant Alex Miller spoke with Pat Hayes, Managing Director of Be First, LB Barking & Dagenham’s development and regeneration company, as part of The Development & Regeneration Series.

We are looking to bring together individuals from the public sector space across the development and regeneration services to share ideas and best practices.

During our discussion, we covered the following topics:

– Pat’s working background and how he entered the sector
– What the longer-term vision will be for Be First
– Be First’s vision and key objectives
– Their process once recruiting

Pat talked through his journey into the sector as he entered the field outside of the traditional routes as he originally studied politics. Pat started in the Councils policy team, then eventually drifted into urban regeneration.

The future of Council Development Companies is still unclear as to whether they will remain Council owned or split off entirely as a separate entity. They do have the freedom that most Council services don’t have, and financially Be-First could run indefinitely. Be First want to encourage Housing Associations and Developers to work in the borough to create job opportunities.

Pat then went on to discuss how they want to build on the 5000 home pipeline and progress their estate regeneration projects to increase the employment within the area and improve their economic offer. Be First are have an enormous opportunity to grow with land available to build on.

The core workforce was from the council initially as they transferred over when Be First was created. There is an intention to promote within and also offer scholarship and apprentice programmes to attract local people to start their Careers at Be First. They want to employ external professionals to also not miss out on the best talent on the market. Their goal is to attract not just the best skill sets on the market but also attract people who will work well with others and buy into the culture.

Watch the meetup below.

We, at Panoramic Associates, thoroughly enjoy getting insights into our specialist market sectors, other organisations and perspectives. We run these events to build our collective knowledge and provide opportunities to create a network of like-minded individuals.

If you have any suggestions on future topics for our next event or would be interested in attending, please contact Alex at a.miller@panoramicassociates.co.uk