Chesterfield Property and Construction Group: “We are truly excited by what lies ahead for Chesterfield”
Chair of Chesterfield’s Property & Construction Group, Andy Dabbs has penned his thoughts on a productive 2022 for the sector. Andy also shares his optimism for the group and wider investment and developments across Chesterfield as we head into 2023.
It is hard to imagine that it was only in the December of last year, we were still operating under the cloud of the pandemic, uncertain if the rise of a new variant would threaten the recovery of our industry and our attempts to return to ‘normal’ business activity.
However, as we sit here now, reflecting on 2022 and looking forward into the new year, uncertainty feels like it has become the only thing we can be certain about. The formation of Chesterfield’s Construction and Property Group (CCPG) in 2020 was ultimately about providing greater sector focussed support for the Town and local property businesses through public and private sector collaboration, and now heading into its third year, I believe we have never been better placed as a network to support each other in an exponentially changing and increasingly volatile industry.
Positively, throughout this period and now its 2nd year since its formation, Chesterfield Property Group members has continued to work hard maintaining a meaningful platform for engagement connecting both the public and private sector together. The group has maintained a clear focus on key themes centred around promoting the town, the skills and future talent agenda, business engagement, the climate emergency and importantly providing support to our Local Authority who continue to work tirelessly in their efforts to support the town and the property sector. The group has tailored its activity over throughout 2022 focussing on delivering tangible and meaningful outputs, some of these including:
- Property Forums – updating local property businesses on the latest market activity
- Skills and Talent masterclass – bringing key figures from property and construction alongside key skills and training providers to discuss how the sector can overcome the skills issue
- Quality and Sustainability masterclass – discussing sustainable development in Chesterfield, and why this is critical for future of the town
- Investment Summit – hosting a property focussed Q&A session with Chief Executive Hue Bowen and Council Leader Trisha Gilby
- Regular social media activity – highlighting some of the key issues in the industry such as skills, sustainability, diversity in the sector and promoting developments taking place in the town etc.
- A variety of networking and social events including walking tours, and brewery visits. supporting business to business relationship development
There is no question that the current economic outlook will pose challenging for those operating in the Property sector, but we must be careful not to be consumed by negative media, and instead businesses must focus on their ‘own economy’ and work even harder to invest in building resilience against any uncertainty. The property group believes that the best way of doing this is by working collaboratively together, sharing our experience, and working hard to unlock and connect each other to the wide array of opportunities across the region.
Despite everything, Chesterfield continues to attract interest from the investment market, and with the secured levelling up funding, will see the continued regeneration and development of our built environment over the coming years. The town is rich with potential and opportunity, and we are delighted that the Property Group has played a small part in supporting in its success over the last few years.
As the Property Group looks forward to the year ahead and the activity plans start to take shape, we are truly excited by what lies ahead for Chesterfield and the wider Borough. We will look forward to building upon our existing relationships whilst forging new ones as the Group continues to evolve and adapt to support the developing needs of the town.
If you work within the Property and Construction Sector and would like to hear more about the groups developing plans, please get in touch by emailing PropertyGroup@Chesterfield.co.uk
