During her time in APAC, the region showed promise and potential in real estate

While the last few months have been challenging for new mum Laura – who produced two babies during the pandemic (and so did Anthony!) – being able to spend time with her teams and partners was rewarding as she got to deeply understand various markets and their exciting opportunities. Unique to Singapore was the thoughtfulness of planning that went into the thinking, focused greatly on design, which led to better value and integration with the community. Hines saw new potential in the small island city-state and grew exponentially from ground zero in 2019, to about 30 team members four years later. Regionally, two more offices were slated to open, to establish more boots on the ground, build relationships and find opportunities.

Some of these opportunities included: exploring different residential approaches like co-living, and introducing built-to-rent in Australia and rental housing in Japan and Korea; leveraging the new ways industrial space was being used such as cold storage in Japan; and reimagining the role and design of the office.

Many ULI members agreed with Laura as the huge growth in income meant enormous rise in demand for real estate in APAC. Developing areas lacking deep experience may even embrace a process change, wherein global developers could partner with locals to bring something unforeseen.

As for China which was an existing market, Hines would continue to deepen their expertise and take a long-term view – a benefit of the family business, unlike other firms that get buoyed by rapidly changing viewpoints.

However, with the multitude of trends at play, Laura felt that it was hard to determine what was going to hit. Staying resilient and flexible, keeping an eye on potential challenges and being aware of the blind spots would help Hines navigate them well.

Leadership within the firm and the industry must be cultivated purposefully with a long-term view 

As the third generation of the family business that was started 65 years ago by her grandfather, Laura felt fortunate to be a part of it with her dad as co-CEO, who had led and navigated Hines through its formative years. Laura was thus able to contribute her strengths at a phase wherein she could think about its next 30 years and positioning it for the challenges to come. Real estate was a long-term business and investing for the future was key.

Of course, sustainability was a big part of her aspirations, although there was no obvious path to it. She knew that leadership, innovation, investment and commitment across the industry was required to put in place the enabling infrastructure. However, as every asset and geography were different, they would need differing methodologies, and no one cure-all solution existed. The hope was that the difficult step-by-step work would build capabilities and learning over time.

In addition to operational carbon, Hines also desired to lead on embodied carbon, which was an even harder goal to achieve. To start, the company put out an embodied carbon guide that encouraged stakeholders to ask questions during development processes and make sustainable choices without cost differences.

Establishing holistic support systems and processes that celebrated diversity were some of the co-CEO’s priorities for Hines

Laura also reflected on her learning process as she juggled babies and business over the past few years. She had moved into her current role two months before her daughter was born and was purposeful about taking full leave after. Not only because she needed it, but also because she wanted to make sure that the firm understood that it was possible to integrate different aspects of life – to be in a demanding role and still take the time to be with family. Role modelling, to her, was important. She wanted to create more visibility around this topic and encourage creating the right support system and work environment for not just women, but all parents and caregivers. “The more we focus on helping women, the more it creates the idea of ‘other’,” she explained.

As Hines’ Transformation Officer between 2018 and 2020, Laura introduced several DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) initiatives ranging from support policies around work benefits to Employee Resource Groups that aimed to connect the firm across several diversity matrices. As far as DEI, Hines also spent time to figure out how goals were being set. Rather than setting goals around percentages, they had found that setting goals around process was more important – one that was designed to support diversity as people moved through their careers to nurture the best people for the role.

Rounding up the discussion, Laura shared some advice to the men in the room: “Part of the historical challenge women face is that there is an expectation to do two full time jobs, at work and at home. The more there is a shared expectation for men to also take responsibility and ownership at home, the less there is an inequality across the board,” she said.

ULI Singapore thanks our venue host