Property Focus: The Interview – Mark Hawthorn

IN our series of interviews with top professionals from across the property sector, TheBusinessDesk catches up with Mark Hawthorn, owner of Bolton-based ground rent investment company Landmark Investments Group.

What are your views of the current state of the commercial property and property development markets?

Although we are hearing regular reasonably positive reports on prices we are also witnessing a number of companies admitting they have issues and are struggling.  It appears to be more of a case that we have become blind to the bad news and seize upon the good.

Overall things appear to be getting slightly better which is about as much as can be expected after the position the world got itself in. The large residential developers seem to have weathered the storm and many are back looking for land and resuming sites.

What key challenges and pieces of legislation do you think will most affect your sector over the coming months?

Our biggest challenge continues to be that we have a massive imbalance between the amount of deals we are able to produce against the amount of finance being made available.

Our banks are 110% behind us and continue to lend but after events of the last three years they have lost a lot of jurisdiction to computer autonomy or new emergency government guidelines.

Why do you think the North West is a good place to work?

The North West is considered second only to London as a place to be based and do business.

There have been massive developments over the last 10 to 15 years and, even now, there continues to be major projects such as Media City, Wirral Waters and Ocean Gateway.

I am in London regularly on business and we have a clear advantage on costs and ease of movement. I can leave home in Bolton and be at Euston station in under 2 and a half hours.

What is your favourite building in the North West and why?

I would have to say The Trafford Centre simply because I am aware of the sheer effort that not only went into the planning, one of the longest and most expensive ever, and subsequent development but also the continual development of the site.

Additional development has included the Great Hall, Barton Arcade and John Lewis. The main development itself is around 12 years old but is still in pristine condition and busier than ever.

If you could improve anything in the region, what would it be?

Further investment and development. Although Manchester and Liverpool Centres have benefitted from massive redevelopment there are still areas within these cities, as well as swathes of other large towns, in need of massive regeneration.

There have been attempts, some very successful, others less so, but there is still a long way to go.

What was your first job and how did you enter your current line of work?

From leaving school at 16 I worked for an estate agent as a junior. I progressed from there and left, at 19, to become a property finder for a number of investor contacts.

From here I earned enough to buy my first property and was then able to snowball my initial investment into many more deals. We made the decision to move our focus away from property and land investment and development to go into ground rents around 2005.

What do you most enjoy about your job?

We have a great team, which is growing constantly, and it is a pleasure to go into the office every day. I also enjoy the challenge and relish dealing with complicated deals and negotiations. I work on the basis that the more difficult something is the less likely competitors are to try and tackle it.

What barriers have you faced during your career and how have you overcome them?

When I first went alone, people I’d meet were fairly surprised by my young age and I’d try to keep business to the telephones and avoid face-to-face meetings.

However, with the continued success and raised profile of Landmark Investments, I have overcome any concerns of my age being a barrier to me. In fact, it works for me when I meet people and they realise how much has been achieved in the ten years we’ve now been running.

What is the best piece of advice you’ve ever been given?

I have always been a believer in working smarter as opposed to harder. This is not to say I am lazy of course!

I regularly see people who are capable of so much becoming involved in typing letters, answering phones, accounting etc when they could be making money.

Once I was in a position to recruit staff the ability to leverage theirs and my time to suit what we are all best at has reaped real rewards.

And the worst?

“Trust me” I have always found, to my detriment, that the more trustworthy somebody tells me they are the more likely they are to be the opposite. The many people we deal with who are both trustworthy and honest have never felt the need to tell us they are.