Celebrating our RREF Network - May

This month we hear from Mark Ridley, one of RREF’s longest‑standing supporters and a leading figure in the global real estate industry. He reflects on his remarkable career journey, the challenges and opportunities facing the sector, and the satisfaction he has found in supporting the built environment over more than four decades.

After graduating from the University of Reading in 1984, Mark trained at Weatherall Green & Smith in London, was seconded to Sydney, Australia, before returning to the UK and was made a partner in 1992 and headed the London West End Development and Agency business. He joined Savills in 1996 to open Savills Manchester office, which he headed until 2008 and which grew into a multi-service business with circa 400 staff, he also helped open the Leeds and Bristol businesses before being appointed as Chairman and Chief Executive of Savills Commercial operations in the UK in 2008. In 2014 Mark's responsibilities were extended to include the appointment as CEO of UK & Europe, including the Middle East. Mark was appointed to the Global Executive Board in 2008 when it was formed. In January 2018, Mark was appointed Deputy CEO, and took over as Global CEO on 1st January 2019. Mark retired as Global and Group CEO of Savills in December 2025 but remains as a Senior Advisor to the business. After many years as one of RREF’s most dedicated supporters, culminating in an invaluable and impactful period of more than ten years on our Board of Trustees, we would like to offer our heartfelt thanks to Mark for his tireless support of our work, of Henley Business School students, and of the development of the wider Real Estate industry.

What do you love about working in the industry?

Without a doubt it is the people in the industry, after all property revolves around people and evolves because of them. It is full of characters, many pioneering, who can spot trends early and have the courage to back their hunches, it has been a privilege to work with many of them. Whether that be the emergence of Retail Warehousing and Convenience Retail, Serviced and Managed Offices or all forms of Urban Logistics… and guess what, ‘work from home’ has not killed off the demand for Prime Offices.

What do you see as some of the key challenges ahead?

Looking back at my tenure as CEO of Savills, since 2019, I thought I had seen most things, with Brexit, Covid, War in Europe (Ukraine) and the Cost of Living Crisis, but the state of permacrisis goes on with war in the Middle East and other major global repercussions on energy costs. What is gratifying is that the real estate market to a great degree, keeps going, occupiers need better quality space across many sectors and investors like the risk differential away from the volatility of the equity markets, a longer-term hedge. That said, Development is now a major challenge, how to catalyse greater development, to encourage Developers and their funding partners to take the calculated risk to bring new schemes forward when so much uncertainty exists and costs continue to increase, damaging the feasibility and likely returns. This is leading to acute shortages of new product coming to the market in many locations and sectors, whilst there are also Towns and Cities which have totally fallen off the radar, and which desperately need coordinated Public / Private partnerships to enable investment to come forward to create future relevance.

If you could offer some words of wisdom to the students about to graduate from a Real Estate & Planning programme, what would they be?

Drawing on my 42 years in the industry, I would say all experience is valuable, even if sometimes less enjoyable, the breadth you experience will help you in the long term. Don’t specialise too quickly, therefore if you can get the opportunity to move between markets or sectors early on in your career, then take it, knowing how the real estate sectors fit together and being able to draw on lessons from other markets can be invaluable. Follow your instincts, as well as your passion, if you do find something that captures you, then become the ‘go-to person’, develop your knowledge and look forward into the future. Finally, more about behaviour than Real Estate, it is a ‘people – business’, so use your ears, listen carefully & use the tools available, but always apply the best form of intelligence available, which is always your own mind! Also, create a network (starting at Reading) and build on it, friendships will take you a long way.And, be prepared to take some risks, several of the best decisions I ever made in my own career looked risky, I was advised by many senior mentors not to do it, but I went for it anyway and was relieved I did it. But evaluate these carefully, don’t be too impatient, hopefully your career will be both successful and long term! I wish all of you the very best for the future, I am envious that you are all about to start your careers in such a brilliant and fun industry.

Thank you Mark for sharing your experiences within your career and your advice for the next generation of Real Estate Professionals!