A quick look at 2021 and a look forward to 2022 

In 2021 our focus has been on:  

1. Growing membership and capability  

1. Doing more with more resources  

1. Increasing value to members   

I hope you’ll agree that we, with your support, have delivered on all of these. We are now more than 300 members representing many thousands working in the sector; our capabilities and the range of activities are significantly greater; and your engagement and feedback shows the value you place on the UKAA.   

The recent BTR Fayre demonstrated our progress; 450 of you joined us for a day full of great content – much of it showcasing  UKAA projects and exhibition hall highlighting the vibrancy and expertise of our supplier members.     

Our current and future activities are exemplified by projects in four key areas:  

The UKAA BTR Best Practice Guide  is on track to significantly  improve the way we do business, helping de-risk the sector for investors, developers, operators and suppliers alike. At the Fayre, we demonstrated the tech and early content in the beta version of the guide. The next step is to embed all the valuable content ready to launch in 2022.     

Trusted Stays  our partnership venture provides a platform for operators to make  properties available globally to the Corporate and Government Lets market. The platform gives access to a potential income stream of around £8bn and is exclusively available to members of the UKAA and STAA. We are currently piloting and onboarding the first UKAA members and look forward to many of you signing up next year.  

Benchmarking the BTR sector has been a long sought-after ambition. There have been several false starts, but I really believe that we are about to make it happen. We are working with JLL to develop a digital benchmark platform combining UKAA member data with JLL’s technical expertise and existing data lake – with independence guaranteed by UKAA involvement. We will start small and build incrementally – more announcements soon.   

Sector leading research  will be an increasing focus in 2022, aimed at: 

• To better understand our customers – Further editions of Who Lives in Build To Rent, and research to understand the levels of satisfaction of our customers  
• To better understand our operating environment - original research on Discounted Market Rent, and ESG tools and frameworks  

• To make our sector attractive and equitable – A pioneering survey on employee Diversity and Inclusion, and continuing our work with IRPM  

Having invested significantly in growth and delivered added value to our members, we must sustain and support this going forward. We have  concluded that after freezing fees in 2021, we now have to raise them with effect from 1st January 2022. Details of revised prices can be found on our website page. I believe that UKAA membership continues to offer exceptional value in a market which is growing and developing ever faster and trust that you feel the same. 

Finally I want to thank all our members and friends for your support  during another extraordinary year. The work done by the committees, forums and project teams and notably by the Suppliers Council on the Living Wage campaign, has been amazing given the unprecedented recent activity levels in the sector. 

I hope that you are able to take some time to relax and recharge over the holiday period and return refreshed for another successful year growing our amazing industry and delivering great experiences for our customers.   

Thank you