We had the opportunity to speak to our Estate Director, to get an insight of the experiences of working in the property management Industry. In this blog post, Nicolas shares the challenges and rewards of working as an Estate Director on various sites, and explains why he loves working for POD. If you're curious about what it's like to be an Estate Director at POD, we invite you to read Nicolas's blog and experience his role first-hand!

Tell us a little about yourself and your role?

My role is Estate Director in Wembley, and I have been working here since January 2021. Initially, I worked for First Port in Wembley, but they lost the sites, and the team, including me, transferred to POD on January 1st, 2022.

I am responsible for 3,822 apartments and 46 retail units across eight developments. We have 32 team members, but unfortunately, the team will TUPE over to the client, and POD will leave Wembley on September 30th, 2023.

Our responsibility is to ensure the day-to-day maintenance of the buildings, making sure they are safe, compliant at all times, up-to-date with new regulations, presentable, clean, and a nice place for our residents to live.

Wembley Estate is the largest Build to Rent scheme in Europe, and POD is only responsible for managing the buildings internally and externally, but we do not interact with our residents directly, only through the client, Quintain Living.

The Wembley portfolio is continuously growing, and another 3500 apartments will be built in the next five years. We recently mobilized the latest development called Repton Gardens in Q1 2023, and the new phase of the overall project is being built and will be completed by Q3 2024 (another 800 apartments).

Before working in property management, I worked in hospitality for 11 years in several countries, including Paris, where I am from, Chicago and Philadelphia in the US, Koh Samui in Thailand, and both San Miguel de Allende and Puerto Vallarta in Mexico.

My hobbies include doing sports (especially running), taking long walks in nature, watching football on TV or in the stadium, and spending time with family, ideally around a home-cooked breakfast/lunch/dinner and a nice bottle of wine!

Why do you enjoy working for POD?

POD is, by far, the best company I have worked for, as they genuinely care about their team members, which is very rare nowadays. All colleagues are available to support each other, and the higher management is not afraid to step in to resolve conflicts.

POD is growing very fast and developing a very good reputation in the industry. Being part of this journey is a privilege, and I look forward to working with POD for many more years.

Which sites do you look after?

I look after all the Wembley sites: Ferrum, Beton, Alameda, Repton Gardens, Madison, Robinson, and Canada Gardens.