Gawain Smart, CEO of International Campus Group, joins me on the People Property Place Podcast 🎙️ this week.

We talk through his journey from a legal career in Canada and Wall Street to running one of Europe’s largest living sector platforms.

We get into what it takes to scale and professionalise a private equity-backed real estate business, how to lead through change, and what’s coming next for European student and co-living assets.

If you're interested in operational real estate, business building, or managing complex international platforms, this one's for you.

Key Topics Covered in This Episode:

• Breaking free from early career inertia

• Moving from execution to leadership and why being a generalist matters

• What it really means to institutionalise a founder-led business

• Building the right team and why people issues make or break a CEO

• Growing ICG’s AUM to a mammoth €1.9bn across Europe

• How to prioritise when everything feels urgent

• Co-living vs student housing and why ICG focuses on both

• The value of local teams in pan-European investing

• Structuring pan-European teams and deal flow and why patience is critical

• Why European PBSA is still in its infancy and where the real supply/demand gap lies

• Capital flows shifting into Europe and what’s attracting investors right now

• How AI will reshape talent, workflows, and decision-making

And finally...

With £500m to invest, which People, what Property, and which Place would Gawain choose?

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