Industrial developer and asset manager Chancerygate has announced the launch of its charitable foundation to encourage and enable black and minority ethnic students to build long-term careers within the property industry.
The not-for-profit Chancerygate Foundation has been established by Chancerygate chairman, Andrew Johnson, and his wife, and it was given charitable status by The Charity for England and Wales earlier this month. The Foundation has been launched to celebrate the 25 year anniversary of Chancerygate.
The Foundation’s mission is to help create an inclusive and diverse UK real estate sector where people from disadvantaged black and minority ethnic backgrounds can thrive and succeed. Only one per cent of the 35,306 RICS members who qualified in 2020 stated they were of black ethnicity (classed in the data as being from an African, Caribbean or ‘other’ background).
Through its scholarship programme, the Foundation offers bursaries to qualifying students, allowing them to access RICS-accredited courses at higher-level education establishments.
Andrew Johnson said: “Securing charitable status is an important first step towards the Foundation achieving its mission of addressing the lack of diversity in the UK property industry. We started the Foundation with a very clear goal – to help as many black and minority ethnic students as possible to embark on careers in property.
“One of the most challenging barriers faced by black and minority students leaving university is to find a job. The Chancerygate Foundation will help those students throughout their university experience and mentor them as they take the first steps on the road to a property career.”
Founded in 1995, Chancerygate is the UK’s largest multi-unit industrial developer and asset manager and the only one operating nationwide.
In November 2020, Chancerygate was recognised as one of ‘1000 companies to inspire Britain’ following a report by the London Stock Exchange Group, and as one of UK property industry’s best places to work by trade publication Property Week.