Playing catch-up after two days on the road

Jun 4 2008 by Tony McDonough, Liverpool Daily Post

CHRIS HUGHES is property and marketing director at Merseyside-based Spencer Holdings. Earlier this year, the company secured £200m of funding from HBoS, so he currently spends most of his time scouring the UK for new sites and investments.

This is an account of his day.

6.30am: My alarm goes off and my Blackberry goes on. I always skip breakfast in the mornings and I’m often out of the door around 7am. I say goodbye to my wife, two children, a 10-year-old son and eight-year old daughter, and our Maine Coon cat.

8.15am: It takes me an hour to drive to work, as I live on the Wirral. I’m among the first people in the office and I use this window of opportunity to catch up on emails or read through the numerous site reports. It’s an efficient time of the day as the phones haven’t started ringing and the team hasn’t fully arrived yet.

9am: I tend to be out of the office at least twice a week so, on the days I’m in, I try to get as many updates on new acquisitions as possible, or catch up with members of the team on work in progress and ensure our chairman is abreast of major developments. I also check through the huge number of reports to ensure that a high level of accuracy and detail is incorporated.

10am: I have a meeting with two Glaswegian property agents to discuss possible sites in Scotland. I spent two days up there last week, driving over 1,000 miles to visit Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Livingstone. We have now acquired two estates in Scotland, and people have started approaching us as they have faith that we complete our transactions.

Noon: Following the meeting, I quickly check my emails. We’ve just added the Daily Post Property Developer of the Year Award logo to our email signature in recognition of this year’s award, and we’re still getting notes of congratulations.

12.15pm: On a busy day, I can end up doing several site visits. This afternoon, I’m driving over to Leeds to look at a couple of potential business park sites.

1.30pm: While on the road, a friend calls. He’s off to Australia next month to compete in an Iron Man tournament. Training to be that fit requires a lot of time and dedication, both of which I don’t have. I try to keep fit where I can and go running. When my children were younger, I used to test my fitness by running alongside them while they cycled. They’re a bit faster now so I have to cycle with them to keep up.

2.30pm: While in Leeds, I receive a call to say some prestigious office, trade and industrial parks have come to the market in Scotland. As we are increasing our portfolio in that part of the country, it looks like it will involve another 1,000-mile round trip next week.

4.30pm: I start my journey back to Liverpool. In my four years working for Spencer, the company has quadrupled in size and I genuinely think it has made a significant difference in Merseyside. For example, we refurbished a site in Huyton and it acted as a catalyst for change in its surroundings, to the extent that the adjacent property was also painted in Spencer’s standard colours.

6pm: I drive past both football grounds on my way to and from work and, when there’s an even- ing match, it can be a nightmare travelling home. I’m a Liverpool fan but largely on a casual basis. I tend to be too busy to attend games, and rarely find the time to peruse the sports pages.

I used to own a number of motorcycles, but drive a Mercedes E320. When you can travel 450 miles a day, a comfortable car is essential. A motorbike is fun but not the most convenient form of transport if you have children.

7.30pm: If I manage to get home early enough, I’ll spend some time with the children before they go to bed. Sometimes I’ll sit with them while they read through their school books, or I’ll take them out to do something more active.

9pm: I sit down to dinner, which is often my first meal of the day. To relax in the evening I tend to read, preferably thought-provoking or fact-based novels. I’ll usually read for an hour or two, so I can end up going to bed quite late sometimes.