The biggest awards event in the residential property sector, The ESTAS, has confirmed an autumn date for its main 2021 ceremony.
Traditionally the awards are held every spring at the Grosvenor House on London’s Park Lane in front of over 1,000 of the UK’s top property professionals, but this year the event is scheduled for October.
“It’s pretty obvious to everyone that even though the vaccine programme is making excellent progress, large public gatherings are not going to be permitted this side of summer” explains Simon Brown, founder of The ESTAS Group.
“We toyed with the idea of having another virtual awards, as we did very successfully last year, but feedback from our agents, conveyancers, brokers and suppliers is that everyone is craving a live event. Everybody is working so hard at the moment and it’s our job to give the teams something to really look forward to - for that reason we have moved the event to Friday October 22.”
Phil Spencer, The ESTAS host since the awards’ inception in 2003, adds: “It’s a great shame we can’t all meet up in the spring as usual to celebrate the exceptional service that’s being delivered by property professionals around the UK. Hosting The ESTAS is genuinely one of my favourite days of the year so at the same time I’m really pleased it looks like we can finally meet in October. The wait may be longer but the reward will be fantastic!”
Ahead of that, for the first time, ESTAS will be hosting a series of online shortlist events during May.
“It’s a great achievement to make it onto one of The ESTAS shortlists because they are decided purely on audited reviews from customers who have received a full service from their agent, conveyancer, broker or supplier during 2020. It’s something firms can be very proud of” says Brown.
“It’s also a massive pat on the back for staff who delivered great service under such difficult circumstances, so The ESTAS Shortlist events will be a real chance for teams to celebrate across the UK. We’ll be announcing dates and the format for these events in the coming weeks.”
In another first, there will be a live forum before the October Awards.
“2021 will be a landmark event as we gather agents, conveyancers and brokers under one roof. Our forum will explore the relationship between these firms with the theme of ‘Working Together Better’. After the strain that’s been put on the agent/conveyancer relationship in particular it will be fascinating to hear from both sides” concludes Brown.
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Wise move- here's hoping we can get our glad rags on and party together by then!
Seems a tad optimistic, even by October 2021. Last summer, things calmed down quite substantially with the virus, and that lasted into the early parts of September, but I don't remember many (or any) indoor events with large groups of people taking place. All conferences and awards events were cancelled, and even larger work events were criticised for being unnecessary.
They would have been better off trying to hold it this summer, in an outside venue, I would have thought. I suppose you could ask that everyone has been tested negative before they attend, but I can't imagine everyone in the country will have been vaccinated by then - but who knows?
Here's hoping it can go ahead, but I think a virtual event this year with a return in 2022 would have been more sensible.
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