An Interview With Ann Brewin Of Clifton Homes: The Best Luxury Real Estate Developer In Ghana
How do you assess urban wellbeing?
In terms of learnings from the pandemic, over the last 18 months, obviously, every single real estate market in the world has been impacted by COVID and we saw the immediate impact of that in mid 2020 here. The lockdown came very quickly. Understandably, people are more cautious with their investment decisions given all that uncertainty. We saw a couple of months where that hesitancy was really apparent. But then, straight after those couple of months, the sales rebounded. The Lennox, our property in Airport Residential in Accra sold out and the sales and inflows rebounded very quickly at the end of last year and we actually exceeded our growth expectations for this year. In terms of the impact, it was sudden, but it was relatively short. Now that we have had a bit of time and space to look back on the last year and a half, there are a few key learnings and things that became apparent throughout the pandemic which have helped drive our sales growth. One of those which is really important is reliability. In Ghana, Accra is littered with projects which are not finished yet, that got delayed, that have been canceled. During the COVID period, because of economic uncertainty, logistical challenges faced by the construction industry, everybody can see that those problems have worsened. To us at Clifton Homes, we take our commitment to deliver very seriously. We were determined to keep it that way despite the pandemic. We were happy to deliver Embassy Gardens in December 2020, with our Phase D clients getting their keys ahead of schedule, and we will be happy to hand over to our Lennox clients in Airport Residential in just a few months’ time now in Q2 2022. That reliability has become more important. It has always been important to intelligent investors in Ghana, but COVID has made it even more so.
The second key learning that we have seen is the importance of what we call urban wellbeing. We talk about this a lot and we are big advocates of it. It is the ability of the built environment to impact people's health and happiness. During the pandemic, this has become starkly obvious. All over the world, urban residents who lost their ability to carry out their normal social connections, access to green space, access to fitness facilities, suffered the most in terms of mental and physical wellbeing. But those residents who were lucky enough to live in well-designed city developments, well-designed city communities, were supported by their built environment. That really proved to us why this philosophy is so important. At Embassy Gardens, our residents there throughout the pandemic had access to three swimming pools, the gym, green spaces, and also the comfort and security of knowing that utilities and the basic, everyday elements were being taken care of.
Another learning for us has been the importance of facilities management. It was not just a learning for us but a learning for buyers as well when uncertain times come around the corner. Around the world, suddenly, everybody was put in a situation where they had to spend 90% to 100% of their time at home. So, the security and the comfort of that home became so much more important suddenly. In a communal development, that very much relies on the quality of the facilities management team. In Accra where lots of areas suffer power outages, water outages, it is even more important because of the need to ensure a reliable service in terms of those basic utilities. At Clifton Homes, we develop and then manage all of our developments ourselves post completion. In those first few weeks of COVID, I was so grateful for that because it meant we could take swift, proactive action, and we were not relying on a subcontractor who was being challenged left, right, and center from all their clients. We were able to put our residents first. We immediately increased our stocks of fuel and water and we immediately implemented increased cleaning and hygiene protocols. Because of the uncertainty of the situation, a lot of our clients were worried about security in general in Ghana, so we increased our security protocols, as well. Once those essentials were taken care of, we turned our attention to some of the other aspects. In terms of our facilities management staff, we were able to bring the maintenance team on site and have accommodation on the site so that despite the travel restrictions, they were there for our clients 24 hours a day. Another example is that we arranged door to door delivery for our residents who were at some of our developments and stuck in quarantine. So, the facilities management team really came into their own over the past couple of years. It has been a challenging time and there is a steep learning curve because nobody has faced this situation before. But it has been a really useful experience and our facilities management team was strengthened as a result. Clients now are putting an increased focus on that when they are making their buying decisions.
The resilience of the Ghanaian real estate sector speaks volumes that this year, 2021, will be a record year for Clifton Homes in terms of sales, which is incredible given the global turbulence we have had over the last period. Our buyers understand the long-term structural drivers of growth in the Ghanaian real estate sector and all they want is a developer that can help access that and a reliable developer who can weather the storms when they come. We have been delighted to see that robustness in sales, but also in the rental market which is another great indicator. In the middle of 2020, the lettings sector was hit hard across the city as travel restrictions came in. But by Q1 of 2021, our customers’ portfolios were back to where they were just 12 months before, seeing our typical 10% to 14% yields. That resilience in the sector is good, not just for Clifton Homes, but for the future development of Accra in general.
How does Loxwood House stand out and what makes it unique?
Ultimately, the most important thing for us is that our clients are happy, that they feel they are getting value for money, and that they are pleased with their homes and their investments.Loxwood House is our most recent development and it encompasses the core elements of all of our previous projects, which are price, location, and quality. Then, it also brings some new design elements to our offering which we are quite excited about. The location, which is at Tetteh Quarshie interchange, is at the very heart of Accra. You cannot get more connected. It is excellent for getting in and around Accra also beyond a car because of the motorway. Most importantly, it is just 10 minutes from the airport so the connections outside of the country are very strong as well. That convenience of the location really drives professional owners, professional tenants, not just locally but internationally. So, that location is very key to the development. It is just in between Airport Residential and East Legon. These are two very high-end areas of Accra, but they are diverse, they have a very different feel about them, very different facilities. It is a nice location to be between those different areas and also have the good transport links out and around the city. Obviously, price is always important for us. We want to give our customers value for money. The price for that location is fantastic. The suites start at $69,000 – though we do not have many of those left now – the one-bedroom apartments start at $115,000, and the two-bedroom apartments start at $189,000. So, it really does represent great value for that location. The third aspect of those core elements is quality which is always paramount for our customers and for us. It is not just about precision finishing in the apartments. It runs through everything in the design process from day one. It means quality in the exterior design, in the communal areas, and in the wellbeing facilities for our residents. That is where Lockwood House has some really special features. It has two rooftop pools and terraces overlooking the city and a 200 square meter skyline gym with panoramic views on the 12th floor. Those extras are really nice in creating a unique urban city living experience. We also refer to Loxwood House as being calm and connected. The calm comes from the design of the building. We have two complex building wings which creates a communal garden on the ground floor which will be green and spacious and totally car free as all our communal gardens are. That calmness and the connectivity is a winning formula for tenants and owners and it creates a strong proposition for both groups. We have just started construction this month, we just went on sale a few weeks ago, and things are already underway on site. We are looking forward to bringing this to the Tetteh Quarshie area as soon as possible.
What is your inspiration? What drives you to do what you? What is your philosophy in life?
In terms of my philosophy on work, it is really about always wanting to have integrity in what we do here, being proud of what we do, and understanding that a lot of the results come from pure, hard work. Always do today what you need to do. Do not leave it for tomorrow. Keep momentum up with the business and do not be scared of hard work. It is a team effort here at Clifton Homes. That philosophy is ingrained in our culture here. We have momentum and integrity in what we do. Also, when we get things wrong, which everybody does, then we take responsibility for that and just own it and make amends and try and resolve issues when they arise. It is all fairly simple, really. Above all else, we are just enjoying our jobs.
What has been the impact of your winning the award for Best Luxury Real Estate Developer in Ghana?
It is always lovely to be to be recognized, partly because everybody works so hard here from the architects to the facilities management team to the sales team to the people on site. We are a very connected company and the output of that when you see the final apartments and developments is very much a team effort. So, I really like it when we get awards like this which prove to everybody what their contribution is creating. With this award for being the Best Luxury Real Estate Developer in Ghana, we were the only developer in Ghana to receive an award from this organization which spanned 60 countries and 10,000 companies in the process. It is really nice to be picked out and selected from that. Ultimately, the most important thing for us is that our clients are happy, that they feel they are getting value for money, and that they are pleased with their homes and their investments. Having an award every now and then proves to us that we are on the right track.
What is your policy on being environmentally conscious in your projects? What would you bring to the market?
We are always looking for green technologies that we can incorporate within our construction process. Sometimes, that can be difficult from a supplier side here in Ghana, but we are always making incremental improvements project on project. One of the things that we do try to follow through with in the facilities management side is proving to our customers that more environmentally friendly solutions are also economical for them. Ultimately, that is key for these technologies taking off here in Ghana. We want to lead the way by introducing new environmentally friendly technologies, post completion, and then fold those into the next project once they are proven so people can see the financial benefit as well.
What is your perspective in the medium term, two to three years’ time? What would you like to have achieved? What are the projects that you are working on?
We have our pipeline set for the next five to eight years. We are not going anywhere. We are here for the long run. For us, it is more about constant evolution and those incremental changes on every project that bring something new and something different. Loxwood House will be our first truly mixed-use development with commercial areas on the bottom that are open to the public. On every project, we are looking for some way to improve the value and the quality of our proposition to our clients. The new projects that we have coming up will remain focused on Accra because we see plenty of demand here at the moment. We are focused on always delivering the best value and the best experience possible at a competitive price for our customers.
ABOUT CLIFTON HOMES: In 2021, Clifton Homes celebrated a decade of real estate development in Accra. In that time, Clifton has been the fastest growing developer in Ghana, completing 8 projects on time within buyer’s contractual deadlines, most recently Embassy Gardens in Cantonments. Clifton Homes is proud of its track record and ongoing commitment to delivery. A key contributing factor to the company’s delivery, apart from plain hard work, is its integrated model which provides control over timings and quality throughout the build programme. Clifton Homes manages its projects from design conception through to post-handover facilities management and that means its long-term interests are aligned with the buyer’s. The company is currently developing Loxwood House, an example of modern urban living located at the very heart of Accra.