Building a profitable, scalable business: Lessons from urbanest's CFO

Hosted by Georgia Zambakides, Executive Director of deverellsmith, and featuring Vicky Skinner, CFO of urbanest, who shares invaluable insights into building and scaling a highly profitable business whilst navigating economic volatility, attracting top talent and finding purpose as a new mother.

Scaling for profitability: urbanest's growth success story

Since its founding in 2009 with a single asset, the business is forecasted to scale to nearly 6,500 beds by the end of 2026, whilst growing headcount from 65 people in 2015 to over 200 today. The company maintains 99% occupancy rates, underpinned by robust supply-demand fundamentals in London's student accommodation market.

The key to urbanest's success lies in its long-term focused approach and vertically integrated model spanning development through operations. Despite the significant economic challenges all businesses faced, the company has continued its growth trajectory through strategic partnerships with leading London universities and long-term nomination agreements that provide revenue certainty.

Cost management and driving performance

Skinner emphasises the critical importance of finance operating as an "outside in" business partner rather than a siloed function. Her team focuses on proactive collaboration across all business verticals, supporting commercial outcomes through data-driven insights and strategic partnering. This approach, combined with leveraging technology for efficiency gains, enables the organisation to "achieve more with less", a crucial capability for CFOs seeking to drive performance whilst managing costs.

The business benefits from patient, long-term capital that takes a through-the-cycle view, allowing management to focus on fundamental value creation rather than short-term volatility. This strategic advantage has proven invaluable during periods of economic uncertainty.

Attracting and retaining top talent in Real Estate

urbanest's talent strategy centres on being a values-led organisation, prioritising cultural fit alongside attitude and work ethic. Skinner notes that whilst technical skills can be developed, intrinsic qualities like drive, enthusiasm, and cultural alignment are harder to cultivate, making recruitment decisions critical to long-term success.

The company has invested significantly in professional development programmes, including:

• urbanest Pathways: Enabling employees to undertake vocational qualifications whilst working

• Future Leaders and Rising Talent programmes: 6-9 month curated development experiences covering leadership, collaboration, and personal development

Notably, retention rates among participants in these leadership programmes are significantly higher, demonstrating the ROI of investing in talent development. The company has also enhanced its employer brand articulation and recruitment processes, recognising that attracting top talent requires compelling communication of growth opportunities and company purpose.

Strategic workforce planning

A particularly insightful approach involves urbanest's decision not to unwind delegated responsibilities after leadership transitions, for example, maternity leave, instead maintaining expanded roles that have created development opportunities for team members. This strategy simultaneously drives operational efficiency whilst providing clear career progression pathways, which are essential for retaining ambitious professionals in competitive markets.

The business has also enhanced paternity policies beyond statutory minimums, recognising that supporting all employees through major life changes strengthens retention and demonstrates values-based leadership.

Future growth and sustainability leadership

Looking ahead, urbanest continues to expand its partnership model with universities whilst achieving industry-leading sustainability credentials. Their Battersea building became the UK's largest passive house building upon opening, with their upcoming Canary Wharf development set to become the world's largest passive house student accommodation globally.

The conversation with Vicky Skinner also discussed her experience returning from maternity leave, demonstrating how supportive workplace policies and flexible arrangements can enable senior leaders to maintain career progression whilst managing personal commitments. Her approach of focusing on output rather than hours, combined with clear priority-setting and strong delegation, offers a template for maintaining high performance across different life stages.