The market is moving, but is your employer brand keeping up? 

By Chris Litras is Director of Real Estate — Investment, Development & Construction 

The development and construction market has started 2026 with a notable shift in momentum. Since January, we've registered 70% more jobs in design and technical roles compared to the same period last year. Confidence around building safety regulations, long a source of paralysis, is beginning to translate into real activity. 

London continues to centre on retrofitting, but the early signs of life in residential and ground-up developments are hard to ignore. The question being asked across the industry is whether this marks the release of a long-awaited bottleneck on site starts. If it does, demand for talent is only going to increase from here. 

Regional growth is exposing a real pressure point 

After a week of conversations in Cannes, one theme came through more clearly than any other was the demand for hospitality and living sector expertise outside of London is accelerating fast. 

In Birmingham, Manchester and Bristol, the pipeline for real estate development is highly active but regional growth is exposing a pressure point where talent the pool is much smaller and developers are competing for the highest performers. 

For businesses expanding beyond the capital, this is a strategic challenge, and one my team can support with. 

Your brand is your draw for talent

Relocation is increasingly part of the conversation. Candidates are open to the option, but they need a reason to uproot, and that reason has to be more than a job title and a salary. 

I heard the same question more than once in Cannes: if nobody outside London has heard of your business, how do you convince someone to move for you? 

Employer brand has never mattered more. The businesses winning talent in regional markets right now are the ones who have invested in telling their story; their culture, their pipeline, their leadership, their vision. Those who haven't are finding it significantly harder to close. 

What the data tells us about pay 

As part of our ongoing Workforce Sentiment Survey, we asked our LinkedIn audience when they last received a pay rise. With 129 responses, the results offer a telling early snapshot. 

Nearly half, 46%, received an increase in the last 12 months. But a combined 33% haven't seen a rise in over two years, and 12% say they've never had one. 

In a market where activity is picking up and competition for skilled professionals is intensifying, that gap is significant. Retention is going to become as important as attraction over the next 12 months. 

The full findings land in our upcoming Salary Guide & Trends Report. Register to be the first to receive it. 

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