CON MURRAY

a little more about Con

Profession: Chartered Structural Engineer

Con began his professional career in structural engineering consultancy at Arup. After spending six years with Arup and working on many exciting projects, he realised he had a passion for influencing the development as a whole and therefore wanted to expanded his knowledge and long-term career goals outside of the confines of structural engineering. He desired a career where he could define the business case for the property development, fix the priorities for the design team and then manage the overall design of development from concept stage through to completion. This ambition motivated his move to join Gladman Group in 2018 who is a residential and office developer.

While at Gladman, Con’s passion for property development only grew further. While there, as well as managing a team of engineers, he regularly appointed and managed the collaboration of multi‐disciplinary design teams. This experience gave him a practical understanding of all the issues which impact the success of a residential and office development in addition to the architectural, engineering and construction issues he was already familiar with.

Con firmly believes that only when you know you’re “Why” will you have the courage to take the risks needed to make a business successful. The purpose of any business must be a mixture of the values, talents, passions and expertise of its founding members. It was during the covid-19 pandemic that he used the temporary slow down in the construction industry to reassess his passions and long term career goals.

Transforming existing buildings with a design that incorporates the best architectural elements of the old building, is fundamentally the process that Con has a passion and talent for. To successfully deliver the optimal residential conversion, it is essential that the property developer has practical knowledge of all engineering and architectural issues which need to be considered and can make these constraints an integral part of the concept development design.

Therefore, setting up Novel Properties, whose primary purpose was the conversion of existing buildings into residential units gave Con the purpose he was looking for and is the reason “Why” Novel Properties exists.

Some of the founder’s Projects