_Lizzie Breckner: “I've had great people around me, that’s key to seeing women progress.”

With a fresh law degree in hand, Lizzie Breckner jumped into the inevitable post-grad internships – it was, after all, the logical next step. And although Lizzie is a logical thinker, something didn’t add up. “I did a couple of internships in legal firms and realised although I liked studying law, I didn't want to be a solicitor. So that plan changed, and I thought what now?”

A pivot to property

Fast forward seven and a half years and you’ll find her heading up Knight Frank’s Build to Rent research team within the Living Sectors department. The team produces bespoke research consultancy reports for a catalogue of clients. They also publish editorial reports relating to the sector. “No two days are the same. It’s a really varied job, which I love,” Lizzie explains. “It's everything from crunching numbers deep in an Excel spreadsheet, through to presenting to clients on what's going on in the market.”

How did Lizzie go from starter solicitor to real estate researcher? It wasn’t a straight-forward path. When at a career crossroads after her law degree, Lizzie developed an interest in property. “I don't come from a property background and didn’t know anybody in the industry. It was all a little bit unknown.” Delving into the unfamiliar, she joined an estate agency’s lettings division to learn more about the property world. She quickly realised it was where she wanted to be. “I started doing my master’s while working full time because you need a real estate degree to become a surveyor. It was a big commitment.”

While working as a lettings negotiator, Lizzie gained a role model in one of her senior colleagues. “She always had time for the junior members of the team. She had such a strong belief in us,” Lizzie remembers. “We’d say to her, ‘I've got this big client question, this difficult thing I'm trying to solve.’ And she'd say, ‘Well, what do you think? That sounds great. Go and do it.’ It’s really inspiring when you've got somebody who makes you believe you can do it.”

Love at first data point

Lizzie’s time in lettings came to an end when she joined Knight Frank’s graduate programme, where she had the opportunity to work across the business in short rotations. She considers herself lucky to have been placed in the research team for a stint. After just three months, Lizzie had found her home. She stayed. More than five years later, Lizzie still feels lucky. “What I love about working in the research team is that you are posed with interesting challenges,” she elaborates. “Our clients come to us with big, difficult questions and we have to find an answer using data and an evidence-based approach. I learn every day.”

Lizzie has much to be proud of in her career to date. Highlights include an editorial report she worked on in 2023 where the team found a way to measure the resident experience of those living in Build to Rent schemes – something that hadn’t been done before. It led to her presenting their methods and findings at the UKREiiF Conference. “It was a real ‘pinch me’ moment. It felt great to present such an exciting piece of work that people were really interested in hearing me talk about.”

Paving the way for change

Lizzie is keen to see how the property sector embraces inclusivity in the future. Although she acknowledges the real estate space has made strides towards being more gender balanced, she adds that there is still work to be done, “There’s a real challenge across the industry in retaining female talent.”

To uplift women in property, Lizzie believes supporting working parents is key. “I’m excited by (Knight Frank’s) new parental leave policy (which offers one package for everyone, regardless of gender). It could be a game changer if enough fathers or any non-birthing parents in the business use it,” she enthuses. “There may be men who are a little nervous to use this new policy. If we could shine a light on it – particularly senior people in the business showing support for the policy or using it themselves – it could be powerful. Let's normalise working fathers in a way that balances the tables for working mothers.”

Read more stories from Knight Frank's Inspirational Women series here