In an industry often resistant to change, Nick Millican stands apart. As CEO of Greycoat Real Estate, Nick Millican isn't just navigating the turbulent waters of today's commercial real estate market—he's charting an entirely new course. Through interviews and public statements, a clear picture emerges of Millican's distinctive three-pillar philosophy that's positioning Greycoat at the vanguard of the industry's transformation.
Pillar One: The Embedded Carbon Revolution
Walk through London's financial district today, and you'll find yourself surrounded by construction sites—old buildings coming down, new ones going up—a cycle that's been the norm for generations. But when Millican looks at these scenes, he sees something different: wasted carbon investments.
"When we demolish a building, we're not just destroying walls and ceilings," Millican explains. "Every foundation poured, steel beam erected, and concrete slab laid down has a carbon story attached to it—emissions that were generated during the construction process."
This perspective forms the foundation of Millican's first pillar: prioritizing refurbishment over demolition to preserve what he calls "embedded carbon." It's not just an environmental stance—it's a fundamentally different way of valuing property assets.
"It's extremely hard to demolish a building and then use what you've taken to then build a new building," Millican points out. "It's not really practical. So the more you can retain, the better the carbon footprint of what you're doing."
The numbers back him up. Retrofitting an existing building emits 50-75% less carbon than constructing a new one of the same size. But beyond the environmental calculus lies a shrewd business insight: as regulations tighten and market preferences shift, buildings that preserve embedded carbon will command premium values.
This is already playing out in real time. In Westminster, which Millican notes has "taken the strongest approach" to limiting demolition, planning authorities now require substantial justification for tearing down existing structures. "You have to really justify why you're doing it," he says. "It is not just a case that you make a bit more money."
By positioning Greycoat as a specialist in large-scale refurbishments—preserving structural frames while comprehensively updating systems, facades, and interiors—Millican has aligned the company with both regulatory trends and changing market dynamics. He's turned what could have been a constraint into a competitive advantage.
Pillar Two: Strategic Opportunism
The pandemic upended commercial real estate, emptying office buildings overnight and forcing companies to experiment with remote work. Many developers retreated, uncertain about the future of physical workplaces. Not Millican.
"I think at the minute we feel that sentiments have led to an overcorrection of office prices in some areas and with some criteria building," he observes. "So some stuff is probably cheaper than it should be if you take a medium-term context, and so we're quite keen to take on new projects."
This willingness to move counter to market sentiment exemplifies Millican's second pillar: strategic opportunism. While others see risk, he sees buying opportunities created by temporary market dislocations.
His timing has been remarkable. Prior to the pandemic, Greycoat sold the majority of its properties in late 2018-2019, hitting peak valuations. Millican modestly describes this as "more through luck than judgment," but what followed was certainly deliberate: in 2021, as office valuations fell, Greycoat raised a fund specifically to increase its investment capacity.
This approach extends to Greycoat's partnership structure as well. Rather than going it alone, Millican has transformed the company from a consultancy into what he calls an "operating partner" business. By contributing 5-25% of equity alongside larger investment partners, Greycoat can leverage its expertise across a broader portfolio while maintaining skin in the game.
The December 2023 acquisition of 20 Finsbury Dials with Goldman Sachs Asset Management exemplifies this strategy. This 140,000-square-foot office building—a former J.P. Morgan space—is undergoing a comprehensive "brown to green" transformation aimed at achieving top environmental certifications like BREEAM Outstanding, EPC A, and WELL Platinum.
This isn't just another redevelopment—it's a strategic bet on the future of office space in a post-pandemic world.
Pillar Three: The Experiential Workplace
Nothing reveals Millican's third pillar more clearly than his perspective on the much-discussed "future of work." While many industry figures focused on whether employees would return to offices, Millican reframed the question entirely: what would make employees want to come back?
"People are actively considering how to persuade employees to make the commute," he notes, highlighting the competitive dynamic between home and office work environments.
Nick Millican's answer is what might be called the experiential workplace—offices designed not just as functional spaces but as destinations that offer experiences impossible to replicate at home.
"As a developer, what we focus on is making sure the bones of the building enable someone to do that," he explains. "So typically, we'd be very focused on provision of outside space for tenants, provision of an entrance experience that typically would have breakout space, cafe, etc., at the lower ground floor to give a bit of atmosphere and environment for tenants in a building."
This approach represents a profound shift. Where previous generations of office buildings were designed primarily for efficiency and density, Millican envisions workplaces that compete on experience—offering not just workstations but community, collaboration, and connection to urban vitality.
DIALS exemplifies this philosophy with its full-height atrium bringing natural light into the reception area and flexible floor plates of around 19,000 square feet designed to accommodate contemporary work styles. Its location just north of Moorgate station ensures exceptional connectivity, making it accessible from various parts of London via multiple transportation lines.
Crucially, Millican recognizes that the experiential workplace extends beyond the building itself. "I think a lot of it is being in a location that has a lot of attractions for people to do after work or before work or at lunchtime," he notes. This holistic view of workplace value—encompassing not just the building but its neighborhood context—informs Greycoat's site selection strategy.
Where the Three Pillars Converge: The Future
In February 2024, Millican announced Greycoat's planned expansion to Paris—the company's first office outside the UK. This move provides a perfect case study of how his three pillars work together in practice.
The Paris market offers abundant opportunities for refurbishment of carbon-rich historical buildings (Pillar One). Current market uncertainties in Europe create attractive valuation entry points (Pillar Two). And the city's vibrant urban fabric provides the perfect context for experiential workplaces that will draw employees back from remote work (Pillar Three).
While Millican describes this expansion as "a big change" involving "different language, different legal system, different ways of doing business," the underlying strategy remains consistent with his core philosophy.
As Millican looks ahead, he sees his approach gaining wider adoption. "I think we'll see over time more and more focus on retention and refurbishment rather than demolition and rebuild," he predicts.
What differentiates Millican from many industry peers is not just the accuracy of his predictions but his willingness to act on them—sometimes years before they become conventional wisdom. While others waited to see how post-pandemic work patterns would settle, Millican was already designing for the hybrid future. While competitors debated the ROI of sustainability investments, Greycoat was integrating carbon budgets into every project assessment.
The three-pillar approach—preserving embedded carbon, practicing strategic opportunism, and creating experiential workplaces—has positioned Greycoat not just to survive the industry's transformation but to help define it. In a sector where following the crowd often feels safest, Nick Millican demonstrates the competitive advantage of seeing around corners.
As he puts it: "The environmental performance of a project is increasingly important to occupiers, to lenders, to the investor that we'll inevitably end up selling the building to, once it's all complete, and it's all part of the rich mix of things that goes into establishing what is best in class."
In Millican's vision, these elements aren't separate considerations—they're integrated facets of a new definition of value in commercial real estate. And in a market increasingly defined by sustainability imperatives, changing work patterns, and the search for urban vitality, this holistic perspective may well prove to be the blueprint for the industry's future.
