Dr Cath Jackson

School of Geography and Planning

Senior Lecturer

Dr Cath Jackson
Profile picture of Dr Cath Jackson
c.c.jackson@sheffield.ac.uk
+44 114 2222 6918

Full contact details

Dr Cath Jackson
School of Geography and Planning
Room D18
Geography and Planning Building
Winter Street
Sheffield
S3 7ND
Profile

I was awarded a BSc in Urban Land Economics from Sheffield City Polytechnic (now Sheffield Hallam University) in 1992. I completed my PhD in the Department of Land Economy, University of Aberdeen in 2001.

Before my move into academia, I worked in both the public and private surveying sectors, including the Valuation Office Agency (Sheffield) and Leeds Development Corporation.

My experience covered all aspects of the 1995 Rating Revaluation, including valuations and appeals across all property sectors, CPO work, Estate Management, Landlord and Tenant and Property Development.

From 1998 to 2004 I lectured in the Department of Land Economy, University of Aberdeen and from 2004 to 2006 I was Lecturer and then Senior Lecturer at Cass Business School, City University.

In 2006 I was appointed as Senior Lecturer in the Department of Urban Studies and Planning, University of Sheffield.

I’m a member of RICS (Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors), the Investment Property Forum, the Society of Property Researchers and the European Real Estate Society.

Research interests

My research focuses on exploring and extending understanding of the functioning of local property markets, from the perspective of improving the knowledge and information base for property investment decision-making.

This focus highlights the role of local characteristics and context in market performance. Three sub-themes are developed:

Local retail rental determination

This dominant theme examines the retail sector, drawing on a sample of spatially and functionally diverse markets identified as the most important in terms of investment activity (outside London).

This theme explores market fundamentals in retail rental determination and is developed through a series of linked projects:

  • The development of a cross-sectional model of rental determination, testing for spatial stability across groups of markets with differing geographical and functional economic characteristics.
  • The analysis of temporal and spatio-temporal patterns in rental determination, recognising interactions between phases of market cycles and market types.
  • The recognition of the importance of market fundamentals in the development of diversification strategy.

Retail policy and market performance

The second research theme investigates the role of the policy environment in market performance.

This explores findings from the first theme, which identified the need to extend the analysis of rental determination and market performance beyond the traditional boundaries of demand-side factors, towards a more qualitative consideration of supply-side factors and agencies.

Thus, further papers consider and explore issues including the role of local planning authority strategic and attitudinal stance towards town centre promotion and management, concluding that these factors can be significant in determining investment market performance.

Current research seeks to extend this body of work, including the collection of qualitative evidence of fund manager response to local planning environments (sponsored by the IPF) and through an exploration of the context of fund manager decision-making (sponsored by the RICS).

The operation of office and industrial markets

The third theme extends the analysis of the functioning of local property markets to the office and industrial sectors.

Reflecting differences in the operation of the sectors, this theme highlights the role of global and macro-economic factors in market operation, within local market regulatory and built environment contexts.


Research projects

I welcome applications from students interested in PhD research in my areas of interest.

Publications

Journal articles

Teaching activities

My teaching focuses on the interface between theory and practice, especially in the field of property investment. I teach the MSc in Real Estate and MSc in Real Estate Planning and Development.

I currently teach the following modules: