How would real estate developments differ if the property managers who ultimately run the show when the doors open could be involved earlier – perhaps even during the design of the project?
That was the question posed by Savills and guests at an Estates Gazette panel at UKREiiF, which set out to explore the benefits of a more integrated property management mandate that starts before a spade is put in the ground, let alone a key in the door.
Craig Bluer, a director in Savills’ property management team, and Matthew King, design director, kicked off the conversation with a presentation on what Bluer admitted was often seen as “the least sexy part of property”.
“At Savills we recently worked out that we deliver almost 200 service lines just within property management, ranging from things like service charge management, ESG, right through to development set up and mobilisation,” he said. “Those last two aspects are important, add value and effectively set our clients up for success.”
King added: “The key thing here is an integrated multi-discipline approach, and that has a massive impact in how finally you achieve that success at the end of the design stage.”
New perceptions
At Fore Partnership, founder Basil Demeroutis is a long-time advocate of engaging with property management teams – including his peers at Savills – early in the design and development process.
“As an industry, we tend to think of property management as glorified FM people and rent collectors – that’s rapidly changing,” Demeroutis said.
“As developers, we spend an enormous amount of time carefully crafting the product. In our case, we think about the sustainability journey and the branding and marketing. Someone has to be the custodian of that after we’re done, and that’s the property management team.
“Unless they’re on board with that, unless you’ve infused them with the same set of principles and values as you’ve intended for the building to carry once you’re done, I think you run the risk of long-term permanent damage.”
Alexia Laird, sustainability director at Landsec, also urged other developers to think about the property management process sooner rather than later, emphasising its importance in ensuring schemes can meet sustainability targets.
“Typically when you think about design teams, the focus is really on building the perfect building on paper,” Laird said. “But in reality, that’s not always how you live it, how you feel it. That whole merging of being able to bring that experience a lot earlier and blurring the boundaries between what is typically been quite a sectional handover, and you start talking to one another, I think that’s a really positive thing generally.”
She continued: “Specifically from an ESG point of view, we are moving away from point in time certification to performance based certification. Nabers, even WELL – all these [certifications] are things we are required to verify and to keep on proving annually. To be able to embed that in the building, you need that kind of thought process right up in the design stage.”
You’re in the army
Savills director Heidi Stephenson said her team loses an “immense” opportunity to shape projects when brought in too late.
“Getting in early, we really understand what our client’s vision is, and we can help shape that,” Stephenson said. “We can also bring in these incredible teams to bring that to life, to deliver on that service, the customer experience, that look and feel. We all see can influence some of the practicalities of operations. Our team has vast operational experience, we know what it takes to run and manage these buildings into the long term. So we can come in at that early stage and [advise].”
She added: “There’s an absolute army of key professionals who make this happen. We are a part of it, but we’re a really key part of it… particularly if you’ve got a complicated building, because we do take a lot of the headaches and a lot of these problems away for you.”
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