Poachers egged on by stacks of cash
It was remarked upon here how CB Richard Ellis gave staff extra-large bounties if they could persuade a member of Jones Lang LaSalle to jump shop and join them (21 July, p57).
We are not quite sure how much that bonus is, but can it beat that being paid by Atisreal?
Apparently, if staff in the firm, now owned by a French bank, land a fee-earning director-level hire, they are in line for no less than £20,000 – and they don’t have to come from JLL. Can anyone beat that?
Fears of facilities management giant in corridors of power
At a recent meeting of the Windsor group of the principals of the top dozen or so agents, a discussion took place about competitive threats.
And, from the world of facilities management, one big yet little-known name was considered a real threat to advisers who like to get close to occupiers and run their property stock.
The name is Johnson Controls – a company that is, indeed, absolutely enormous.
The Milwaukee-based firm, founded in 1885 by Professor Warren Johnson (inventor of the electric room thermostat), has 136,000 staff in 1,000 locations in 125 countries.
About two-thirds of the business is mechanical and engineering for cars and buildings. But no fewer than 54,000 staff earning revenues of $10.2bn work in “building efficiency”, looking after the facilities management on more than 1bn sq ft around the globe.
So, they could probably swallow two or three Windsor Group members – and not even feel the lump going down. A new chief executive was appointed on 27 July.
Support for Savills Facebook rebels
The Facebook revolt at Savills has continued since EG revealed how the property industry is handling the social networking site (28 July, p50).
Since EG wrote about the plight of the workers who have been banned from using Facebook at the Mayfair-based firm, four more sympathisers have joined the “Bring Facebook back to Savills” group to fight the powers that be.
One of those – a non-Savills employee – wrote: “I just wanted to add my weight to this worthy crusade after reading the EG. I feel your partners need to take a more pragmatic view of this 21st-century networking tool and reinstate your access immediately.” Well said, comrade.
and EG group wins new members
EG is always a tad embarrassed to make shameless plugs, but it is still good to see that membership of the “Saturday’s wouldn’t be the same without Estates Gazette” group has grown from six to 44 members since we announced its launch a fortnight ago. The group is open to all, so the more the merrier.
Sadly, since our article, others have become more coy. Savills’ Ed Chetwynd-Talbot has removed his beer-kissing photo from his profile (despite compliments from friends), while Knight Frank’s research guru, Patrick Scanlon, swapped his profile picture for a more staid choice. No more Santa Claus hat on display.
A glamorous world: could sex sell sheds?
Morley Fund Management’s rivals are enjoying a spot of Schadenfreude after EG revealed that it was at the centre of a court dispute with a maker of adult films (4 August, p17).
The fund tried to end a 15-year lease to pre-production company MPRO for breaching the “permitted use” covenant by allowing glamour photography, through its adult entertainment subsidiary Bluebird Productions, at its Gateway industrial estate.
The head of acquisitions at a popular rival fund couldn’t understand Morley’s prudishness. “I’ve got a few industrial units we’ve been having problems shifting. Maybe if we got an adult entertainment company into the estate it would make the area more popular with tenants.”
Baby blues could make agents extinct
Hats off to construction and development giant Bovis LendLease, which won praise in The Guardian last week in a report on how companies support parents in their workforce.
Neil Rooney, a project information officer for Bovis in North Yorkshire, praised the company for offering four weeks’ paternity leave on full pay – double the legal basic – even though the month “went by in a hail of flying nappies”.
Citigroup, meanwhile, offers prospective mothers a “maternity buddy scheme” and emergency crèche facilities. And insurer Aviva even offers paid leave for fertility treatment.
However, agents were found to be among the worst for parental support. Jones Lang LaSalle, Gerald Eve and King Sturge were all described as “poor”.
Come on guys, you don’t want to be “out bred” by builders, bankers and insurers do you?
Yo-yo director
A Knight Frank hotels director has returned to secretive hotel group Von Essen for the second time in three years.
Martin Rogers first left Knight Frank in May 2004 to join Von Essen, only to rejoin the agent two months later. But Rogers is on the rebound and has left KF (again) to join Von Essen (again).
EG Eye wonders whether this could have anything to do with the lure of having Von Essen’s fleet of cars – which includes a rather Bondesque Aston Martin DB9 – at his disposal.
EP to ensure land for homes is truly holy
Faced with mounting pressure to meet demand for new homes, there are signs that English Partnerships has turned to religion.
The religious mindset is revealed in plans, approved last week, for its Gorton Monastery Village scheme, east of Manchester city centre.
The scheme – a joint venture with Gleeson, designed by architect Taylor Young – will be the first in the UK to be developed using the principles of “sacred geometry”, a sort of feng shui for monks.
And its use could become more widespread. Sacred geometry is said to hint at a mathematical order to the intrinsic nature of the universe, something that should appeal to the man now leading Britain’s housing drive, the numerically minded prime minister, Gordon Brown.
Savills gent is told where to go
It seems that being the appointed agent on a new office development is not always enough to gain site access.
When Savills international investment director James Goldsmith took his client to see Development Securities’ progress on Paddington Central scheme One Kingdom Street, W2, recently, he was unceremoniously told by a security guard to “f*** off!”. A “do you know who I am?” style response only led to a repetition of the original command, followed, presumably, by blushes all round.
We’re not sure who Goldsmith was with, but a good bet would be client DIFA, the German fund that is stumping up £90m for a 50% stake in the 250,000 sq ft office development.
TIME FOR SOME STRAIGHT-TALKING
In the absence of our cartoonist, who is still sunning himself on the beach, EG Eye has been forced to sink to new depths for your amusement. Our thanks go to jokers’ website www.strangecosmos.com for this little gem. Always read the small print. Nick Newman will be back next week.
