The prestigious Estates Gazette Awards took place on Thursday night, honouring the highest achievers in UK property. Here we celebrate the winners
Estates Gazette Outstanding Contribution to Property Award
Winner – London Legacy Development Corporation
Cast your minds back to 2005. A combination of Tony Blair’s charm, David Beckham’s celebrity and Ken Livingstone’s commitment had secured London this summer’s Olympics and Paralympic Games. Their winning message? Not only would London stage a Games that would raise the Olympic bar, but that the Games would deliver a lasting legacy – social and physical – for the UK.
Fast forward to this summer. Lord Coe and his team delivered a spectacular event. But the benchmark by which success will ultimately be judged remains the legacy.
And while the verdict on the social legacy of the Games will come later, the success of the physical legacy is already tangible.
The vast majority of the venues in the Olympic Park have secured tenants or operators. A masterplan is in place. And the first phase of housing at Chobham Manor is already well planned.
The lion’s share of the credit for that goes to the London Legacy Development Corporation, previously the Olympic Park Legacy Company and the winner of this year’s Estates Gazette Outstanding Achievement Award.
Estates Gazette has thrown its full weight behind the legacy since 2005, supporting the huge contribution this industry has made to its success so far. Since the Games, one of its greatest ambassadors, mayor of London Boris Johnson, has backed it emphatically, taking on the chairmanship of the LLDC.
Full delivery of the legacy promise is by no means secure. But thanks to the efforts of the LLDC – through its existing and predecessor body staff and leadership – it’s well advanced.
National Property Company of the Year
Winner – The Crown Estate
Shortlisted
•British Land
•Hammerson
•Henry Boot Developments*
•Land Securities
•Miller Birch Developments*
•SEGRO
•Stoford Developments*
•Wrenbridge*
* Regional award winners
This award goes to a company that the judges anticipate will “change the face of central London”.
The Crown Estate manages a diverse portfolio. A capital-constrained business, it overcomes unique investment challenges by entering into strategic investor partnerships that will ultimately protect its £1.5bn headline projects, the Regent Street and St James’s regeneration programmes.
The former has provided the most significant improvement to London’s public realm for 30 years, and includes offices soon to be occupied by Al Gore’s Generation Investment Management.
The Crown has also invested more than £100m in the offshore energy industry.
Financially, the company delivers. Having narrowed its focus on key sectors to create a lower-risk portfolio, it has recorded a 4% profit increase, with an 11% increase on capital value to £8.1bn.
Its other transformational developments in the capital include a ground-breaking £14m overhaul of Piccadilly, opening it up to two-way traffic for the first time since the 1960s.
“There is something magical about The Crown Estate,” the judges summarised.
National Property Adviser of the Year
Winner – Knight Frank
Shortlisted
•EA Shaw*
•GVA
•Innes England*
•Jones Lang LaSalle
•Savills*
*Regional award winners
It is down to Knight Frank that the iconic Battersea Power Station is finally going to see some life. Having launched a global campaign to find an investor, and facing an aggressive timetable to do so, it clinched a Malaysian consortium.
The agent put another feather in its cap when it was instructed to sell German fund manager KanAm’s prime £1bn central London office portfolio – the largest and most prestigious in the capital.
Knight Frank is not just consistent, but hugely ambitious, and a deserving winner of the National Property Adviser of the Year award, said the judges.
Crucially, the books corroborate the story. Knight Frank has increased turnover by 4% to £192.3m, and its fees per fee-earner increased by 1% to £234,227.
Knight Frank also has a significant presence in the regions. Its Sheffield office let the 53,000 sq ft The Balance scheme to Plusnet, the largest office letting in the city since the start of the recession.
“They keep their costs down and pay out when they make profits,” said the judges. “They are a really smart business.”
Occupier of the Year
Winner – B&M
Shortlisted
•Amazon
•Aon
•BBC
•Google
•HSBC
•Primark
Discount retailer B&M has made nothing short of a phoenix-like ascent over the past few years, culminating in its sale to private equity earlier this year.
Now trading from 309 stores across the UK, compared with 20 six years ago, it plans to open around 200 more over the next five years. In the past year alone, B&M opened 47 stores, occupying buildings that its failed competitors had long abandoned. It has 3m shoppers a week, despite an advertising spend of nil.
Citing its impressive growth strategy, judges said: “B&M has been able to utilise its strengths through the height of the recession, which gives it a solid foundation to continue growing when the economy picks up.”
Research group Kantar Retail put its success down to “differentiation”, strong private labels, efficiency and smaller store formats.
Landlords consider it a reliable, sought-after covenant. “There aren’t many of those on the high street,” said a judge.
With 12,000 staff – and 400 to come with the construction of a 500,000 sq ft distribution depot in Liverpool – B&M has employed more people than any other private employer over the past three years.
Above all, with turnover this year in excess of £920m and a forecasted pretax profit of £85m, B&M is a deserving winner.
Front Cover of the Year
Winner – Capita Symonds
Shortlisted
•Acuitus
•GL Hearn
•Malcolm Hollis
•Whitbread Hotels and Restaurants
Advertisers often talk about bringing their advert to life: this year, Capita Symonds actually managed it. The firm’s EG front cover in September used augmented reality – one of the first times it was unleashed in the property industry.
To view the advert, readers had to download the free app, CS AR, via the Apple App Store, and hold their iPhone over the cover. A building seemingly then grew out of the page.
The AR adverts continued inside and we carried an article on the growing interest in AR in the industry.
Most importantly for the Estates Gazette Awards, the innovation impressed EG readers, who voted it their Front Cover of the Year.
National Property Adviser of the Year – Retail
Winner – Cushman & Wakefield
Shortlisted
•Briant Champion Long
•GVA
•Jones Lang LaSalle
•Nash Bond
One of the most telling signs of Cushman & Wakefield’s fortunes is its retention rate. One hundred per cent of its clients and 100% of its staff want to stick around. “In this market,” say the judges, “that is bloody good.”
C&W is unarguably the shopping centre king, preletting the only two centres currently in development in the UK – Trinity Leeds and Whitely Village. They are among 20 new shopping centre mandates procured this year.
A diversified approach to the changing market has helped C&W’s revenue rise by 18% to £19.5m. The retail investment team has 46% of the market share.
It was boosted, no, doubt, by a key instruction to manage all retail properties owned by The Crown Estate in and outside London, following its successful handling of its £1.5bn regional portfolio.
The judges were astonished by C&W’s achievements. “In every single area they are strong. Very strong,” commented one.
Another said: “They are doing things that others talk about and that will put them well ahead of where they are even today.”
National Property Company of the Year – Retail
Winner – Westfield
Shortlisted
•The Crown Estate
•Land Securities
So significant has the effect of Westfield Stratford been on London’s retail landscape, that judges deemed the developer a standout winner in this category for a second year.
If last year this award recognised Westfield’s visionary approach to developing its east London behemoth, this year it is for passing the London 2012 test with flying colours.
The £1.45bn Olympic Park “gateway” is an “extraordinary achievement” the judges said. It is a 1.9m sq ft retail and leisure destination comprising 300 shops, 70 places to dine, a 17-screen Vue Cinema, bowling alley and Aspers Casino.
The judges commented: “Westfield was forced to finish the development in time for the Olympics knowing that all the car parks were going to be closed. This was a brave decision to start with.”
But they were also impressed by the numbers – an average 800,000 people a week have been through the doors of Westfield Stratford and 10,000 new jobs were created. It has also had regenerating effects, especially on the borough of Newham.
But its efforts stretch beyond London. The developer is also amassing a sizeable retail portfolio. To sum up, one judge enthused: “They are mind-blowing.”
National Property Adviser of the Year – Leisure
Winner – The Coffer Group
Shortlisted
•Christie + Co
•Colliers International
•Cushman & Wakefield
This year marks the 40th anniversary of The Coffer Group. However, it doesn’t look as though the team have got carried away with celebrations.
Having been involved in every headline leisure deal in London in 2012, it is perhaps the most active adviser in the country.
Achievements include the introduction of food truck phenomenon Pitt Cue Co to the Carnaby Street vicinity for Shaftesbury – a milestone deal. It also worked with Jamie Oliver and Gatwick to devise a twist on Oliver’s concepts.
However, the icing on top of the winner’s birthday cake was Westfield Stratford, which was one of the most anticipated property launches of the year. The agent planned the appropriate mix, sourced occupiers and negotiated terms, delivering the UK’s first ever “food market” within a shopping centre. It was precisely these achievements that prompted the judges to describe The Coffer Group as “a breath of fresh air in a stagnant market” and “always looking for new concepts and solutions”.
As well as an active presence in the regions, The Coffer Group is the only adviser to offer a global strategies team and has lured countless operators, investors and developers to the UK. It is a company that “really sticks its neck out”, said one judge, and is therefore deserving of this award.
National Property Company of the Year – Leisure
Winner – Citygrove
Shortlisted
•Legal & General Property
•Lifestyle Living Group
•Westfield
•Whitbread Hotels and Restaurants
“They’re compact, they’re innovative, and they really go for it. These are straightforward people with imagination and they love leisure.” That was the glowing endorsement of one judge for our winner in this category, Citygrove.
This was an especially good year for the 22-year-old developer – which has made a significant mark on the regions.
One example was a £51.5m joint venture with Rushmoor borough council, the 197,004 sq ft Westgate scheme in Aldershot, which incorporates a supermarket, seven-screen cinema, 91-bedroom hotel and eight restaurants.
Citygrove is also regenerating Southwater Square in Telford with the local authority. Designed around a continental plaza, it already boasts tenants such as Premier Inn, Cineworld and Wagamama.
Another coup has been the development of a derelict 13-acre dairy site in South Ruislip into a colourful leisure scheme that promises to rejuvenate the entire area.
And despite a difficult market, the company has stretched its tentacles to Spain, where it has built hotels in Valencia and Barcelona.
On the charity front, Citygrove puts others in the shade, with £850,000 amassed for good causes.
National Property Adviser of the Year – Industrial
Winner – Dowley Turner Real Estate
Shortlisted
•Burbage Realty
•CBRE
•Colliers International
•Jones Lang LaSalle
A young company has got to be hungry for business to survive in this economic climate, and clearly the team at Dowley Turner Real Estate, winner of the Property Adviser of the Year – Industrial and Distribution award has a voracious appetite.
Winner of last year’s Business Launch of the Year award, having established in February 2010, the company has grown to become a solid competitor.
Key deals, including shifting the £214.1m Teal Portfolio for Prologis and advising Blackstone on the £260m acquisition of the Triangle Portfolio – two out of three of the major logistics portfolios sold in December 2011 – contributed to an astonishing 40% increase in turnover.
Proving its ability to handle large multi-let transactions, DTRE also advised on the £204m Merlin Portfolio estates in Manchester and Birmingham, plus the £90m purchase of Farnborough Business Park, both for Harbert Management Corporation.
“These guys have rocketed from nowhere to become a truly niche player. They are great deal-doers, very left-field, but very competent,” said the judges.
National Property Company of the Year – Industrial
Winner – SEGRO
Shortlisted
•Gazeley UK
This year, SEGRO set out to shake things up. A new strategy would realign its focus onto only the highest-quality assets in the strongest markets. It fixed its sights on light industrial parks in the largest and most vibrant urban conurbations, “big box” logistics buildings in and around ports, airports and distribution corridors, and it hunted opportunities to create profits by developing buildings with higher-value uses. It was a ballsy manoeuvre, said the judges. “They had a very well-publicised strategy, they went out, talked a lot about it and they did it, and that’s no mean feat in these times.”
The company disposed of £377m of non-core UK assets and made two prime strategic acquisitions to get a greater foothold in the logistics market. In a joint venture with Moorfield, it then secured 404,000m2 (4.348m sq ft) of warehouse units and a development site for £314.7m, and following that, eight prime French logistics assets for £129.7m.
All this saw pretax profits grow by 8.8%. A last word from the judges: “It’s the whole package that makes them number one.”
National Property Adviser of the Year – Offices
Winner – Savills
Shortlisted
•Cushman & Wakefield
•Drivers Jonas Deloitte
•Jones Lang LaSalle
•Knight Frank
The Savills National Office Agency Team has taken a tough market by the horns and adapted to produce results that make it a clear winner of Property Adviser of the Year – Offices.
The integration of commercial agency activities from Savills’ UK Land and Property business into Savills Commercial at the end of last year proved an astute move. The effects were immediate: savings were made, no jobs were lost and 11 new fee-earners came into the fray.
As competitors weakened, Savills saw an opportunity to create a Corporate Services division to great effect.
It helped the offices team increase income significantly, transact 20% more than the previous year and grow its disposable stock by 38%.
The judges said: “On top of what has clearly been a strong performance over the past year, they should be applauded for adapting to the modern economy.”
Transactions have been countrywide. With the 38,000 sq ft The Mint, it completed the largest letting in Leeds in 2011. It also sold a 90,000 sq ft office tower in Bournemouth on behalf of Deutsche Bank and advised St Modwen on the Midlands’ largest regeneration project, Longridge.
National Property Company of the Year – Offices
Winner – British Land
Shortlisted
•Land Securities
•Stoford Developments
This was a hotly contested category, but British Land edged ahead with some impressive acquisitions that slotted into one robust strategy.
Judges were particularly impressed with the company’s commitment to the West End. British Land now boasts the largest letting in the West End in six years after striking a 25-year deal for 174,500 sq ft with Debenhams at 10 Brock Street, NW1.
BL is also transforming the complexion of Broadgate. At number five, it built a new office for UBS and agreed a deferral of breaks on a total of 830,000 sq ft of space it currently occupies there, securing a minimum of £26m of additional rent over an extended lease term. This constitutes the largest ever prelet in the City.
In terms of its development programme, BL currently has five projects on the go. With 1.1m sq ft of binding prelet agreements, and 2m sq ft of lettings over the past two years, BL is associated with one-fifth of all central London grade-A take-up.
That is a significant achievement, as the judges recognised: “The business has been consistent in dealing with its development programme and delivering.”
Having acquired such sites as Marble Arch House, W1, BL is focusing its investment activity on its current 2.3m sq ft development programme, with a total commitment of £1.2bn.
National Property Adviser of the Year – Residential
Winner – Knight Frank
Shortlisted
•CBRE
•Jones Lang LaSalle
•Savills
Knight Frank wowed our judges in this category.
Counting the £400m sale of London’s Battersea Power Station and the largest regeneration site in outer London – the 54-acre Silvertown Quays – among its key achievements, it trades on innovation and a unique and global wealth network to stay ahead of the pack.
Innovation has especially prevailed with Knight Frank’s multilingual website, available in 23 languages, with more than 8,500 properties for sale across 83 countries, receiving 1.2m visits a month.
With sales totalling £2.7bn, Knight Frank has consolidated its leadership in prime central London, and certainly this level of achievement is reflected across all the company’s specialties. At £195,000, it secured the highest price per bedroom at Lightfoot Hall, Chelsea, for Moorfield Property Group.
It is no surprise then that Knight Frank’s profit has increased substantially year-on-year. Its turnover last year increased by 7% to £185.4m.
“Knight Frank always starts from scratch, it is very research-based, very professional and it shows,” the judges said.
National Property Company of the Year – Residential
Winner – Grainger
Shortlisted
•Grosvenor
•Native Land
In this market, Grainger’s position as a residential specialist is an enviable one. And plenty would take a leaf from its book on how to manage income and deliver. It is the company’s resilience and unwavering eye on new opportunities that have earned Grainger this award.
The winner has underlined its centenary year by increasing revenues and demonstrating its ability to adapt. It has diversified its income by building a third-party asset management business, and it has rebalanced its portfolio in favour of better performing areas in London and the South East.
In October 2011, Grainger refinanced the majority of its £1.2bn debt facilities, giving it a secure financial footing. Additionally, it has increased income across its three revenue streams of sales, rents and fees. The company is also borrowing less.
In order to capitalise on growth in the private rented sector, the company is also in the primary stages of establishing a “build-to-let” investment fund and setting up one of its subsidiaries to become a registered provider of social housing.
Such innovative thinking prompted the judges to describe Grainger as “more than just a housebuilder”. “They deal with the difficult stuff – they are a company that is definitely on the up.”
Young Professional of the Year
Winner – Alex Carr, Lambert Smith Hampton
Shortlisted
•Chris Caiulo, SEGRO
•Dominic Rodbourne, Savills
•Nigel Sellars, Drivers Jonas Deloitte
•Andreas Scriven, Christie + Co
The judges were resounding in their praise for 28-year-old Alex Carr.
He was promoted to the position of associate director at Lambert Smith Hampton in 2010, having proved he was a cut above the rest. Alex has been the highest fee-earner in Birmingham’s agency team for the past three years, and the highest fee-earner for the office as a whole in both 2010 and 2011.
Now, with more than six years’ experience working in the West Midlands industrial market, his clients are funds, investors and occupiers, including St Modwen, Royal Mail, Centurion and AXA.
As well as being driven and engaged, Alex is turning in the results. He has been a top-three national earner in the firm’s industrial division two years on the trot.
Among his achievements is the £60.9m acquisition of an industrial investment portfolio for Scottish Windows Investment Partnership – the second largest multi-let industrial portfolio acquisition in the country in 2011.
A 2006 graduate, Alex has positioned himself in a market-leading position from almost nowhere, prompting the judges to describe him as “a young guy, with relatively limited experience, who has taken on more responsibility than you would normally expect”.
New Business Launch of the Year
Winner -Tenant Assistance Program
Shortlisted
•myplacehas.com
•Swanvale Developments
As the commercial sector is still picking up its feet, relationships between occupiers, owners and managers can be strained.
Leases are shorter, occupiers are more mobile and competition is fierce.
Transparency is undoubtedly key to developing trust and the Tenant Assistance Program, run by leasing and management experts Robert Riley and Howard Bottomley from a serviced office in Chelmsford, aims to deliver just that.
TAP promotes positive engagement through such things as providing information for tenants about the property they occupy and guidance on property-related issues, structured e-mail communication so managing agents can monitor the needs of their customers – which then feeds into a portfolio strategy – plus video case studies and short burst messaging to keep tenants aware of landlord actions in their building. They aim to do this without imposing a burden on the property manager.
The judges thought it was a worthy winner. They said: “TAP is a great communication bridge between property providers and occupiers that enhances the management of property and minimises occupational hassle.”
The company has bagged an impressive clientele and its turnover has more than doubled in its second year of trading.
EG London Award
Winner – Irvine Sellar
At a quarter past 10 on the evening of 5 July, London’s skyline changed forever.
Twelve lasers and 30 searchlights lit up the night sky over London in the most dramatic fashion.
To hammer home the sense that this was something important, Copland’s Fanfare for the Common Man and the finale from Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite were broadcast. They were performed live by the London Philharmonic Orchestra, no less.
The occasion was the inauguration of the Shard, SE1, Western Europe’s tallest building.
It was a tremendous achievement that crowned a decade-long battle by one man to deliver his vision.
And it is for his fortitude as much as his vision that the inaugural EG London Award goes to Irvine Sellar.
Sellar’s achievement in securing the funds needed to bring forward the Shard was one of the success stories of the recession.
After Credit Suisse dropped talks to provide £350m of development finance, Sellar sold 80% of the Shard to four Qatari banks.
The deal took 12 months to negotiate.
With sovereign wealth funds and global pension funds flooding into London in more recent years, it was a floodgate-opening arrangement.
Especially as with lettings proving difficult in a tough economy, such long-term finance enables a developer like Sellar to be patient.
And Sellar remains optimistic. After all, he has, in his own words, “more contacts than a fusebox”.
Investment Manager of the Year
Winner – CBRE Global Investors
Shortlisted
•Aviva Investors
•AXA Real Estate
•Henderson Global Investors
•Legal & General Property
If it has done nothing else, CBRE Global Investors’ £1 buyout of the European, Asian and securities businesses of ING in November 2011 has made it a standout winner of this award. The deal has been described as “transformational”, positioning the newly branded CBRE Global Investors at the top of the pack.
The move gave the business £7.9bn of assets and the impetus to shape itself as the go-to fund manager for bespoke solutions and investment opportunities in the UK and abroad.
“It was a big stand-out deal, a brave thing to do, and an interesting thing to do,” said the judges.
While UK clients make up the bulk of CBRE GI’s business, the deal has set it apart from its competitors by enabling it to offer local knowledge.
An example of this was the purchase of the 21,160 sq ft Thames Court, EC4, on behalf of the Public Officials Benefit Association. The £165m deal was the POBA’s debut in the UK.
Since its transformation, the winner has clinched three projects, including a start-up portfolio for a new institutional client, expected to grow to £450m.
EG Awards 2012 the judges
David Atkins has been the chief executive of Hammerson since 2009, leading its charge into the UK shopping centre market.
Rob Bould is chief executive of GVA and has been with the practice since 1976. He is a past chairman of the IPF.
John Burbage formed Burbage Realty in 2003 as the first logistics and industrial property consultant in the UK.
John Burton is the director of Westfield’s biggest investment, Stratford City – a project costing £1.5bn.
David Coffer, aka Mr Leisure, established the sector’s first dedicated advisory group as chairman of The Coffer Group.
Peter Copley has been group property director for four FTSE 100 companies: Emap, AWG, Reuters and, currently, ITV.
Ilaria del Beato oversees the UK debt and equity portfolio of GE Capital Real Estate as managing director UK.
Alistair Elliott started on the graduate scheme at Knight Frank in 1983 and is now senior partner elect.
Susan Geddes heads the real estate finance division of Santander, which she set up in 2006.
Nigel Godfrey is development director of global developer Gazeley, which has been running since 1987.
Tony Horrell is chief executive, UK and Ireland at Colliers International.
Alan Dornford is director of markets at Capita Symonds and has worked with clients including ITV, AXA, Royal Mail and Royal Bank of Scotland.
Andy Martin is senior partner at Strutt & Parker. He has experience in funding, investment and corporate work. He has been with the firm since 1976.
Stephen Hubbard is deputy chairman, UK and EMEA at CBRE – a firm he has worked for since 1976.
Dan Hughes joined Ordnance Survey in March as land and property sector manager, having previously worked for DTZ.
Mike Hussey is chief executive of Almacantar, the property company that owns Centre Point and Marble Arch Tower.
Neil McKilligan is senior partner at Allsop, beginning his career in the commercial auction department in 1983.
Richard Owen ran management and valuation at Drivers Jonas Deloitte before being appointed managing partner in January.
Liz Peace became chief executive of the BPF in 2002. She is working closely with the government on the Localism Bill.
Mark Ridley, commercial chairman of Savills, will take up the post of chief executive of Savills UK in January 2013.
John Slade heads 600 staff as the chief executive of BNP Paribas Real Estate UK, a post he has held since June.
David Sleath has been chief executive at SEGRO since April 2011, having joined the company as finance director in 2006.
John Stephen spent 35 years at Jones Lang LaSalle, where he became chairman of the English business. He retired in 2009.
John Strachan is global head of retail at Cushman & Wakefield, a position he has held for more than a decade.
Colin Wilson is a senior director and head of UK & Ireland at DTZ. He previously ran the central London team.
John Wood became managing partner of Cluttons in June. He was previously head of the UK commercial division.
rebecca.kent@estatesgazette.com
