Review the Asset Base

James Alexander Consultants are helping bring clarity to the challenges the asset portfolio’s of their clients bring.  Determining the relevance your owned or leased assets has to your business and its long term effect is fundamental to ensuring you have the correct profile in place.  Planning and managing the utilisation of those assets and their place in your business is our speciality.

James Alexander Consultants are expert in assessing your portfolio and, with you, determining a strategy to develop the correct balance of assets, their relevance and performance for you.  We develop, plan and implement the strategy, leaving you to focus on core activity and opportunity.

Our focus is to maximise the opportunity your built and land assets brings to your business whilst minimising the liabilities.  Get in touch with us to see how we can help you address lease related problems, acquisitions or disposals and help bring your portfolio into line for your business needs.

eMail us on innovation@jaltd.co.uk or see our contact page for our numbers.  We look forward to speaking with you.

Cambridge Bio

A frisson of excitement ran throught the Cambridge real estate market last week as the purchaser of MEPC’s Granta Park was revealed.  US based REIT BioMed Realty Trust has secured the asset, paying a rumoured £133 million, one of the biggest single asset deals outside of London this year.

The story was broken last week in Estates Gazette (www.egi.co.uk) and, in follow up blogs, have speculated as to whom it was that represented BioMed in the deal, no names have been confirmed as yet.  The deal is expected to have been finalised just before the long weekend so the jubilee celebrations were not interrupted!!

BioMed (www.biomedrealty.com) own or have interests in assets in excess of 12.5 million ft² ($4bn +) almost entirely in the USA, specifically in bio hubs in Boston, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and New York/New Jersey.  As specialist investors and owners in this sector BioMed has an exacting specification for portfolio acquisitions and it is interesting to note that Granta Park represents one of what is believed to be a very small number of offshore assets.

Time to review and reassess?

James Alexander Consultants are helping bring clarity to the challenges the asset portfolio’s of their clients bring.  Determining the relevance your owned or leased assets has to your business and its long term effect is fundamental to ensuring you have the correct profile in place.  Planning and managing the utilisation of those assets and their place in your business is our speciality.

James Alexander Consultants are expert in assessing your portfolio and, with you, determining a strategy to develop the correct balance of assets, their relevance and performance for you.  We develop, plan and implement the strategy, leaving you to focus on core activity and opportunity.

Our focus is to maximise the opportunity your built and land assets brings to your business whilst minimising the liabilities.  Get in touch with us to see how we can help you address lease related problems, acquisitions or disposals and help bring your portfolio into line for your business needs.

eMail us on innovation@jaltd.co.uk or see our contact page for our numbers.  We look forward to speaking with you.

V is for...

Valuations:

The valuation of a property is usually directly related to its market value and this is where the art, some would say dark art, of the valuation comes into its own.  The purpose of a valuation will have a direct influence on its outcome and therefore has to be specific to the requirement.

Valuations may be undertaken for many purposes including:

• Mortgage finance -
• Acquisition
• Sale
• Probate
• Litigation
• Leasehold Enfranchisement
• Property development
• loan security valuations
• asset and fund valuations
• valuations for accounts purposes
• retrospective valuations
• development appraisals
• valuations for corporate owners and occupiers. 

and more……

As with any subjective view of a situation, in this instance the market value of an asset, there exists the opportunity for dipute and disagreement.  In any situation whereby someone is seeking to prove a value, another party will be seeking to disprove it.  It is therefore vital that not only do you commission the correct valuation for the correct purpose but also that you commission it from a surveyor with relevant and in depth experience.

James Alexander Consultants can help you determine the best approach to valuations of your asset base and get the right surveying team in place.

eMail us on innovation@jaltd.co.uk or see our contact page for our numbers.  We look forward to speaking with you.

R is for...

Relocation:

Back on firmer ground, well at least we have a topic, phew!

Moving the business to new location or locations is a process best undertaken with a great deal of planning and forethought.  Commercial relocation is so much more than moving your house, its obvious isn’t it, but you would be surprised how many organisations approach this activity full of confidence due to someone having moved their own home last year, only to fail in spectacular fashion, costing the business dearly.

Here are my top 5 tips for your relocation project:

• Team:  Pull together your in house and professional team early on.  The fundamental requirement for the project team is to have delegated authority to make project decisions.  You will undoubtedly have a project Board with the overall Company authority, but the ability for the Project team to act within bounds is paramount. 

• Programme & Timing:  Your relocation project will almost certainly culminate in one or more moves over a series of weekends or a holiday period.  Planning for your project can start at either end of the scale.  Either working back from a mission critical end date, perhaps the expiration of the existing lease period, or working from the start, based on the longest lead time elements and the date you determine to launch the project.  Either way you cannot start the overall planning too soon.  Informal planning will have been taking place for some while but this needs to be pulled together at the earliest opportunity so that all aspects can be captured and detailed.

• Communication:  Early on in the project you will need to determine your communication strategy with staff and stakeholders.  As a source of rumour and misinformation, there are few better catalysts than a relocation project to stoke the fires!  Planning and implementing an integrated communication plan will greatly assist the project, both in terms of staff satisfaction and also in terms of buy in and co-operation.

• IT and Communications:  Make sure your IT and communications teams are fully engaged from the start.  We have seen projects that have started off in fine form, bringing the communications teams in at a later date, only to find there are practical technical matters that have been overlooked and the project suffers delays and cost overruns.

• Have a clear out!:  Develop time in the programme to encourage staff to have a good clear out of filing cabinets, old machinery, cupboards, loose boxes, equipment, records, files, obsolete bits and bobs and the many other things that will cost money to move, cost money to house and then cost money to move next time!  There will be opportunities to recycle, sell, donate, dispose and, in the process, contribute to the organisations corporate social responsibility agenda.

James Alexander Consultants can help you with your relocation project.

eMail us on innovation@jaltd.co.uk or see our contact page for our numbers.  We look forward to speaking with you.

P is for...

Planning & Strategy:

Occupying business premises is no laughing matter.  The costs involved can be significant and the penalties, should you get it wrong, can be severe.

Having said that, the opportunity for it to go well is significant!  Like all property transactions in the UK (well England and Wales anyway!) the pace of movement is usually somewhere akin to that of the proverbial snail.  Lease break clauses do (should) not usually sneak up on you, they are telegraphed well ahead of time (when the lease is signed?).  So the opportunities for you to plan aspects of your estates strategy are easily able to be recognised and addressed.  However, that is not the whole picture.  Not all elements are so easily planned.  As we have said many times before, the real estate only exists to support your core activity, it’s there to help you to produce your widgets or build your social media empire or whatever.

And (yes, you can start a sentence with and) that’s where the challenge comes.

Planning a strategy to match your real estate occupancy to your business’s operational requirements is not too difficult in principle, but will throw up some very challenging questions to you and your colleagues.  I was with a client recently and the discussion revolved around the business’s requirement to relocate to larger operating premises, the availability, or lack of, suitable prospects in the locality and the impact a more significant geographical move to achieve the right accommodation could have on the business in terms of the potential for the loss of key staff.  An interesting conundrum and one that the jury is still out on.

Size, location, mix, usage and cost will all play a part in developing a coherent strategy for real estate and the activity should be undertaken with the same thoroughness that is applied to the operational aspects of the business.

James Alexander Consultants can help you find your way through to the best solution to your accommodation needs.

eMail us on innovation@jaltd.co.uk or see our contact page for our numbers.  We look forward to speaking with you.

O is for...

Outsourcing:

Non core activities outsourced, not a news topic you may say, but how far does this extend within your organisation?  The opportunity to outsource these types of non core activity has increased in recent times.  You are probably familiar with the “run of the mill” in outsourcing, from catering to waste management, office supplies to ICT.  But what about the outsourcing of your HR activity?  Or payroll?

The opportunity to bring in specialist services without the requirement to employ these on a full time basis is one of the backbones of the outsourcing principle.  Another is the opportunity to access specialist advice on non core activity, advice which would otherwise be expensive to maintain on an in-house basis.

The increase in legislation surrounding employment has seen a rise in the opportunity for SMEs (small to medium sized enterprises) to bring in specialist consultants and providers to keep them on the right side of employment law and up to date with current staffing requirements.

Similarly, there are opportunities for occupiers to get help with their accommodation and real estate services.  Many larger occupiers will have provision in place, but the smaller occupier can seek support with real estate related issues too.  From the outsourcing of facilities management to landlord and tenant issues there are opportunities to seek professional support in ensuring your organisation is fully up to speed.

James Alexander Consultants can help you understand your property, facilities and compliance requirements, leaving you to focus on core activity and opportunity.

eMail us on innovation@jaltd.co.uk or see our contact page for our numbers.  We look forward to speaking with you.

I is for...

Innovation:

Changing times call for ever more thoughtful approaches to your asset management challenges.  The current marketplace within commercial property is even more volatile than usual, and, whilst geography plays its part, the general view of the marketplace is that conditions are hard and likely to be so for the forthcoming time.

Spending time in careful consideration of the challenge this places on your business with regard to your built assets and liabilities is therefore well worth it.  In a previous post we have talked about the place within your business the build estate holds and the opportunity for the review and assessment of the estate in the light of this.

Detailed knowledge of your real estate liabilities will enable you to clearly plan ahead and, in conjunction with you business requirements, determine whether there are any opportunities to do things differently.

There may be scope to reorganise finances through the asset and balance sheet, to renegotiate terms with your landlord or reorganise loans on freehold occupancy.  Assessment of the utilised estate and how it could be improved, could allow for sub-letting (should the terms of the lease allow).  Group companies can potentially co-locate to reduce costs and vacating premises can save costs, even if the lease is still in force, with running and occupancy costs reduced to near nil and the potential for rates relief.

James Alexander Consultants are expert in assessing your portfolio and, with you, determining a strategy to develop the correct balance of assets, their relevance and performance for you.  We develop, plan and implement the strategy, leaving you to focus on core activity and opportunity.

eMail us on innovation@jaltd.co.uk or see our contact page for our numbers.  We look forward to speaking with you.

C is for...

Contracts:

Most businesses operate a model whereby significant elements of the business needs are supported by contracted services.  It is possible to outsource just about any element of your “back office” functions and it is almost certain that aspects of your property and facilities activities will encompass some element of contracted service provision.

Your estate and facilities management processes are there to support the core activities of the business and, as such, perform a vital task for you.  It is without doubt that the only time anyone in the business who would count themselves as a customer would notice these services is when there is a problem!

It is therefore most important to ensure that the contracted services you have are fit for purpose, compliant, up to date and relevant.  There have been many instances where contracted service provisions have been allowed to roll over from year to year without a proper review and assessment of the changing requirement, resulting in an imperfect provision and certainly wasted money.  We are all aware of the more usual facilities management services, often bundled up into those unfortunate headings of “hard” and “soft” services (how so?) but the outsourcing of professional services is becoming more and more frequent.  Outsourcing your estate management can mean the difference between being able to do your day job or not. Address the seemingly endless queries from tenants and other occupiers can mean that you do not have the time to undertake those tasks that are actually part of your job description!

James Alexander Consultants are expert in assessing your facilities and estate management service requirements and, with you, determining a strategy to develop the correct balance of contracted and in house services, their relevance and performance for you.  We develop, plan and implement the strategy, leaving you to focus on core activity and opportunity.

eMail us on innovation@jaltd.co.uk or see our contact page for our numbers.  We look forward to speaking with you.

Thames Valley Acquisition completes

Further to the January blog “Reading Acquisition Update” it was confirmed last week that PRUPIM has completed the £22.6 million deal for Energis House, which totals 108,000 ft², together with a neighbouring development plot.  Energis House is the controversial, loved and hated in equal measure, ex Metal Box building, an octagonal throwback to the heady days of the 1960’s with fine views over Reading Gaol.  For over 10 years there has been speculation as to the future of this site, with interest being shown from a number of parties over time.

With Cable & Wireless in occupation until July 2015 and planning permission in place for development of 370,000 ft² of office space, attention (and speculation) will now turn to the timing on future development usage for the site.  Next door, One Reading Central is complete, and Two & Three Reading Central are now in the pipeline, so the potential for the site is significant.  The opportunity for the creation of a centrally located business hub is significant and further developments will be keenly watched.

Sweat the Assets

James Alexander Consultants are helping bring clarity to the challenges the asset portfolio’s of their clients bring.  Determining the relevance your owned or leased assets has to your business and its long term effect is fundamental to ensuring you have the correct profile in place.  Planning and managing the utilisation of those assets and their place in your business is our speciality.

James Alexander Consultants are expert in assessing your portfolio and, with you, determining a strategy to develop the correct balance of assets, their relevance and performance for you.  We develop, plan and implement the strategy, leaving you to focus on core activity and opportunity.

Our focus is to maximise the opportunity your built and land assets brings to your business whilst minimising the liabilities.  Get in touch with us to see how we can help you address lease related problems, acquisitions or disposals and help bring your portfolio into line for your business needs.

eMail us on innovation@jaltd.co.uk or see our contact page for our numbers.  We look forward to speaking with you.

Boux Who?

Dragon’s Den star and serial entrepreneur, Theo Paphitis is making preparations to open a new store of his lingerie & nightwear retail chain, Boux Avenue.  The store, the 11^th to open in under a year, will open in the Chapelfield shopping centre in Norwich.  Chapelfield Shopping Centre is owned by Capital Shopping Centres and the Norwich store is the 5^th in the chain to be housed in a CSC development, so something is obviously a good fit.  The other stores are situated in Thurrock, Manchester, Cardiff and Newcastle.

This is a superb opportunity for a gratuitous Valentines Day picture of a display of some of Boux Avenue’s products, but, on this occasion, I will resist.

Happy Valentines Day!

The Property Empire of Satya Sai Baba

Following the death of Indian Guru and businessman Satya Sai Baba in April this year there has been much speculation about the future of the assets of his empire, including the vast property portfolio his organisation controlled.

The Guru who was always a controversial figure, famed for performing spectacular materialisations, was worshipped by millions of followers around the world and was said to have ammassed assets amounting to between $10 - 25 billion.  Certain of the assets based in India are now managed by an Indian based trust but this does not extend to any assets outside the continent.  The Trust manages two hospitals and a University amongst others, and the funds to continue to run these are provided by the interest accrued on the estimated $190 million cash reserves the trust controls.  The Goverment in Andhra Pradesh has asked the Trust to provide details of these various assets.

Outside India there are thought to be 1,200 Satya Sai Baba centres in 114 countries and countless other properties around the world about which little is known.  Undoubtedly Sai Baba's educational, charitable and philanthropic work will be continued by his followers for many years to come, but the task of unravelling the complex dealings of his empire may prove to be a challenging one.