West Midlands Regional Property Adviser of the Year
Entries:
SAVILLS
Highly motivated teams delivered exceptional results across all of the 12 main disciplines in the office. All were profitable resulting in increased total office turnover and profit. We recruited at both senior and graduate levels – maintaining a commitment to our graduate intake and training programme which we have done throughout the recession. We achieved a 100% APC pass rate and all newly qualified surveyors have been given permanent positions. Recruitment included: two Directors and an Associate into the shopping centre management and set-up teams, and planning and industrial agency Directors.
The office operates an open plan and open desk policy, encouraging entrepreneurial initiative and rewarding success. Staff retention is accordingly high.
The work ethic is strong but so too is the sense of fun with regular team and charity events. The two key charities for the office this year are Macmillan’s and Acorns Hospice, but we continue our longstanding support for St Basil’s.
The company’s mission statement is “to be the real estate advisor of choice in our chosen markets” and the business continued to grow market share in its twelfth year in Birmingham.
Team performances:
The Investment team (of just 3) transacted £643m of deals, placing it as one of the most successful and profitable Investment departments within the whole of Savills.
The agency teams also performed exceptionally in market conditions which continue to be difficult. The Industrial team transacted over 2.5 million sq ft of which 2.1 million sq ft were disposals, including the 900,000 sq ft warehouse pre-letting to Marks & Spencers at EMDC.
The residential market, a key area of focus for Savills nationally, marketed c. 170 acres and sold over £60m of land. Many residential developers commented that Savills Birmingham office were market leaders in providing the best development opportunities in the Midlands throughout the year.
The Valuation teams were involved in instructions totalling in excess of £650m by value and the Housing Investment team valued in excess of £1bn.
The Property Management Department captured two brand new high profile instructions: The Cube (the mixed use scheme next to Mailbox); and One Snowhill (prime Grade A Offices let to KPMG and Barclays), both in Birmingham. These two buildings total over 600,000 sq ft and add to the existing instructions of over 150 properties with in excess of 1,000 tenancies.
The building consultancy team were involved in a large number of significant dilapidations and survey instructions, with project work encompassing refurbishment, extension and demolition contracts.
Our planning and development capability is a major strength.
We continued to advise Tesco on development opportunities on their food and non-food store development programme, instructions which totalled £500m GDV. Projects include a new shopping centre, incorporating a foodstore, at Yardley, now under construction.
We advised 13 educational institutions, including Birmingham City University, as well as 2 Science Parks. Rail-linked logistics development advice continues to be a specialist area; we advised on c. 24 m sq ft of scheme proposals.
The Planning team negotiated savings of over £1.6m on Section 106 costs for clients and the Lease Consultancy Team advised on over 70 transactions in 2010.
Client testimonials:
Vinay Veniek, Head of Acquisitions, Aprirose REI
“We worked closely with Savills Birmingham Office who advised us on a number of successful investment transactions during 2010. The advice provided demonstrates a broad range of expertise and unrivalled market knowledge within the office. We remain impressed by their approach and level of client care as they respond swiftly and effectively whilst maintaining a great deal of commercial awareness. We are currently involved with the office on several projects and look forward to furthering our relationship with them.”
Simon Jenkins, Senior Vice President Development, UK, ProLogis
“With Savills you know you are getting not just local expertise but knowledge that’s backed by a hugely successful team.”
Sarah Wells, Principal Estates Surveyor, Warwickshire County Council
“Savills are instructed by Warwickshire County Council to dispose of the former North Leamington School that has become surplus to requirement following relocation of the school to a new site. The site extends to approximately 6 acres and lies within the greenbelt adjacent to an established, high quality residential area to the north of Leamington Spa.
The objective of the instruction was to sell the redundant site and realise the maximum capital receipt from the disposal. Savills were required to provide comprehensive advice on marketing and related issues, in particular town planning matters that were key to releasing the highest potential value from the site. Working in close collaboration with me, the Savills team (led by David Middleton) managed the entire marketing and tender process. This included co-ordinating a full marketing programme to ensure a wide market exposure, providing a detailed bid analysis of the initial responses, conducting interviews with the short listed parties, negotiating the heads of terms with the preferred purchasers and working with the County to secure a satisfactory contractual outcome that required overcoming a number of contentious points that emerged during the negotiations.
The disposal has been a complex and demanding project and Savills have provided considered, informed and objective advice to the County throughout the process, in what have been difficult market conditions. They have demonstrated a professional approach to this type of instruction and appear to understand the requirements of Public Sector clients, in particular the need to achieve best value when disposing of assets.
I have enjoyed working with David Middleton and his team and on the basis of my experience of their input to this instruction, I am happy to recommend them.”
Andy Crowter, Assistant Principal (Facilities Management), North Warwickshire and Hinckley College
“In response to your request, I wholeheartedly write to recommend the services of Savills; a recommendation based on my own experiences during the complex disposal and integral outline planning application on our two Hinckley sites.
I have found Savills to be professional, courteous and extremely understanding of the College’s needs as a client. The team we are working with have a clear vision of their purpose and a professional approach to achievement. They appear to work for our good as a client, as well as their own.
Their clear understanding of the mechanics of the college operations, together with an appreciation for the requirements of dealing with public assets, has made my role much easier and allows me to operate with confidence.
Most importantly, where problems have occurred, these are presented together with clear options for resolution.
The above attributes, together with a genial and personable approach, work to provide a comfortable, yet very professional relationship.
I would gladly answer any direct questions from your potential clients, if they wished to contact me.”
Nick Whittingham and Mike Murray, St Modwen
‘Just a note to thank you both and in particular you Emma for all your input to date as I know from my own experience what a painful process it was with all the changes to the appraisals and dealing with the KS submissions etc. The deal with Waterloo is now effectively unconditional, well done! so you can send your fee account in. Thank you again.’
‘Just to let you all know we exchanged contracts with waterloo last night .This is a great result particularly as there was such a short period of time in which to do it .Thank you for all your individual inputs, especially you again Emma, without which it would not have happened and for making yourselves available even when you were meant to be on holiday (Emma get a break now!!) -it is very much appreciated. Just need to get the funding sorted out now with HCA.’
Graham Pardoe, Goodman
‘Thanks so much for your hard work, it deserves a lunch to say thank you. Thank you for making yourself available whenever we called, look forward to the sale of the next one.’
Tim Wooldridge, IM Properties
‘Thanks for being so on the ball and thinking outside the box, excellent ideas, lets hope it leads to a sale! I wouldn’t argue with you!’
Colin Povey, Warwickshire Cricket Club
‘Savills worked in partnership, in a very difficult market, to help us deliver a funding package for our new stadium against challenging and critical timescales. In doing so they not only provided high quality professional advice but brought a business acumen to a complex set of negotiations which was refreshingly helpful.’
Drivers Jonas Deloitte
Representing a very loyal and passionate multi-disciplinary team here in Birmingham, I can honestly say we at Drivers Jonas Deloitte provide exceptional customer service on every job we do. Don’t just take my word for it, please see attached our submission with a few client commendations.
The merger heralded a new business model for us and naturally we lost a few of our advisors who decided to move on. Our headcount stands at 18 per cent less than 12 months ago, but actually this suits the lean-business model fine. We’re advising a wider client base thanks to introductions via the Deloitte network and has resulted in the annual turn-over increasing. We are nurturing many leads since the merger, albeit still in their infancy, but I have no doubt that our advisory services in planning & development, project management, lease advisory, valuation and agency & investment will continue to go from strength to strength.
Small in numbers, but big in voice and heart. Our thought leadership programme of seminars, research and PR gives us column inches to rival the Beckhams. And our CSR achievements are not limited to an annual corporate cheque presentation. Three of my team climbed Mt Kilimanjaro in October as part of Deloitte’s charity fundraising. The wider team raised almost half a million pounds (£470,512 to be exact) which is an amazing achievement and is the greatest amount ever raised by a single event by the staff of Deloitte UK. The African Rainforest Conservancy (one of the benefiting charities) even named a new species of frog after us as a thank you for the achievement: Nectophrynoides deloittei !
GBR Phoenix Beard
What a difference a year makes! Just as GBR was named as Estates Gazette’s West Midlands’ Property Adviser of the Year, the finishing touches were being put to the merger between Phoenix Beard and GBR. GBR Phoenix Beard’s case for being crowned for a second year is compelling:
• The new business has remained focussed on its core strengths of providing annuity services such as asset management, building consultancy and health and safety for some of the UK’s leading institutional investors (legacy Phoenix Beard), and on office agency services within the West Midlands marketplace (legacy GBR);
• This has been a highly complementary merger of two very well established and respected niche businesses. For example our asset management team acts for a blue chip retained client base, and we continue to advise on some of the highest quality office deals in the region;
• We are one of the largest independent property consultancies in the Midlands, providing a unique proposition, and we punch well above our weight. As testament to our success, we increased staff numbers by 10% in the final 3 months of 2010, and consistently achieved high levels of market share in the office agency market throughout 2010;
• The rationale for the merger has always been around enhanced, joined-up client service, and we have been able to advise clients across a broader range of services than previously possible. The merger dividend has been significant, and we are already seeing work streams as a direct result of combining our two businesses. For example, our teams are working on an increasing number of multi-service instructions for clients such Standard Life Investments, Aberdeen Investors and Quintain. The industrial agency team has been able to leverage off office agency contacts to secure new instructions at Saltley Park (Hansteen) and Mucklow; similarly, the Office Agency team has recently been appointed as Agents for 3 Priestly Wharf leveraging off legacy Phoenix Beard’s longstanding relationship with Birmingham Science Park Aston;
• Working collaboratively with our staff, we launched a 3 year business plan on 1 January 2011 which will double the size of our business, setting a very clear strategy for achieving this growth.
Appendix 1 contains supporting evidence and referees for our submission. We would be happy to provide further background as required.
CLIENT REFERENCES
1. STANDARD LIFE INVESTMENTS
Standard Life Investments is a good example of how our merger in 2010 has benefited client service delivery, with legacy Phoenix Beard and GBR both retained by Standard Life Investments. This means we act across the full range of our services for Standard Life. GBR Phoenix Beard are managing agents for Standard Life Investments’ M25 North and Midlands property portfolios, comprising multi-let office buildings, large industrial developments and business parks. We are retained as agents for Standard Life at the iconic 45 Church Street development. In 2010 we were appointed as Project Monitors for South Yorkshire Pension Authority’s £10m investment in a hotel development in Upper Dean Street Birmingham, this being a Standard Life fund, pre-let to Travelodge. Our Health & Safety team is also engaged to ensure the properties we manage on Standard Life Investments’ behalf are fully compliant with legislation.
Referee: David Stewart, Fund Manager, Standard Life
2. ARGENT GROUP PLC
GBR Phoenix Beard’s office agency team has a longstanding relationship with Argent Group Plc and have been appointed to market a number of high profile office schemes on behalf of the company including Eleven Brindleyplace.
“The GBR Phoenix Beard team provides a first rate service. They are very driven to succeed on our behalf, prepared to go the extra distance and really understand our business and our properties. ”
Gary Taylor, Joint Managing Director, Argent Group Plc
CBRE
CBRE’s Birmingham office grew revenues from £6.3m last year to £7.2m in the current trading year, with profit up from 14 per cent to 18 per cent.
The firm also cemented its position as the number one agency in the office and industrial sectors in Birmingham.
According to CoStar, the office agency team let almost twice the amount of office space than its nearest rival. It advised on five of the six top lettings of 2010, and achieved the year’s largest letting – 46,000 sq ft to the Office of Legal Complaints at Baskerville House.
CBRE’s industrial market credentials were boosted with the acquisition of M3. The team is currently advising on circa 10million sq ft of space in the Midlands, plus 700 acres of development land.
Highlights for the team included the £208.5m acquisition of the Radial Distribution Portfolio for London & Stamford Property Ltd and a 250,000 sq ft letting to Butchers Pet Care at G-Park, Crick, for Gazeley. Earlier this year the firm was appointed joint agents on IM Properties’ 400-acre Birch Coppice Business Park in Warwickshire.
The Birmingham investment team also enjoyed a buoyant year, transacting more than £200m deals.
CBRE’s property and asset management team is responsible for more than 1,500 tenancies and manages many of the city centre’s ‘trophy’ office buildings, including Colmore Plaza, 2 Colmore Square and Calthorpe House.
The creation of a new regional management team has seen four Birmingham directors promoted to service line heads: Alan Klein, lease consultancy; Ashley Hancox, office agency; Richard Meering, industrial agency; and newly appointed planning director, Philip Scott, now all head their respective disciplines across CBRE’s seven regional offices.
“CBRE HAVE BEEN NURTON’S LETTING AGENT ON 2 COLMORE SQUARE AND CANNON HOUSE SINCE ACQUIRING THE SCHEME FOR US IN 2004. CBRE ALSO MANAGE THE BUILDING AND HAVE BEEN INSTRUMENTAL IN ANALYSING THE OPTIONS AVAILABLE, FROM A BASIC REFURBISHMENT TO THE ULTIMATE SOLUTION – A BACK-TO-FRAME CONSTRUCTION WITH UNIQUE ATTRIBUTES, INCLUDING THE OPTION OF A 40,000SQ FT FLOOR PLATE.
“CBRE WERE MATERIAL IN ADVISING THAT A STRONG, ENVIRONMENTAL SOLUTION WAS SOUGHT, WHICH HAS RESULTED IN INDUSTRY AWARDS FOR REGENERATION AND REFURBISHMENT.
“FOUR TENANTS, OCCUPYING IN EXCESS OF 85,000 SQ FT, HAVE BEEN SECURED.”
DAVID BRADSHAW, NURTON DEVELOPMENTS
“WHEN YOU INSTRUCT THE CBRE TEAM YOU GET MARKET KNOWLEDGE SECOND TO NONE, A GROUP OF SUCCESSFUL, DEDICATED AND DILIGENT INDIVIDUALS WHO BUY INTO YOUR STRATEGY AND PROVIDE CLEAR AND HONEST ADVICE. A HIGHLY MOTIVATED TEAM WITH INTEGRITY BUT ALSO PRAGMATIC COMMERCIAL ADVICE IN THEIR APPROACH FOR CLIENTS.”
BRUCE TOPLEY, GAZELEY UK LTD
Cushman & Wakefield
Cushman & Wakefield’s West Midlands team has made great strides since opening as an office less than 4 years ago. Turnover in 2011 increased by 15% to £3.73m.
The Industrial Agency team re-geared Cadbury’s 400,000 sq ft leasehold interest at Midpoint, Minworth, and completed the acquisition of Gap Inc Direct’s first e-commerce building in the UK the 200,000 sq ft ProLogis unit in Stafford. They also helped Indesit dispose of its long leasehold liability at its 853,801 sq ft
former production facility in Blythe Bridge.
The Retail Agency team completed the West Midlands retail ‘deal of the year’, letting 50,000 sq ft to Forever 21 at the Bullring for their first UK store. The team also disposed of 16,000 sq ft over 3 floors at 179/84 High Street, Birmingham to Currys/DSG Retail for their first ‘Black’ store.
In an exceptionally tough Offices marketplace the Birmingham agency team completed four separate lettings
totalling 33,000 sq ft to Amey, Williams de Broe, Aedas and Orega on behalf of The Carlyle Group.
The market leading Project Management Team increased their turnover by 26% on 2010 across an ever widening client base including Cadbury, Orange, Marks & Spencer, Land Securities, and Henderson.
All of the above activity was underpinned by C&W’s ever expanding Asset Management Team who picked up key UK mandates during 2010 for Aviva and Standard Life Investments worth in excess of £575,000 p.a.
69% of all 2010 billings were to clients who used more than one department from the Birmingham office – this strong ‘cross selling’ ethic provides the clients with a better informed, better organised cohesive service across all of their property requirements. During 2010 the team reaped the benefit of this client satisfaction by growing their business in a very difficult market.
“We appointed C&W to advise on our move into the UK as they had the geographical coverage that we needed and the track record to prove they could deliver. Their ability to keep the entire team informed across both the time and geographical difference was exceptional.”
Chris Black Vice President, operations – GAP Inc. Direct
“We instructed Cushman & Wakefield to dispose of surplus warehouse accommodation in Leamington Spa. In the face of a thin market their persistence, tenacity and innovation in identifying and agreeing a complex tripartite agreement in the shortest possible time and with the minimum financial impact was
notable.”
Peter Green – EMI Music
King Sturge
Our business plan has been to maintain our position as one of the leading multi disciplined property advisors in the West Midlands, combining both local knowledge and national specialist service lines to a broad client base. The office comprises 63 staff across the disciplines which has remained consistent over the past year. The core of the business is based around Management, Building and Valuation accounting for 50% of the income, thus providing a stable base to build on.
Against the background of a difficult economic climate, we have consolidated but retained a diversified business to ensure that we can handle these conditions. This has meant we have had to be flexible by following the market and the clients. This approach has worked and we have seen particular growth in the Business Recovery arena, evidenced by the fact that Begbies Traynor, KPMG and Baker Tilly have entered our top 20 billing clients this year. Furthermore, we acted on behalf of the LPA Receivers for Lloyds Banking Group in the recent sale of Saltley Business Park for £23.285 million. In the office agency sector our client base has changed over the last three years from property companies/developers, who are now very inactive, to the major institutions including PruPIM, ING and AXA. The key to our success in industrial agency has been to focus on the key drivers of demand, including the retailers, manufacturing and the waste to energy sector. In the latter, we have been involved in two significant transactions in the last year, one of which was in Cannock involving a pre-sale to Biffa. Overall, the key has been client care and ensuring that we are maximising the opportunities from our existing client base and this has been achieved by ensuring teams work together so that clients receive the most accurate market facing advice.
Client testimonials
“King Sturge continues to demonstrate a good understanding of all market sectors, and a good understanding of our business, and provide solid, pragmatic valuations on time every time.”
St Modwen PLC Tim Haywood (Tim has now left St Modwen)
“I like dealing with King Sturge’s Birmingham office as I believe they are particularly good at understanding our often quite quirky requirements. They are prepared to invest the time and when they do introduce propositions there is genuine advice being given. Once we have an
investment under offer they lessen our load by adopting a proactive stance to ensure the due diligence is done both thoroughly and in a timely fashion.”
Tim Hayne, BP Investment Management Ltd
DTZ
Few offices can claim to offer the breadth of sector experience as DTZ’s Birmingham office. Operating global and national specialisms from the office and servicing the largest property companies in the west midlands, the office has established a reputation for delivering exceptional client service.
Key Achievements
• Spearheading the New Street Station Gateway project, the largest station scheme in the UK on behalf of Birmingham City Council and Network Rail, providing valuation, retail, consulting and asset management advice. Key achievements – leading negotiations to secure retailer, John Lewis as anchor for the Pallasades shopping centre
• Other projects include, Icknield Port Loop, the largest regeneration project in Birmingham and the Stoke Masterplan, which are both helping to transform community infrastructure for the benefit of the public
• The Birmingham corporate real estate management team appointed by Barclays Bank to advise on its UK property portfolio leading to the appointment of 24 new staff. The team provides all transactional, asset management and professional services for the portfolio, one of the largest in the country
• The retail asset management team were appointed to manage a portfolio of three shopping centres, including a 485,000 sq ft scheme in Wolverhampton. They already manage some of the best-known centres in the UK including The Bullring
• DTZ in Birmingham also acts on behalf of leading local landowners, including the 610 ha Calthorpe Estate and A&J Mucklow, the city’s only public property company. In one of the largest deals of 2010, Birmingham’s office agency team secured the sale of 107,000 sq ft of grade A office space at Calthorpe House to the Binding Site
• The office also has a number of valuation specialists. The team has industry expertise in petrol filling stations, acting on behalf of global leaders such Shell and Statoil, and has a global reputation in the data centres sector
Client testimonials
Guy R Williams, Director, Grand Arcade General Partner Limited:
“DTZ were appointed to prepare for the opening in March 2008 of the Grand Arcade Shopping Centre, a major aspirational retail scheme in the heart of Cambridge.
Since the successful opening of the scheme DTZ’s niche team has worked very well with the Partnership and its investment advisors to further enhance the retail experience for both customers and retailers.
The instruction was competitively retendered in 2010 and DTZ were successful in being reappointed.”
Email address: Guy R Williams
Gary Bulley, Managing Director of BTS Ltd:
“BTS prides itself on its high level of quality, integrity and professionalism in this sector, all similar qualities demonstrated by DTZ, thereby creating a sound platform to conduct business. Many thanks need to go to DTZ.”
Philip Martin, Partner, Head of Property, Higgs & Sons
“The quality and extent of the service provided by DTZ exceeded our expectations. At every point we had confidence in the advice DTZ was giving and their willing involvement in the negotiations following settlement of the heads of terms was not only invaluable in bringing the matter to a conclusion, but something I had never experienced in any previous involvement with a private practice surveyor.”
Simon Blair, London & County:
“Since DTZ pitched to London & County for the agency work at Tripark, I know that we made the right choice. Not only did they stand out from the competition but they illustrated a clear cut approach as to how they were going to deliver the desired agency result. This market is extremely tough and the initiative and innovation used to secure the letting deals has been extremely impressive. We have now fully let the refurbished industrial scheme. Without DTZ’s help our estate would still be vacant.”
GVA
GVA’s Birmingham office is the largest office of any surveying practice in
the UK, outside of London, employing a team of 374, a figure which has
increased by 15 per cent since May 2008. The office’s forecast for the financial year 10/11 projects that the Birmingham office turnover will equate to 18% of the total of the firm’s turnover across the UK.
The team
• Recruitment of 32 new team members across the Birmingham office
• Over the last 12 months, where other firms have had to reduce staff numbers, the Birmingham Property Management Consultancy team has grown significantly from
98 to 117 including two director appointments
• GVA acquired additional office space of 6,660 sq ft from August 2010 to accommodate its growth, bringing its total occupation at Three Brindleyplace to 33,260 sq ft
• Launch of GVA Financial Consulting team to provide specialist and bespoke financial advice to the public sector
Corporate achievements
• Implemented full rebrand to ‘GVA’ across the entire company – launched in January 2011
• Dropping ‘Grimley’ from name after 200 years in the Midlands where it was first established
• Financial results 09/10 reported that turnover in the Birmingham office increased by over £1 million to £20.4million
• Transacted 547,950 sq ft of office and 2,000,000 sq ft of industrial space in the past 12 months
• Currently representing a total of 9,486,716 sq ft of stock in the marketplace in both of these sectors
Account wins and instructions
• Following a competitive tender, GVA was appointed by Hines Moorfield as estate managers and joint letting agents on the Brindleyplace estate – representing the most significant appointment in the Birmingham office marketplace in 2010
• GVA was appointed by the Co-Operative to dispose of over 1million sq ft of industrial space
• GVA’s corporate estate management team based in Birmingham was appointed by The Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc to manage approx 1,400 properties across its entire operational and sub-let portfolio in the UK
Client testimonials
GVA Birmingham have worked with Argent since our acquisition of Brindleyplace in 1993 and have played a comprehensive part in the team that ultimately developed the exemplar office led mixed use scheme in the UK. They have provided leasing, investment, property and estate management, office and retail
lease consultancy and rating advice to name just some of the services provided. We very much appreciate that sort of long term commitment to the success of our business
Gary Taylor, Joint Managing Director Argent Estates Ltd
GVA’s strong client focus and ability to add value to our core business makes them a
clear preference in choosing a professional property advisory service. Their broad
offering of services and regional market presence in a variety of sectors is second
to none.
GVA always deliver a professional, efficient and reliable service that ensures
we receive the expert advice and support needed. This has made for an excellent and established long term relationship with Opus Land.
Richard Smith, Managing Director, Opus Land
Colliers International
The last 12 months have seen the Colliers International Birmingham office grow, both
in numbers and stature.
Despite being in the teeth of recession, the firm has boosted its staff: it now employs
85 people in Birmingham, up from 64 in 2009.
The firm’s move to the top floor of Eleven Brindleyplace – subsequently voted the
country’s best commercial workspace by the British Council of Offices in 2010 – was
cost neutral, and has helped raise the profile of the firm locally.
It was Colliers’ Investment and Office Agency teams that hatched and subsequently
pulled off the £190m acquisition of Brindleyplace for Hines and Moorfield – the biggest
office deal outside London.
Outside Birmingham, Colliers was responsible for advising Coventry Building Society
on its 30,000 sq ft occupation of Binley Business Park, the biggest deal in that city
in 2010.
Birmingham is the home of Colliers’ National Head of Rating. The Accurates team
employs 30 people in the city, up from 18 the previous year. Fee income for this
department alone grew by 56 percent since 2008. It is responsible for securing
refunds in excess of £1m for clients including ASDA, Barclays, B&Q, Poundland,
Wilkinsons and the NEC Group.
With the downturn looming, the firm’s foresight in setting up a corporate recovery
team in November 2008 has paid dividends. The team grew from one to eight in the
last 12 months, and is responsible for contributing ten percent of the Birmingham
office’s turnover. The nature of the team’s work – advising banks on property
disposals – means it has become a key source of referrals for other colleagues.
In 2010, with Birmingham’s significant input and assistance, Colliers won a mandate to
advise Vodafone on its 1m sq ft office and industrial portfolio and 550 retail units
around the country. This has resulted in work for the Rating, Professional, Building
Consultancy and Agency teams.
Another major coup was winning the joint agency brief at Birch Coppice Business
Park, IM’s 400-acre industrial and distribution scheme in Warwickshire.
Colliers International’s Birmingham office and investment teams work in partnership to identify, appraise and deliver real opportunities. This, coupled with their in-depth market knowledge, which is supported by their research team, separates them from their competitors
Anthony Leonard | Hines UK
Using their non-intrusive, ‘behind-the-scenes’ operating methods, Accurates has so far recovered very significant sums for The NEC Group in overpaid rate charges. I am absolutely delighted with the results achieved so far, and also the excellent ongoing working relationship we have forged with the Accurates team.”
Richard Campbell-Kelly | Property and Insurance Manager | The NEC Group
BNP Paribas Real Estate
BNP Paribas Real Estate’s Birmingham team had a very successful 2010. Continued difficult trading conditions led the team to focus on two specific areas:
• Devising and implementing a range of cost saving initiatives for clients
• Developing a series of research projects that sought to identify new sectors and address key issues affecting the market that would demonstrate innovative thinking and provide differentiation from their competitors to secure new instructions.
£17m of savings
• The rating team saved clients £12m off their rates bills; with a £7m saving secured for JD Wetherspoon alone
• Acting on behalf of key corporate clients such as Aviva plc, Royal Mail, Body Shop and Centrica the lease advisory team secured savings of £3m by successfully reducing landlord’s initial rental claims at rent review
• The building consultancy team saved tenants £2.1m in dilapidations claims.
Providing clear, concise and relevant research
• BNPPRE’s research into the waste and recycling industry concluded that the diversion of waste from land fill would require 50m sq ft of property. This research led to a sole agency instruction from Biffa Waste Management to dispose of a 237,000 sq ft unit (see testimonial) on Midpoint Park, Birmingham
• Identification of and research into planning changes in Leicester led to an expansion of an existing lease advisory instruction from ING’s Britannica Fund for the planning team to undertake a strategic review of all their shopping centres across the country.
• Research carried out into the growth of the on-line logistics market facilitated a letting on behalf of Prologis of a 530,000 sq ft DC to ASOS, the largest letting to an internet only retailer in the UK in 2010.
3.325m sq ft of property sold or let to meet the objectives of clients’ property strategies
• Our office agency team is currently advising on two of the Midland’s largest office requirements for the Law Society and a confidential client which will result in up to 250,000 sq ft being acquired
• Investment agency has sold two prime multi-let industrial estates in the Midlands, maximising the value of the assets for the clients, Croudace by achieving a combined sale value of £20m
• In 2010 the agency team advised RoSPA on the long leasehold acquisition of their new headquarters on the Calthorpe Estate. The building consultancy team were subsequently appointed to carry out the £1m fit-out (see testimonial) and negotiate the dilapidations on the existing office space.
Whilst the office turnover did not increase in 2010, but these initiatives resulted in average turnover per fee earner increasing from £110,000 per annum to £117,000.
Testimonials
“ I was aware of the agency department, having previously worked with them, and selected them after they demonstrated a clear understanding of our values and what we wanted to achieve from the relocation, which was illustrated by the short listed buildings we viewed. All personnel involved kept us informed throughout some difficult tripartite negotiations which ended with a regearing of the head lease and resulted in us achieving the desired outcome and acquiring the property below our budgeted figure with a much improved lease. The excellent service continued through the extensive refurbishment and fit out works and the dilapidations negotiations which were handled by the building consultancy department”.
Mark Penny, ROSPA
Due to their impressive track record and commercial sensitivity the logistics team at BNP Paribas Real Estate was appointed to market our site at Minworth. During the marketing process they have demonstrated that they are responsive and adaptable to the clients needs. BNPPRE has worked hard to understand and amalgamate the needs of the waste sector with traditional perception in the general industrial and logistics market. Their input and advice and in-depth market knowledge has been key to securing a timely offer, in what is clearly a difficult market. I am pleased to recommend the BNPPRE logistics team.
Iain Macpherson, Biffa
