Articles

Lexis Nexis FM - CRCs

Wed, 08 Sep 2010 07:34:40 GMT

The deadline for initial submissions under the Carbon Reduction Commitment Energy Efficiency Scheme is 31st July. Melita explored some of the potential effects of the legislation on service charges in her June article for Lexis Nexis' Facilities Management Monthly.

It provides a summary of legislation and a short guide to the implications for property & facility manager and tenants.

Read the article (PDF)

Lexis Nexis - The Automation Maze

Wed, 08 Sep 2010 07:34:40 GMT

In Lexis Nexis' Facilities Management Monthly, Melita Thomas summarises the key points that Facilities Managers need to consider when selecting IT systems.

Lexis Nexis - Not just for teenagers

Wed, 08 Sep 2010 07:34:40 GMT

In Lexis Nexis - Facilities Management, Melita Thomas explores the benefits and drawbacks of using sites such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn to communicate with building occupants, share knowledge and develop relationships with industry contacts. Read more...

Process manuals - not just compliance

Wed, 08 Sep 2010 07:34:40 GMT

Cost savings, performance measurement, compliance, risk management and continuous improvement - all at once? Rudi Römisch from our Munich office looks at how one project can address many issues. Read more...

RICS Journal of Commercial Property - Occupier systems

Wed, 08 Sep 2010 07:34:40 GMT

The RICS published Andrew's article about selecting and using property management systems for corporate occupier estates in their March/April 2010 edition. A copy of the article is on our website here.

The Role of Social Media in Property - RICS Paper

Wed, 08 Sep 2010 07:34:40 GMT

Although Social Media's best known applications might be Twitter and Facebook, this new wave of applications is much more than just Social. Hammerson and Grosvenor are using Twitter in their shopping centres and Aviva is using Facebook to manage a property portfolio. Business networks are being built on industry platforms such as CREOpoint and companies are using Crowdsourcing to reduce the cost and time taken to resource projects.

This RICS Information Paper will help you prepare for the opportunities, and often risky consequences, of Social Media - it is here to stay: use it wisely. Read the paper (PDF)...

Also see our Social Media page for more details

Facilities Management - Health & Safety risk in contracts

Wed, 08 Sep 2010 07:34:40 GMT

Clients cannot pass on the responsibility for poor health and safety to their contractors, warns Melita Thomas in her latest article for the LexisNexis publication, Facilities Management.

Social media - RICS Commercial Property Journal

Wed, 08 Sep 2010 07:34:40 GMT

What is the relevance of Twitter or Facebook to Commercial Property?

To mark the launch of the RICS Information Paper on Social Media in Commercial Property, The RICS Commercial Property Journal are running articles on how Social Media will affect your business in the September/October and November/December issues.

Read the first here...

A new service provider....

Wed, 08 Sep 2010 07:34:40 GMT

Facilities Management - Melita's regular column for this LexisNexis publication looked at why, despite huge effort expended to get the contract right, so many outsourcing projects are at best lack-lustre, and at worst, downright failures. Read more...

Huge savings with IT Efficiency

Wed, 08 Sep 2010 07:34:40 GMT

David Lawson was kind enough to base his recent article on our 2008 IT Benchmarking survey. Read his article here and if you would like to be a part of the 2009 survey, please contact us.

What does a Management Consultant do?

Wed, 08 Sep 2010 07:34:40 GMT

We made the front page of the RICS Commercial Property Journal - Andrew wrote an article with Russell Poynter-Brown of Davis Langdon about the Management Consultancy Professional Service Group in the RICS. If you ever need to explain what a consultant does, start here.

ICT in the worksplace - RICS

Wed, 08 Sep 2010 07:34:40 GMT

RICS paper - ICT and the workplace.

Bob and Andrew contributed a paper to the RICS' Workplace series of papers about how CRE teams can make the best of their ICT (Information Communications and Technology). The paper is available on the RICS website. Read...

The paper was also featured in RICS Commercial Property Journal and the article is here.

Prevention is better than cure...

Wed, 08 Sep 2010 07:34:40 GMT

In these troubled times, Melita looks at how you can minimise the fall out if your outsource provider gets into difficulties. It may be the last thing on your mind when you set the contract up, but planning for problems early and having a disaster recovery plan in place before problems arise can save time, money and stress.

This article was first published in Facilities Management in February 2009.

Staying on top of the web - RSS feeds

Wed, 08 Sep 2010 07:34:40 GMT

Have you ever wondered how to make sense of the huge amount of information pushed at us daily by websites, blogs and emails?

RSS feeds might be the answer.

Andrew Waller offers some ideas on how to get started to stay on top of the web.

Third Sector in the Public Sector

Wed, 08 Sep 2010 07:34:40 GMT

Using charities and other non profit organizations to deliver public services efficiently is becoming ever more attractive as constraints on public spending bite and the pressure to produce efficiency savings increases. We identify the variants and pitfalls in his article Third Sector in the Public Sector.

Nick's article on this topic was published in the RICS Commercial Property Journal April/May 09:

Read about the Third Sector in the Public Sector - A charitable cause

Remit tREnds 2009

Wed, 08 Sep 2010 07:34:40 GMT

We asked our team what they have seen happening over the last few months and what this means for 2009. The topics align with our key service lines and markets and cover the following areas:

Investors - Now where did I put all that data?
Sustainability - Is black the new green?
Property Services - Bleak House
Corporate Real Estate - Time for real change?
Public Sector - Time for reassessing tried and trusted efficiency schemes
European Property Finance - Is anybody out there?
Property Management and Outsourcing - The squeeze is on...
IT support - Reduce costs, not service
Systems - Further rationalisation and better products

Read Remit tREnds 2009

Fair Value in real estate

Wed, 08 Sep 2010 07:34:40 GMT

Assuming that the banks will lend you some money eventually, how much of a risk premium do you anticipate for real estate assets?

Bob Thompson applies the Fair Value valuation concept to Real Estate.

Read Fair Value in real estate

Remit Report reveals agency overspend on IT

Wed, 08 Sep 2010 07:34:40 GMT

This is the third in our yearly review of costs and IT structure in property firms and we have found that the firms with the most effective IT support are beginning to create quite a large gap from those which are less efficient.

The key headlines:

- The average firm in our study could save over £1milion pa if they managed to reduce their cost to that of the best.
- The average cost per user is £3,500 - however, the most effective teams spend £1000 per user less than this.
- The spending in many firms is out of balance - investment in new IT is not in balance with spending in other parts of the budget and we expect this to lead to higher costs over the next few years.

Read EGi article - Remit Report

Cut costs, not corners

Wed, 08 Sep 2010 07:34:40 GMT

The economic downturn is putting pressure on facilities managers to reduce contract costs, but can they achieve this without reducing the quality of service, asks Melita Thomas in December's Facilities Management magazine.

Read Lexis Nexis FM - Cut costs, not corners

Investor Reporting

Wed, 08 Sep 2010 07:34:40 GMT

Different types of investors may have different reporting requirements, particularly new REIT investors. Melita and Bob examined this proposition in an article for the Institutional Real Estate Letter Europe.

European Union?

Wed, 08 Sep 2010 07:34:40 GMT

Overcoming the barriers to developing a European property systems strategy - what are the different strategic options?

Read the full article here.

ERP Systems in Property

Wed, 08 Sep 2010 07:34:40 GMT

An increasing number of organisations now use ERP systems (Enterprise Resource Planning) to manage their entire business, in place of single “best-of-breed” solutions for the component parts of the organisation. What does this mean for estates teams?
By Mark Jones and Andrew Waller - October 2005.

Read the full article here.

EM RE FM = ?

Wed, 08 Sep 2010 07:34:41 GMT

There has never been more variety and choice of suppliers for maintaining and improving the quality of accommodation in a large corporate. Andrew Waller and Andrew Carter explain the options now available in the property services market in Property & Facilities Management journal.

Read the full article here.

CIO Roundtable

Wed, 08 Sep 2010 07:34:41 GMT

"Do you understand your CIO?" was the theme of a roundtable workshop we helped organize for The Estates Gazette at the end of last year.

Read the full article here.

Avoid the Risks in a Downturn, Work it out

Wed, 08 Sep 2010 07:34:41 GMT

Berwin Leighton Paisner, the lawyers, produce this very good quarterly journal on outsourcing and Andrew Waller wrote a piece called “Weathering the Storm – getting the most from property management outsourcing”. It discusses how to avoid the worst risks and set the right tone to improve performance in a downturn.

Read the full article here.

Airports - carbon criminals or diamond geezers?

Wed, 08 Sep 2010 07:34:41 GMT

This paper examines airport and airport-related investment and assesses the risks to and opportunities for this asset class. In particular it looks at whether their perceived lack of sustainability represents a significant problem for this kind of investment.

Read the full article here.

Green Values

Wed, 08 Sep 2010 07:34:41 GMT

How do you value green initiatives in property. Read Bob Thompson's introductory paper here.

The Merton Rule goes south?

Wed, 08 Sep 2010 07:34:41 GMT

There has been a change in support for sustainability initiatives since the credit crisis - how will this affect Local Government? Bob Thompson weighs up the issues.

Read the full article here.