BLP Outsourcing Breakfast

Andrew and Melita were delighted to be asked to talk at the most recent Berwin Leighton Paisner Outsourcing Breakfast, held at their London Bridge offices on 17th January.

The attendance level was fantastic, with lots of big name players attended. Although we didn't need to, Remit bulked up the number even further by attended in force! Hans Gerritsen flew over from the Netherlands and Thibaud Lefai popped over from France. The UK team also had an excellent attendance level as many of our Associates got up early to journey into the City.

Melita went first, delivering an in-depth talk about Corporate Real Estate outsourcing, its scope and delivery, how it differs from investment outsourcing, and current trends within the industry. Melita's top tips for a successful outsourcing project were:

• to maintain a clear idea of what the intelligent client role is and how it affects the contract;
• make sure that communications are built into the contract and ensure that they are not limited to senior management;
• make sure that everyone is clear on the support required, clearly define roles and make sure each party knows what the other is supposed to be doing;
• understand the cost pressure of the other party or parties;
• design contracts to cope with the changing trends. For example, will offices be the same in ten years time? Probably not, so the contract needs to take account of this.

Andrew then followed Melita, talking about the property and asset management market, focussing on our REMark report which was published the same day (you can find out more about REMark here).

Andrew started off by explaining what the market was like in 2010 when Remit last ran the survey, and followed it up with some facinating insights into today's market. For example, did you know:

• the worst rent collection rate we saw in 2010 was 27% at the Quarter Day. This year that number rose and the bulk of responses were in the 80-85% bracket;
• the average number of leases handled per property management surveyor has risen by 25% but our results show that larger teams manage fewer leases per surveyor compared to the smaller teams. The same is true for the accounts teams as well;
• on average, the staffing cost per lease seems to come out higher than the fee charged per lease, so can single service providers survive?

If you feel you would like to know more about the topic, or would like to participate in our next survey, please get in touch.