Cadogan Estate modernises property systems to support £4bn portfolio
WHAT: A strategic review and modernisation of Cadogan Estate’s property management systems to improve operational efficiency and business intelligence
WHY: To ensure the estate’s systems were fit for the complexity of its growing prime real estate portfolio and provide better visibility of performance
WHEN: Project initiated in the early 2010s, over a multi-year period
Managing a historic estate in modern times
The Cadogan Estate, a family-owned property company with assets valued at nearly £4 billion, holds over 560 properties in the prestigious Chelsea and Knightsbridge areas of London. With a history dating back more than 300 years, the estate has evolved into a complex portfolio of residential, commercial, and public assets including homes, hotels, offices, shops, churches and gardens.
Despite its scale and historic significance, by the early 2010s, the estate’s property management systems were struggling to keep pace with operational demands.
“We have a large portfolio of assets concentrated in a small geographic area. The property has grown up on land the estate has owned over centuries, and represents a complex pattern of ownership with many different types of tenancies.”
The limitations of legacy systems
Cadogan Estate had invested in IT over the previous two decades, but the systems were no longer supporting the business’s evolving needs.
“They were akin to a Series 3 Land Rover,” said Richard Grant, Finance Director at Cadogan Estate. “They were rugged and got you from A to B, but you couldn’t expect anything fancy from them.”
In particular, the estate needed greater insight into key performance indicators – such as rental arrears, refurbishment timelines, and investment returns – as well as more efficient management of core processes.
To deliver this transformation, Cadogan turned to Remit Consulting, selecting them based on strong references, previous work with major property firms, and a good cultural fit.
A structured and collaborative approach
Remit began by conducting a high-level review of the estate’s operations, hosting a series of workshops with different teams to uncover inefficiencies and process gaps. This led to the identification of three critical areas for improvement:
Void management: Streamlining the process for refreshing and re-letting vacant properties
Arrears management: Improving systems for tracking and chasing overdue rental payments
Purchase-to-pay: Enhancing invoice authorisation and payment workflows
Working closely with Cadogan’s staff, Remit documented and redefined these processes, laying the groundwork for system transformation.
“We needed our hands held throughout the project. Remit Consulting ran the workshops, guided us through the processes, and helped us document everything. It allowed us to examine our business operations in a way we’d never done before.”
From process design to system selection
Following the process review, Remit helped define the estate’s wider business requirements and developed a detailed system specification. This was then taken to market, with Remit managing the entire system selection process on Cadogan’s behalf.
Despite the complexity and scale of the project, the implementation progressed smoothly.
“Remit has an extremely thorough approach to planning and delivery, and their consultants spent a lot of time on project management,” said Grant. “So things have gone pretty smoothly despite the number of stages we’ve gone through.”
Trusted expertise and shared values
Remit’s ability to operate at both strategic and operational levels proved vital to the project’s success.
“This has been a huge amount of work, and our people all have full-time day jobs,” said Grant.
He credited the outcome to three key success factors:
Experience: “Remit are very experienced in the world of property systems and processes. They’ve worked with a lot of different organisations and could speak with authority on the issues we faced.”
People: “We’ve always got on very well with the people at Remit. They bring quite a cast of characters, all with a depth of expertise where necessary.”
Shared values: “It’s to do with being professional, having a modern business approach and recognising that if you put the effort in, you’ll get the right result at the end of the day.”
“Remit’s consultants were very good at pushing people to do what had to be done to make things happen.”
For further information, please contact Andrew Waller.