Property management shapes up for changed environment

Twenty six years ago, when Nigel Mapp founded his eponymous firm there was a sense that the management of commercial buildings in the UK was not being done well.

“People saw that all over the place there had been a race to the bottom on fees and quality had suffered – it was carnage,” Mapp told Real Asset Insight’s Richard Betts.

The firm set out to demonstrate how the management of commercial buildings could be done better and after some early wins Mapp grew to a point where it was winning good mandates.

Phase two started about 15 years ago Mapp said. By then commercial real estate was much better managed. The fundamentals were being done well including risk compliance, governance and rent collection. But that was the .v1 version.

Mapp and his colleagues realised that how buildings look and feel was important and it was necessary to make them “come alive and become relevant”. Fifteen years on from there, that is actually what the sector is now looking at, he added.

“Clients and owners of real estate have realised that management is much more than risk compliance, governance and rent collection,” Mapp said. “It is about making buildings real and relevant, looking great, smelling great with great welcomes, facilities, amenities and everything else.”

After the pandemic, employers wanted to get their employees back to the office. “Part of that is making sure that the workplace experience is great, that the workplace is better than home. If you’re creating a workplace that is better than home, you’re going to get people back into the workplace. It’s as simple as that.” Fostering a sense of community is also key, he said.

Many smaller companies no longer want the hassle of managing their own space, so the managed workspace solution is also now gaining traction.

“Historically, we have been just managing common areas, the entrance area, the reception, the stairwell, the lifts. But now we are actually going into occupiers’ workspaces and managing that space for them on behalf of the landlord.” In these cases Mapp is instructed by owners who are providing a managed workspace solution. “That’s really quite exciting. It sits alongside the flex working solution where, increasingly, owners of real estate want to operate flexible workspaces themselves.”

Mapp pointed out that there is still a place for operators and conventional leases but increasingly they want exposure to the flex office segment and to flexible income. “We’re best placed to manage it. We’re in the building, we’ve got the receptionist, we’ve got the suppliers on tap. We know the building, we know the occupiers and we’re starting to see that really grow.”

Increased emphasis on regulation is also adding complexity to the management process. Old style property management is still needed, and the .v2 version is about enlivenment of spaces but .v3 is about ESG, whether that is waste, carbon or biodiversity while .v4 is about data really and digital twins. “But the ESG piece is absolutely huge and it drives so many decisions that we’re now making in a building.”

Author: