SREC - KT Qs Flashcards
You say you have provided stategic real estate consultancy advice in a variety of contexts. Can you give some examples of what you mean?
Or, what examples have you used?
Scoring Matrix to assist with an acquisition (e.g. Relevance Intl)
Portfolio review (e.g. NSPCC)
Stay vs. Go analysis (e.g. Alzheimers)
Managing underutilised space (e.g. Old Hampstead Town Hall)
When else might a Strategic Real Estate consultant be required?
(When might strategic advice be provided to a client)
Stay vs Go analysis
Portfolio review
Managing occupational requirements (if they need less or more space)
Cost reduction exercise
Revised management policy (there’s been a change at board level)
Their current office is no longer fit for purpose
Location change (difficulty recruiting talent)
To comply with sustainability inititives.
What is the role of a Strategic Real Estate Consultant?
Working with senior management to ensure an organisation’s real estate portfolio aligns with its business strategy and objectives (both current and future).
Why is Strategic Real Estate important?
Strategic Real Estate will identify liabilities, strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats across a property portfolio.
Property is usually the second highest business expense behind staff.
The SRE consultant often works closely with wider professionals, and avising non-cognate professionals (often at senior level) such as an organisation’s board members.
Why do charities in particular rely on Strategic Property advice?
Because a chairties Trustees / Board HAVE to make decisions based on a strong business case supported by data collection / data management. (e.g. a commute analysis when considering a relocation).
Also, strategic advice is required by a charity with the Charities Act (2022) when selling, leasing or otherwise disposing of charity land or property - to demonstrate the charity is obtaining “best value” for the asset.
What would be your starting point when analysing a businesses performance or objectives?
What factors are you considering?
I research and analyse the nature of the client’s organisation - to include:
Market research on the company, their sector and current portfolio
Analysis of financial information
Organisational structure (whether they have any property services in house or outsourced)
Understanding their entire property portfolio (Freehold vs Leasehold tenure, where is their portfolio located, asset class, values).
Who are the key stakeholders in the business (Find out the decision makers and board approval process).
Relevant external and internal drivers (PESTLE / SWOT analysis).
What are some analysis techniques to analyse strategic real estate data?
SWOT analysis
PESTLE analysis
Scoring Matrix
Cash Flow Analysis
Talk me through your office acquisition - scoring matrix example?
Talk me through the process you followed?
I created a scoring matrix to assist a Marketing Agency with an office acquisition in Soho.
Firstly, I met with the Strategy Director to understand their objectives and key drivers behind their move.
The client placed high importance on being located in central Soho, medium importance on having bike racks/showers in the building, and a bonus if the floor was ready fitted.
I collated these factors into a table and the scoring matrix was used during the inspections, where I ranked each property against the respective objective.
After the inspections, I presented the client with the ranked results, so they could clearly see which properties best suited their strategic goals.
What is a scoring matrix?
A scoring matrix is a data management technique used to analyse various options based on a set of pre-determined criteria.
Each critera has a ‘weight’ that reflects its priority, and each option is given a score that indicates how well it meets the criteria.
What factor was weighted the highest?
Highest = Location (Proximity to Dean Street in Soho)
Medium = Bike Racks / Showers
Low = If floorplate fully fitted
How was your advice presented to the client?
I ranked each result based on the scoring matrix and colour co-ordinated so the client could clearly see which properties best suited their strategic goals.
Talk me through your Office Acquisition - Portfolio Review example?
I reviewed the occupational requirements of a charity client across their national property portfolio.
Firstly, I met with the Head of Property to understand ther objectives and key drivers.
As a result of the pandemic, the client wanted to increase the provision of flexible (serviced) offices across a greater geographical spread, as part of a new business model of hybrid working.
I produced a schedule of serviced office providers across specific locations (Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Ipswich, Luton, Shoreditch) that could be delivered within the clients timeframe.
This was supported by a location viability study (assessing key amentity in the location), property market analysis and cash flow modelling.
Who was your client in this example?
A well-healed national charity in the UK.
What was their key objective for the strategy?
As a result of the pandemic, the client wanted to increase the provision of flexible (serviced) offices across a greater geographical spread, as part of a new business model of hybrid working.
How did you gather the serviced office availability?
I contacted serviced office providers directly via their website and confirmed availability via a phone call to establish availability.
However, it was crucial I did not disclose the name of the business I was acting for and kept all client information confidential.
Why did you need to support the business case for expansion?
Being a charity, the Trustees could not make decisions purely on opinion and needed data evidence to support the decision.
(Evidence-based).
Did you need a Charities Act (2022) report for this work?
No you don’t need Charities Act report for acquisition - only for selling, leasing or transferring charity land or property.
How was your advice presented to the client?
I presented a detailed availability schedule for their review in the specified locations.
I produced supplementary loction viability analysis and cash flow modelling.
What are the main risks in this sector (i.e serviced offices)?
The overall cost is greater than a traditional lease
Difficult to create a sense of identity or culture
Talk me through your Stay vs. Go example?
(Level 3)
I provided strategic advice to a charity client on their current office in Fenchurch Street ahead of a forthcoming lease expiry.
Firstly, I met with their Strategy Director to understand their objectives and key drivers.
The key objective was to establish if their current floor was suitable from an operational perspective - whilst also assessing the market to see if there were better alternative options from a financial perspective.
I then identified alternative options and created a shortlist based on cost, quality and location, before inspecting with senior management team.
I requested the clients current outgoings and produced “Stay vs Go” cash flows comparing the current premises to the shortlisted options.
This resulted in identifying a building 5-minutes from their current office that was not VAT elected, which represented a healthy cost saving on rent and service charge.
When was their lease expiring?
January 2025
You’ve wrote here you advised obtaining provisional terms for a lease renewal from the Landlord’s agent.
Talk to me about this - how would you go about doing this (assuming a lease with INSIDE the act)?
(Section 26 = Tenants wishes to renew).
Section 26 under the Landlord & Tenant Act (1954).
Must be no MORE than 12 months, no less than 6 months BEFORE expiry.
Must state proposal for new lease terms (e.g. new proposed rent).
If LL wishes to oppose, they have 2 months to serve a couner notice specifying grounds for opposition.
(Remember section 26 is a TENANT notice requesting a new tenancy)
Looking at your Stay vs. Go advice given to a charity - how did you calculate the total outgoings for the properties involved?
I requested current outgoings from the client and ran a cash flow for the term to include:
Rent
Business Rates
Service Charge
The size of the floor
(any break clauses / remaing rent free period).
You also calculated capital costs - how did you do that and what were they?
These were the one-time expense of relocating to alternative premises.
Fit out costs (at circa £100 psf having consulted the PM team)
Move and IT costs
Refresh / reufrbishment works (if they were to stay at current office).
Dilapidations assessment