On Tues 11th October, a number of our team attended the Estates Gazette Asset Management Summit, an event which our organisation was also very proud to have sponsored.
Summarising the keynote discussions
Brexit and the economy – one interesting point made was that “rock bottom interest rates are seemingly not sparking the sure fire sale of assets many people expected”. Conversely, many still remain happy to sit tight. The greatest risk to the economy from the commercial property sector is if occupier demand is impacted.
The importance for commercial properties in achieving sustainability – the rapid pace of change in our way we work shop and live means that workspaces and buildings as a whole require updating to stay up to date with social, ergonomic and environmental expectations and also within expected regulatory building standards. In fact, those buildings with poor EPC ratings beyond the 2018 deadline may create a fresh market for buyers looking to acquire properties at a discounted rate. The refurbishment of your commercial property is seen as a key step to avoiding any potential ramifications impacting from the pre scripted EPC regulations which will be enforced in just a couple of years.
In addition for the need for many organisations to set out towards meeting EPC regulations is the RE100 accreditation. Working towards accreditation is seen as a great way to reduce spend on energy and to increase tenant attraction/retention.
The value of technology to building space and design
Organisations such as Pavegen (whose CEO Laurence was a keynote speaker) and li-fi are working to harness the power of Wi-Fi to a greater extent to maximise sustainability and efficiency in the workplace.
Other interesting points centred around technology from various other talks held throughout the day are noted below:
- It is necessary to have the tools to capture, process, analyse and display valuable information quickly on mobile devices.
- There is still much ‘leaky data’ from property – who’s going to produce a platform that can read it and reproduce it?
- The future for architects is virtual reality (VR). This helps all parties including prospective tenants to visualise workspaces beyond a traditional sketch with associated measurements
- The importance of connected buildings by incorporating technology such as Wiredscore
Maximising the value of assets
- Good asset managers must have a strategy that is aligned with the investors. Many should be looking to reduce carbon footprint and adhere to the expectations of modern tenants
- “Do more mileage and deal with less emails involved” said Simon Cook / APAM
Summarising the event
The event was a resounding success, and one which was well received by everyone we spoke to throughout the day. From our team, this was Lauren’s first event. Some of her highlights were her discussion with Jakub Wojciechowski, CEO, Silvertown following his presentation on ‘how new technologies are leading the way in the importance of flexible working’ and ‘the importance of wellbeing in the workplace’ from Despina Katsikakis. We are excited already to look towards the agenda for what 2017 has to offer!
