News

The winners of the CoreNet UK Chapter Awards 2013 are announced

The annual CoreNet UK Chapter Awards Breakfast 2013 were held on Tuesday 3 December at Plaisterer's Hall, London. Details of all the winners and a slideshow of the Breakfast are detailed here.










Young Leader’s Event Blog Post: Thursday 5 September 2013

Last night, 70 of the property industry’s high flying under 35’s enjoyed the last of the summer sun to raise money for Action for Children. This was the second event of the year led by CoreNet’s Young Leaders. It was a great turn out with both members and non-members in attendance from a broad range of backgrounds, lawyers through to niche start-ups: networking, drinking, and playing ultimate Jenga! As ever, the event provided a great platform for learning, generating business opportunities, and meeting new people. There was a lot of chatter and excitement about the EMEA conference in Amsterdam next week. This was particularly around the illustriously named ‘Love Boat’, which will be transporting the Young Leaders from the conference to the dinner on day two of the conference.

Representatives from Action for Children gave a compelling speech about all the great work the charity does. Their focus is supporting and speaking out for vulnerable children in the UK. We heard how ‘neglect’ is at the heart of their current campaign. We are thrilled to say we raised £800 for them and hopefully helped raise awareness of the charity in our industry too! If you would like any more information about the charity, please contact Jess.

Many thanks to everyone who came along and supported the event, and made it such a success. We would like to pay special thanks to our three generous sponsors, Pepper Property, HBJ Gateley, and Legacy Portfolio.

What’s next for the Young Leaders?

The Young Leader’s committee is busy planning three more events before the end of the year…watch this space. If you are heading to Amsterdam for the EMEA conference then look out for the Young Leaders event on Tuesday at 11.30am ‘Gaming and Consumerisation Principles Affect the Workplace’, and of course the Love Boat.

If you would like more information about the Young Leaders group, how to get involved, and upcoming events please contact Josh on joshua.beer@cbre.com or visit our web page: http://unitedkingdom.corenetglobal.org/NewItem3.

June 2013 - CoreNet Global UK Appoints New President

CoreNet Global’s UK Chapter has appointed a new President Neil Austin, Head of Property Services, Retail, and Head of Asset Management GB, EMEA, India and AsiaPac, at RBS.
 
Neil took up the role on 20 June 2013 at CoreNet’s annual summer party and will hold the office for a year. He will take over from Steve Probert of British Airways.

The Royal Bank of Scotland’s property portfolio covers 3.2 million sq m in 4,500 buildings across the world – of this 2,900 buildings, totalling 1.9 million sq m, are in the UK. Neil Austin commented: “In the UK, CoreNet is increasingly aware of the need to provide its members with the tools and language to engage effectively with senior management and the C-Suite, as well offering top level real estate advice and thought leadership.
 
“Part of my role over the next year will be to help strengthen this service for members based around the core principles of training and networking, demonstrating the value of CoreNet to both them and their businesses. At the same time I also intend to focus on listening to and increasing the role of our young leaders within the organisation, and developing more links with other property organisations following the work already undertaken this year with the RICS.”
 
Steve Probert, President of CoreNet UK, said:
“Neil will be a great asset to the CoreNet UK Board. With responsibility for the company’s property portfolio – stretching from its core office buildings in London and Edinburgh to high street branches across the UK, along with experience of operating across the world – he has a strong appreciation of the importance of corporate real estate in helping businesses thrive in difficult economic conditions.”  

CoreNet Annual Summer Party 2013 - Tower of London

A throng of property professionals went to the Tower of London last Thursday for the annual CoreNet Summer Party.
 After a champagne and Pimms reception, over 500 guests were ushered into the venue for a three course meal and to hear the new president of the UK Chapter, Neil Austin, of the Royal Bank of Scotland, welcome them to the event.
The after dinner speaker was the writer and comedian, Barry Cryer who reminisced about his career working with British comedy greats.

LandAid CEO, Joanna Averley helped raise a whopping £5325 for charity.

The event went on till midnight and thankfully this year the weather held out! The Committee is already back out looking at next years event.

Check out Property Week's morning after pictures here.

New Energy and Sustainability Leader

As Chairman of the Sustainability & Energy Stream of the CoreNet UK Chapter Sam’s aim is to not only drive sustainability up the commercial real estate agenda but provide pragmatic ‘beyond data and talking’ best practices through. He will utilise his own and the experiences of his diverse committee to deliver Energy reductions and sustainability initiative to the wider CoreNet community. He wants to engender a collaborative approach that can build on the CoreNet members successes and difficulties in achieving goals, therefore delivering real change within the occupier community.
 
Full details of the new committee and Sam’s Co Chair are being finalised but will be available within the next few weeks, along with confirmation of the annual sustainability event in October.

Please feel free to contact Sam with any ideas and thought you have at Sam.Pickering@cbre.com.


CoreNet UK and SEGRO launch new Energy Act research

The impact of the government’s 2011 Energy Act has been revealed by Corenet Global’s UK Chapter and SEGRO. The two bodies presented a research document on the impact of the act, which will become effective on 1 April 2018. After this date, it will become unlawful to let buildings with an EPC rating of F or G.

From April 2016, it will be unlawful for landlords to turn down requests from occupiers to improve the energy efficiency of their buildings.

Findings were gathered following discussions with organisations who in total occupy more than 4.4m sq ft of space.

The key findings were:

  • While the corporate sustainability agenda is a key concern, awareness of the act and aspects of the Green Deal itself are not current priorities for the occupiers surveyed.
  • Most corporate organisations regard 2018 as being a long way off, in corporate planning terms. However, the act could have a significant impact on values, particularly for older stock.
  • Most organisations do not have a wider plan for dealing with the act. Generally speaking, buildings are being dealt with on a building-by-building basis as and when lease events occur.
  • One of the key areas of preparation is gaining a full picture of the energy performance of occupied space, which means having EPCs prepared.
  • There are areas of ambiguity over who ultimately pays for improvements to comply with the Act.
  • One of the most problematic areas of the act appears to be in multi-let buildings where the interests of different occupiers might not all align; where some services (such as air handling) are shared from central plant. It is likely that such issues will be resolved through test cases rather than great clarity within the act.

A list of recommendations were also provided:

  • The most basic step is to gain a full picture of EPC ratings across an occupied estate. Without this base data it will be impossible to assess the extent of exposure and corporate risk.
  • Once this base data collection is complete, it will be possible to ‘map’ building ratings onto lease and ownership situations to understand where pinch points will occur. This exercise should include a consideration of impacts on valuation and disposability of properties.
  • It will then be possible to assess a cost-benefit appraisal of options, both in terms of upgrading buildings and retention/disposal strategy.
  • Where F-rated and G-rated buildings are identified, three broad options present themselves. First, if the buildings are to be retained and there is no leasing activity anticipated, then in theory no action need be taken. It would however, be prudent to understand the potential corporate risk.
  • Secondly, if buildings are to be retained but leasing activity is anticipated (for example, sub-leasing or assignment) then an improvement programme should be developed. This will involve a capital expenditure programme and will identify ‘soft’ opportunities for works (such as lease breaks or planned preventative maintenance programmes).
  • Thirdly, if the buildings are to be disposed of, then a strategy for disposal before 2018 needs to be prepared. This will recognise the pricing impact of the energy rating.
  • Given possible future direction of Government policy, it might also be prudent to assess risk exposure to E-rated buildings. While there is no such suggestion yet, should legislation tighten a new round of improvements will be required, and there could be benefits in dealing with these in the short-term.
  • Where improvement programmes are decided upon, then the Green Deal should be investigated in order to understand whether it might form part of an improvement programme.

Kate Dean, Director of Offices in the Thames Valley for SEGRO, said: “The results of this research indicate that the legislation itself and the far reaching implications for the real estate industry are not well known. This presents an opportunity for landlords and occupiers to work together to seek clarity on some of the more ambiguous aspects of the Act and work in partnership to deliver a clear set of industry guidelines.”

Steve Probert, president of CoreNet Global UK Chapter, said: “Corporate occupiers are well advanced in their sustainability agendas but the act and its implications are less well known. Even though the 2018 deadline seems along way off, there are a number of steps businesses can and should be taking before then to ensure compliance – this research is designed to raise awareness and help companies start taking the first steps needed.”

1 Big Day Chapter success

CoreNet’s UK Chapter's “1 Big Day” took place on Wednesday 27 February 2013 and was attended by 200+ CoreNet members, end users and service providers. To see a full report on the day click here.

Also check out the THOUGHT BUBBLE and listen to the views of some of those who attended.

Next year the event is scheduled for Wednesday 26th February 2014 so put it in your diaries.


Property Exit Strategies: Forewarned is Forearmed

CoreNet UK Chapter hosted its free to members breakfast briefing at Cushman & Wakefield offices on the 23rd May.

Over 70 people attended the session that included Iain Franklin from Travelport, Jane Fox Edwards from Allen & Overy and Alex Charlesworth of Cushman & Wakefield.

The session focused on issues relating to releasing space at the end of leases.

Click here for the presentation.


Ask The President CEO Angela Cain

On a flying visit to the UK, CoreNet Global’s CEO Angela Cain was able to meet the UK members in a ‘Question Time’ session. So on a bright April morning a group of us assembled on the 11th floor of RBS’s Bishopsgate building to enjoy panoramic views across London and hear a wide-ranging discussion on the future of CoreNet Global.

Angela Cain kicked off by introducing Katleen Beeckman, Brussels-based director for the EMEA region, and Hong Kong-based John Gilleard, responsible for Learning in Asia Pacific and EMEA regions.

She then went on to outline the current state of affairs: three very strong years culminating in just under 8,000 members worldwide, the highest ever. The Board has developed five key objectives, among which to pay more attention to the corporate, whose executives are members, to provide more learning and more dialogue at Global summits, and to concentrate more on leadership training to enable members to climb the executive ladder.

UK President Steve Probert then took over to explain the UK board’s priorities: knowledge, partnership and innovation. We are for instance working with the RICS and have recently taken two of the Young Leaders onto the board. The cre model, he continued, has continued to change over the last decade and is now more of a business function in many companies. So CoreNet UK’s events are ‘not just cpd events’ but designed to stretch members. He admitted to lower occupier attendance at events but pointed out the increase in outsourcing of the cre function.

President Elect Neil Austin queried the current split in membership between occupiers and service providers to which Angela Cain responded that the ratio of occupiers has increased and that there has been a recent drop of 20% in service providers at events. This she thought was influenced by the executive training which is much appreciated. New York has 68% end user membership and Asia Pacific 50% but all chapters struggle over attendance at their meetings. Neil noted that he is looking at strengthening the UK Chapter’s international ties as well as extending membership of CoreNet across the UK, currently planning an event in Scotland.

Opened to the floor, questions concerned a possible lobbying role, a more effective representation of the occupier, follow-through of initiatives in what is very largely a voluntary organisation, timing and length of chapter events as well as target audience ie New York executive sessions, length of tenure of officers, developing the knowledge agenda in the UK, and keeping up with changing relationships with other corporate divisions and building relationships with organisations from other disciplines.

Winding up, Steve thanked both visitors and attendees for thoughts and insights giving rise to three or four significant items to take on board. The formal part of the meeting ended, we broke up into groups to continue discussions more informally before gradually drifting away.

And finally .......

Congratulations to Katleen Beeckman from CoreNet Global who has been involved with the UK Chapter she has just been promoted to her new position of VP, Member & Component Relations Chapters ~ Communities ~ SIGs.

We wish her well and look forward to working with her in the future.