Civil Society Media's event and content producer Jenni Cahill gives her observations from the Charity Property Conference which took place on Tuesday.
1. UK property will stay strong
That is according to Zac Goodman, chief executive of TSP, who said the property market is still hot and predicted little change in the face of an impending referendum, making it an opportune time to assess your portfolio. In offering advice to UK charities, he recommended doing an analysis of what business rates you’re currently paying and being wary of these in your portfolio.
The last rates evaluation was done in 2008, and where in some areas of the UK rent has tripled since then, he thinks it’s likely that rates will also increase. He suggested organisations ought to proceed with extreme caution when considering taking on new leases. Zac also predicted the unlocking of brownfield sites for development as the next big boom area to watch out for.
2. People are central to any successful property strategy
There was a common theme running through the charity case studies; that your property ought to serve your people. Karen Gravestock, director of people & place at WWF-UK, spoke about the organisation’s move to the Living Planet Centre and how important it was “to link the use of space with people.” She said “clear communication and messaging played a key role in engaging staff to achieve a successful transition to a new way of working.”
Victoria Leesam, head of property at the Enham Trust, who presented on developing homes for disabled tenants, described her strategy of “people first, planning second.” She set up a Client Design Panel with the purpose of fully understanding the access problems of people with disabilities, and also consulted the opinion of neighbours in the local community on proposed plans. Victoria advised anyone undertaking a building project always to “involve your end user – not only the future tenants but also the maintenance crew”.
3. It’s a matter of collaboration, not competition
“Collaboration” seemed to be the buzzword of the day. In the morning Guide Dogs gave a case study on their journey to adopt Smarter Working, and spoke about the strength in aligning the three strands of IT, people and property. By working together, these three directors were able to influence their executive board and see tangible results of transforming both the use of physical space and the charity’s culture.
Later, Eleanor Lang spoke about the cultural implications of running arts hub the Free Word Centre. She spoke about the initial reservation of similar organisations working under the same roof to share services and knowledge in an environment which is highly pressured and competitive for funding opportunities. She said that “CEOs and trustees’ commitment to a collaborative model is essential to its success.”
The day ended with John Cooper giving insight into a new development which epitomises collaboration – The Francis Crick Institute, an interdisciplinary medical research institute currently under construction in central London. John spoke about the motivation behind the centre to become “the best biomedical research centre in the world” through “getting people together to galvanise ideas and knowledge,” and identified some of the challenges to developing a flexible space which would facilitate collaborative working between different disciplines.
4. Plan ahead for good governance
Board buy-in is essential to ensure the success of any new project. When speaking about how to deal with surplus property, Anne-Marie Piper, partner at Farrer & Co, highlighted the governance issues to be wary of. She mentioned that due to the long-term nature of property projects, changes to the board during proceedings can be disruptive and stagnate development. She advised to bear in mind the normal three-year term of trustees and plan ahead to ensure the approval and support of your board, whose responsibility it is “to at all times act in the best interests of the charity.”
