Kate Taylor tackles a potentially challenging competency for APC candidates
Corporate real estate is an optional competency commonly chosen by commercial property and valuation pathway candidates.
This competency is the best fit where a candidate works in the estate department of a corporation. The primary function of the corporate body is a business operational objective that the real estate activities serve. The “corporate body” can include public sector organisations like local authorities.
Corporate real estate is primarily about occupational property. The surveyor’s advice helps the corporation to maximise operational efficiency and minimise cost in a strategic manner. This advice can be central to an organisation’s success given that the biggest business cost after staff is accommodation.
This competency has insight at its core. The technical detail of the real estate functions has crossover with many other technical competencies, such as property management, landlord and tenant, agency competencies and valuation. The key difference is the purpose of the real estate functions; they form part of corporate business objectives. Any candidate declaring corporate real estate management competencies must understand the corporate business objectives and be able to explain a holistic overview of the strategy.
It can be difficult to distinguish the corporate real estate management activities from strategic real estate consultancy. The surveyor’s role on the ground is very similar but the function of the activities is different. Strategic real estate has the strategy for real estate alone at its heart, with a financial or investment goal rather than an operational and occupational one.
This muddy area has led the RICS to suggest within the pathway guide that candidates do not declare both strategic real estate consultancy and corporate real estate management. It is not technically forbidden, but it is a bad idea and both the candidate and assessors are likely to get bogged down.
Level 1
Level 1 for any competency is about knowledge, and corporate real estate management is no exception. The difficulty, as ever, is the breadth. The usual knowledge can be evidenced with reference to RICS documents such as the RICS Valuation Professional Standards (the Red Book). Most valuations for corporate real estate will be internal valuations and, therefore, not subject to Valuation Practice Statements 1-4. Other relevant knowledge will be the revision you have carried out for property management, for example, Service Charges in Commercial Property 3rd edition (2014) among others. Your landlord and tenant knowledge will also come in useful, for example, the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 Part 2.
The corporate real estate surveyor needs a big-picture awareness that incorporates anything that affects the corporation’s business, so on a macro level that will include economics, demographics, politics, finance and sociology.
The knowledge needed for corporate real estate also comes in at another level – the business side. Assessors will expect you to be able to articulate the key performance indicators and mission statement of the corporation to provide context to your relevant technical surveying knowledge. In your final assessment interview, be prepared for the assessors to ask “why?”.
Level 2
Level 2 is putting it into practice. The best evidence of competence will be activities specific to corporate real estate rather than repeating activities from, say, the property management competency. This will avoid the impression you have limited breadth of experience.
I like to see candidates produce some analysis to cross reference business goals to real estate strategy. This demonstrates a holistic understanding and distinguishes the competency from other areas. A good example of this would be an analysis of various fit-out specifications set against return to the business. This shows an awareness of the financial implications of cost and value, and building lifecycle.
Level 3
Level 3 in corporate real estate management is a long way from level 2. It is one of those competencies where advising the clients can be at a boardroom level with large sums at stake. This means a graduate surveyor may be in an assisting role or contributing to the advice that someone else will report. This is to be expected and the candidate should be careful not to step outside their competence, but at the same time make it clear to the panel their role in the advice given and the outcome.
The high-level advice to client will often be based on the nitty gritty of analysis produced by a graduate surveyor and demonstrate the use of benchmarking techniques, return on investment analysis and financial modelling. The key part of Level 3 is using these techniques (from Level 2) to draw conclusions and frame those within the overall corporate strategy. That all important business awareness will need to shine through in the advice, by including specific factors like brand identity in the analysis conclusion.
Kate Taylor FRICS is an APC chair and a DeLever APC consultant trainer.
Follow Kate Taylor and Jon Lever on Twitter: @katetay73593006 and @deleverapc
SUPERVISORS AND COUNSELLORS
How to help
This competency is easy if the candidate has been involved in the corporate machine. It is a real challenge if the candidate is blinkered and operating in a silo. Encourage them to reiterate at every opportunity the “why” of their activities so they understand the corporate goals and how they contribute to them.
Try to provide opportunities to advise clients by encouraging candidates to draw conclusions from their activities and advising stakeholders at any level – including you.
EXAMPLE QUESTIONS*
Questions will always be adapted to whether you are working in the public or private sector and could comprise:
Level 1
• What is the core business activity of the corporation?
• How is performance of real estate measured?
Level 2
• What option analysis technique did you use to conclude relocation was the best option?
Level 3
• At what level did you give your advice to client?
• Don’t assume that the questions given here will be asked at an APC assessment. Assessors will focus on and pose questions on the basis of the candidate’s declared competencies, pathway guide requirements, up-to-date developed knowledge base and the examples provided in their summary of experience, etc.
USEFUL RESOURCES
• Corporate Real Estate Asset Management, Strategy and Implementation by Barry P Haynes and Nick Nunnington (Routledge) – this textbook will help you develop the holistic approach
• APC Presentation Online masterclass discussing key elements of the APC final assessment interview and offering hints and tips on best practice: www.delever.com
• RICS APC Guides These should be read at least once every three to four months and fully understood. Candidates from outside the UK also need to check their regional websites for any local APC requirements: www.rics.org
• APC Final Assessment Competency Revision Workshop Land, property and built environment APC candidate preparation day. Understand everything you need to know for the APC: www.delever.co.uk/facrw
• APC Explained Masterclass This helps candidates to understand what needs to be done to achieve the APC, including a walk-through of the DeLever APC process timeline and myAPC diary with an explanation of what to do at each key milestone: www.delever.com
• APC Commercial Property Revision Guide Candidate’s reference book for APC preparation: www.delever.co.uk/katetaylor
• Timeline Wallchart A2 pictorial view of the whole APC process, based on the RICS guides and Jon Lever’s professional knowledge and experience of the APC: www.delever.com
