In the first part of Instant’s new “Client Focus” blog series, we’ll be interviewing different clients who have found office space through Instant. In today’s post, we’re featuring Property Advisory Services, a consultancy that provides advice and solutions in relation to all aspects of commercial property and premises management. Director Steve Browne kindly took the time to answer a few of our questions.
Please can you tell us a little bit about your business – what you do and the types of companies you help?
We work with managing agents, tenants and developers, providing them with expert advice to help them manage the property services that keep their buildings running. We focus on both hard services, such as technical engineering advice, and soft services, like cleaning and security.
What are the most common questions you receive from your clients?
The questions we get asked differ according to the size and complexity of the building, in addition to the role of the person asking – we advise Directors or Partners through to Facilities Managers. Directors tend to be more strategic with a focus on cost, whereas FM’s are primarily concerned with day to day matters such as the buildings air conditioning.
What are the most common challenges your clients face?
One of the biggest challenges our clients face is ensuring there are receiving value for money. We act on behalf of the landlords, tenants or managing agents to ensure that their service charges are set at a fair and reasonable rate, as specified in the RICS code of practise. Essentially, we undertake a comprehensive analysis of these charges, and make sure that they are competitive and that all costs can be demonstrated.
How did you work with Instant?
We were looking for new office space, but were reluctant to use a broker due to a previous bad experience – we ended up inundated with emails and calls featuring properties that were not anywhere close to our specifications. We vowed not to go back to a broker, but after trying to negotiate ourselves, we realised we were going to need help.
Will [Tattersall] was great to work with – when we rang Instant, he took note of our requirements and preferred location. All the information we received was relevant to the areas and prices that we requested. Communication was first rate, and Will did a lot of the negotiating for us, taking a lot of the hassle out of the process. Overall, a pleasant experience!
Where did you take office space in the end? What do you like about your location?
Since we have connections with 30 St Mary Axe, otherwise known as The Gherkin, and continue to provide them with technical and property management advice, we needed to be somewhere close by. We are now situated at 133 Houndsditch, which is adjacent to The Gherkin, and is incredibly convenient because it’s such a short walk away!