My late father always said, “you get what you pay for” – and I have never forgotten that.

Quality seems to have been put on the back burner sometimes over the last few years – particularly as money has become tight. And this is not always a good thing.

I was in Leeds this week – looking around the excellent Granary Wharf scheme – being built by ISIS. It is excellent. The finishes in the apartments is superb. The materials used are of the highest quality and there has been no ‘value engineering’ (a Quantity Surveyors term for ‘cost cutting’). Despite the fact that the market was moving away from the developer they stuck to their principles.

I was reminded as we walked around of the quality we witnessed on our USA Trip with the Sheriff of Nottingham when we found ourselves one night on a brand new subway car. Maybe it was an odd thing for us to be looking at – but the finishes on handrails were excellent – and the term ‘aircraft grade’ was made. These things were built to last!

And so this brings me to a view I have about property management – People look after what’s been looked after.

I have seen evidence of this over the years – if you give someone (or some group) a second rate product / building they will treat it like a second rate product / building. There is little incentive for them to pass on the building to the next cohort. There is no legacy in their minds.

Today I saw no sign of graffiti or damage. Yes, there is on-site management and security in place – but we know that this doesn’t stop those criminally minded. There was no litter – I think people are embarrassed about dropping it.

So the message is that we need to deliver quality in our buildings and maintain that quality through active management . This then usually means users look after the buildings and surroundings. A self-fulfilling prophecy…