Category Archives: Business

Feb 23 2012

How many tickets do you need to board a train?

I am getting into that dangerous territory of becoming a grumpy old man. Children , windows logos and now trains – all in the space of a week.

There's no collective noun for a group of tickets - a pack perhaps?

I was in London this week and purchased my tickets on line. This relatively pain free on the east-midlands trains web site. You collect the tickets at the station. The machine took an age – mainly as the train was pulling up to the platform. It was like watching the kettle boil – it always takes longer when you watch it? That wasn’t my gripe.

On the way back I was earlier than anticipated – and had pre-booked a seat on the 4.15 train. Ideally I wanted to swap, but knew that on the train if you board the wrong one – you buy a whole new ticket at full price. So, sensibly, I went to the ticket office. I was ripped off £30 to change on to an earlier less busy train. Irritating.

But look at how many tickets and bits of paper I accumulated:

2 x tickets outbound
1 x ticket for underground
2 x tickets for return
1 x receipt on card
2 x tickets for ‘new’ return (I have lost one!)
1 paper receipt for ‘new’ return rip-off charge
1 x credit card paper receipt for ditto

10 pieces of paper / card. I need a new wallet to hold them all.

My warning though is that fortunately I hadn’t thrown my ticket away – because when I needed to upgrade the cheery lady told me that I needed every piece of paper the (slow) machine produced earlier on that day. So you do need a bigger wallet?

Come on East Midlands Trains – we surely don’t need all these pieces of paper? It cannot be beyond the wit of man to print everything you need on one (or perhaps two) pieces of paper. I am sure that in foreign climes they clip your ticket as you use it. EMT scribble on it – very high tech!

Oh, and one other thing, I don’t want a reserved seat. I don’t get a choice. I am perfectly capable of choosing a seat myself. I don’t need your computer choosing a tiny seat on the two-seater tables with the only other person in the carriage sitting opposite me! Especially when there are 25 empty four person tables…

Feb 22 2012

Salary Levels 2011/12 – the surveying profession

The latest salary survey of Surveying professionals has been published by the RICS and McDonald & Compnay (recruitment specialists).

It makes sobering reading – but is perhaps not all that surprising. Some of the headlines are:

Average Annual Salary – £48,329 (£50,250 in 2010)
£13,461 was the average bonus enjoyed by around 32% of the respondents
The average value of being qualified to MRICS level is £13,000pa
25% of respondents expect a salary reduction in 2012
81% of respondents are happy with their current employer

So, the averages are considerably above the national average wage. of £26,200pa. But behind Air Traffic Controllers at £55,552pa.

Of course, averages hide a lot, so whilst interesting these figures don’t really tell us very much. There will be huge differences in salary levels within the profession.

Perhaps the real headline here is the anticipation of further salary cuts. This means that the respondents to the survey do recognise that this is a pretty tough market (which I guess is why 81% are happy!). The problem, of course, is that the salary bill is the area of a consultants business which can make a huge difference to profit or loss. It is difficult to cut down on other things – our fixed costs are much more difficult to shift – electricity, gas, insurance et al.

We also see some other factors too – price cutting on fees to almost suicidal levels. This doesn’t help anyone. I am not against competition – but what is the point in doing work at a loss? We are seeing a fair amount of this at present with some firms simply ‘buying’ work.

So the immediate future still looks to be quite challenging. The key will be flexibility – of both employer and employee? To ride this storm out, the days of upward-only salary reviews seem to have gone!

Feb 19 2012

Windows 8 – so much more than a logo?

That other operating system is about to have another overhaul. Windows is having double glazing and a lick of paint. It will no doubt be faster, smoother, creamier and will bring a better user experience.

There is even a Director of “user experience for Windows”, Sam Moreau. And it looks like he was tasked with sorting out some branding. They employed a swanky agency who spotted that the old logo wasn’t a window, but rather a flag. Microsoft have been using the flag since the 1990′s – but no one has spotted this fundamental flaw until now. The good news is that this is all about to change.

Sam explains, “Windows really is a beautiful metaphor for computing and with the new logo we wanted to celebrate the idea of a window, in perspective.” Blimey – a “window, in perspective”.

Still, the blurb says that this new look is “humble, yet confident”.

There is a problem here. It doesn’t matter how pretty, humble or confident your logo is, you OS is just light years behind Apple. With all the marketing in the world, people still know it’s rubbish. They tolerate windows because most businesses can’t afford to wholesale change the IT system. Most people who have played with Apple – even for a few minutes – will generally tell you that the “user experience” is simply better.

Feb 16 2012

Move over Google+ – Pinterest has arrived

I do generally try new technology when it comes out. I signed up to Google Wave and then when it closed moved onto to Google+. But I rarely use the latter – it’s not easy to use and my friends send me ‘news’ on Facebook. I am subscribed to a couple of private pages – and the squash team I play for is brilliant for communicating with each other.

I use Basecamp for work related things – arranging our forthcoming MIPIM trip is a perfect use for this web-based messaging system. We can post messages to all members of the team – it also allows a whiteboard for all users to collaborate. Best of all its free.

But in the last few weeks there has been a buzz about a new website – which has gained the title of the fastest growing on the internet. According to statistics from ComScore – Pinterest had 11.7 million unique monthly visitors in January 2011. That’s up from only 7.5 million in December…and only 418,000 last May. It is said to be the fastest growing site ever.

And I got my invitation in the week to open an account. I think it is great. It’s not the same as Facebook in that it invites you to look around at what is being pinned up – you can choose your own categories. It is a bit like reading a magazine – in very small chunks. The idea is that you pin and re-pin things to your own board. You can ‘like’ things too. It works with really good quality images.

I love the fact that you can dip in and out of the site – average site time is only 90 minutes per week (against the average 7 hours of Facebook!) Not that I spend anywhere near that amount of time – some of us have work to do?

Feb 15 2012

The complexity of the rent review

I found myself revisiting The Portas Review last week. I have contributed to a critique of it for the Estates Gazette. I will blog my view later – although you probably already know from my previous rant.

One of the things the Queen of Shops raised was the issue of the upward-only rent review. Generally the description is wrong and attracts the emotive title. What a lease normally says about a rent review is that at review you see what the market is doing and then apply the rate – if it has increased, that’s the new rent, if it has gone down, the rent stays the same. Tenants don’t like this because they think they are paying too much in a falling market.

Another alternative is that you have an upwards and downwards review. Which do what they say on the tin. You assess the rent at review and it can go either way. These are somewhat rare! Landlords dislike them!

In the last couple of weeks i have seen calls for ‘fixed uplift reviews’. This is where the landlord and tenant agree that the reviews will (increase) to a certain figure – the thinking is that each part know what they are letting themselves in for. They are sometimes used where a property is specialised and the parties realise that there will be a lack of evidence to hang the rent on. But a falling market makes the first type of review look good against these.

So what is the answer?

Well, it is probably that rent reviews are becoming less relevant. In a 25 year lease you needed a review. But our average lease lengths are currently 5.3 years. A lease renewal gives each party the opportunity to walk away…

A tenant will generally want a longer lease if he has a major fit out – in those circumstances the market value review without an ability for the rent rent to go down may be the price to be paid?

Feb 14 2012

Browns Bar & Brasserie Nottingham – now this is good….

I was really pleased when Jamie’s Italian came to Nottingham – and I have eaten there a few times. Sadly at Christmas our office party was not my greatest experience – to the extent that I’m not actually in a hurry to go back. My preference is Carluccio’s which has a better range of food in my view.

But last week, before I left the UK in search of some snow (!) I went to Browns Bar & Brasserie on Park Row. The last time I was in this building was when Cleggs were resident there. I had quite a few meetings there! Browns is apparently the longest-established restaurant group in Britain after it was first established in Brighton in 1973.

I have to say that I think that Browns is superb. The fit-out is first rate, you can see the quality of fixtures and fittings. This was a clever refurbishment – I really think it has been sensitively done. The building suits this sort of use – and it almost looks made for measure. And after the building has been vacant for so long it’s nice to see it back in use again.

But the real pleasure is the food and the atmosphere. The food was excellent – I managed a burger (I though I deserved a bit of a break on the salad as I’ll be burning lots of calories this week?) and chips (likewise). They even make cappuccino properly (and not everyone can do this). The atmosphere is perfect – it was really busy but not noisy. Judging by the clientele the property and legal industry in Nottingham have taken to it already!

This may well be the new place to go in town. I would certainly recommend it, but don’t make it so good that I can’t get in!

Move over Jamie… this is now number 1 for brasserie eating in Nottingham. No contest.

Feb 13 2012

The Nottingham Office Review 2011

It’s obviously that time of year when we look back at the previous year – in an effort to make sense of what is going on in our market.

The assembled participants - and me enjoying myself despite the fact is was before 8am...

The Nottingham Office Review is a collaborative document which is drawn together by CoStar – but takes information from all of the key Nottingham Agents. they then try to analyse what has happened in the local market.

This years review can be found here.

It was my colleague Craig Straw who presented the findings on behalf of the Forum assembled. I don’t need to replicate the report – but it is fair to say that Nottingham held its own last year. The number of deals were reduced but what did happen made for an ‘ok’ year. We have certainly done better than Birmingham which has a near 20% vacancy rate – against our approximate 13%

We have nearly 2.3m sq ft of offices in the pipeline – which should hold us in good place for future occupiers.

But in the meantime what I did like were the reasons to look at the City – I am happy to cut and paste…

* 8th largest recruitment catchment in the UK
* Over 1.1 million people in the journey to work area
* Over 98% of the UK market within a 4 hour drive of the city
* Access to 55,000 students studying at Nottingham’s two universities
*Home to global businesses including Capital One, Experian, Alliance Boots, Speedo and E.On
* A leading Science City in the UK with research excellence in BioSciences, Low Carbon Technologies and Digital Media
* Cutting edge global digital infrastructure
* Award winning integrated transport network with two new tram lines under construction
* Top 6 retail destination
* The UK’s most energy self-sufficient city

Feb 11 2012

Motivational Sayings …

I keep coming across motivational sayings, but wonder about some of them. My current favourite is “No Pain – No Gain”, whereas in reality it should surely be, “No Pain – Good”.

So, in an effort to bring some of these sayings into line, I offer you the following:

“If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again” or rather ” If at first you don’t succeed – give up – try something easier” alternatively, “If at first you don’t succeed – try management”.

“Aim High to Reach your Goal” or “Aim low, reach your goal, avoid disappointment”.

“Never put off until tomorrow what can be done today” should be “Never put off until tomorrow what you can avoid altogether”.

And some others I quite like…

“Eagles may soar, but weasels don’t get sucked into jet engines.”

“Artificial Intelligence is no match for Natural Stupidity”

“A person who smiles in the face of adversity…probably has a scapegoat.”

“Plagiarism saves time.”

“Rome did not create a great empire by having meetings, they did it by killing all people who opposed them.”

“If you can stay calm, while all around you is chaos…then you probably haven’t completely understood the seriousness of the situation.”

“Never underestimate the power of very stupid people in large groups.”

“We waste time, so you don’t have to.”

“Hang in there, retirement is only fifty years away!”

I hope that these help shape your day today….

Feb 10 2012

2012 starts well….I think

I got my monthly snapshot of the market from Property Data which showed a reasonable start for January. Not as good as 2011 as you will see, but better than 2010 and 2009.

Although yields (the return on capital) have come in very slightly they are still pretty flat. The fall has been by around 0.25% against the last three, six and twelve month figures. It’s a step in the right direction. The lower the yield the higher the price paid. The last month showed an average of 6.09% – previously we have been stuck at around 6.35%

The market is still being skewed by a couple of deals. A Tesco portfolio was sold last month to Trinity College Cambridge for £450m and a portfolio of 14 warehouses were sold for £314m. These two deals account for nearly 40% of all transactions.

So, as previously it is difficult to read the tea leaves at the moment. It seems busier, we are seeing more enquiries – and there seems to be a little bit more of a positive feel about the place. Deals are still hard to do, due diligence is the new delay. Dotting of i’s and crossing the t’s takes time – especially when you do it two or three times! But there are some deals going on. Bank borrowing remains difficult.

It may be early days, but it would be nice to think that there was something of a revival going on. We certainly need some good news – the back end of 2008 seems a long time ago. Thats when the crunch hit. We had hoped that it might be short recession, but alas that wasn’t to be. The new world is here – maybe we are just getting acclimatised?

Feb 9 2012

Shops – more bad news….

More than one in four shops in Nottingham are lying empty, according to research from the Local Data Company.

Magnolia Bakery - New York

So lets start by saying that this is not quite the whole story – if you walk around the town it is clear that there are vacant shops but not 29% Its gone up by nearly 6% in the past six months. Across the UK the figure is 14.3% – so we fare pretty badly.

The Local Data Campany also suggested in the report that, “Weak consumer confidence, rising unemployment, the growth in retail sales by supermarkets and the internet, a significant number of retail leases coming to an end and the uncertainty in the banking sector, all leads to the view that shop vacancy rates are set to rise in 2012.”

So we could get worse?

Well, I don’t think so. The figures were done last November just as Westfield had emptied the BroadMarsh Centre. Then there is the small issue of what the City Centre is – it includes whole swathes of retail frontage which I don”t think are part of the City – Sneinton, Derby Road, Canning Circus and the like.

This isn’t the sort of headline we need. It’s not really representative either.

I have had cause this week to re-read the Mary Portas Review (more on why at a later date!) – she offers a panacea for our woes – which are so misplaced as to be pretty meaningless. The point is that we have have too many shops for not enough shoppers. And we need to address that fact first. We need to work out how we are going to redress the balance. I don’t have a simple answer – but we need to refocus and get some incentives from Government (in the form of Rates rebates / relief) as a starting point – for areas which can be rescued.

I am always amazed at New York and its ability to reinvent itself. You find areas which have been abandoned and then re-occupied. Artists, fashion designers, creative types and the like. Nottingham has that talent – we need to tap into it?