Tag Archives: Innes England

Apr 29 2011

Introductory offers leading to rip off territory?

As a property consultancy business we consume lots of information – we rely on it. The internet has allowed information to be disseminated widely, but is not infallible.

Deal information is a necessity in much of the valuation work we do. Valuers are always looking back at what has happened – as the saying goes, “we don’t make the market”. We simply report on what the market is doing.

Last year we were approached by “Focus” who are a company who set out to collect and report on this sort of information. We were offered an introductory offer of £2,000 per annum to try the system. By all accounts it is good. We have used it as part of a number of information aggregators – but we still talk to other agents and professionals to make sure we have the ‘right’ information. This is especially important in expert witness reports.

So we were happy to renew the subscription. Until we hear heard the price – £24,000pa. I had assumed my Partner had mis-heard. A twelve fold increase?

Apparently this was not a typo, nor a mumble. It was a clear price.

This sort of thing irritates me. I am all for introductory offers – but they need to have some reference to the ‘full price’. This just smacks of ‘rip off’.

As I blog I understand that we may have agreed an increase – but not in the tens of thousands of pounds range. And the story is the same across a number of our competitor firms (we do actually talk to each other!)

Apr 25 2011

Another Holiday?

So it’s another Bank Holiday today. Hot on the heels of last weeks ‘Good Friday’. Then we have this coming Friday as another holiday – for some reason. We then have to wait another couple of days before we get another day off – May Day.

So four Bank Holidays in three weeks. One for some wedding or other.

When you consider the cost to business you do have to wonder about these holidays. When I look around my firm and the fee earning staff who have to find work each day which pays, you realise the real cost to business. Looking at our average billings per fee earner I estimate that these holidays cost around £63,000 in lost revenue. We aren’t a large business!

Of course what really happens is that we have to work a little bit harder on the non-Bank Holidays. The work doesn’t slow down – it just backs up. So there’s a rush before and a rush afterwards. Sometimes you wonder why you took holiday!

Perhaps it’s time we looked at these Holidays. Sure we should have Christmas and Easter, but some of the others?

Most people,as far as I can see, get annual holidays now? Do we need these extra statutory days?

And had I not been playing golf on Friday next, I would have questioned why that couple couldn’t have managed to hit either a Saturday, Sunday or one of the other numerous Bank Holidays around this time of year? Not difficult for a bloke who can fly a helicopter?

Apr 21 2011

The Apprentice – you’re hired

My son Jak is on an apprenticeship Scheme with the NHS. The Nottingham evening Post have been running a campaign to get 100 Apprenticeships in 100 days for Nottingham. The 100 days finishes today. At the last count there were pledges of 159 jobs.

My firm has added to the total. We have committed to take on an apprentice in our Nottingham office. This is being done in conjunction with South Nottingham College who are doing the initial recruitment drive and will provide on-the-job support in training.

I wasn’t sure whether it was appropriate to call the new person – in days gone by this would have been an ‘office junior’. The first step on the ladder. I have always believed that getting a job is easier if you have a job. Getting that first job is always difficult. I think when we all start in work it is a huge culture shock – but getting an understanding of what happens in an office, how to deal with people and how to behave are not things that can be taught in a classroom.

The economy is such that we haven’t ‘carried’ anyone for the last few years. Those days are gone. But perhaps we are feeling a bit better about the market to the extent that we can help someone along the way.

My late father would say that “you have to learn to take orders before you can give them”. Old fashioned advice which I’m not sure I understood when I was 16, but I do now.

Most of us started at the bottom – making tea and generally ‘gofor-ing’. It gives you and understanding of a commercial workplace. The upside is that there is little pressure…

I will keep you posted on our new Apprentice when selected!

Feb 14 2011

MIPIM and Derby

You will gather from my blog that I am pretty much a Nottingham boy through and through. I was born here, educated here and have worked in this fair City for all of my professional life.

sometimes an image speaks a thousand words?

But my firm have two other offices too; in Leicester and in Derby. It is fair to say that there is a fair amount of (friendly) rivalry. And that’s not just our Board – that’s in general terms! We should perhaps not mention football… and the two recent defeats at the hand of Forest? Especially the 5-2 victory. Was that a subliminal mess abou the A5-2?

I have blogged about our creation of the Team Nottingham brand for MIPIM before. But we also have a keen interest in the other two Cities as well. Leicester are not taking a presence this year at MIPIM due to the budgetary cuts, but Derby certainly are. In fact they are taking their Chief Executive and Leader of the Council. I think this is a clever move – they were there last year and may be capitalising in 2011 on the lack of presence by Nottingham City Council? They are, we know, expecting to announce some ‘winners’ of their regeneration fund – which is intended to pump-prime stalled schemes in the City.

As a firm we are sponsoring Derby too. It is an important component in our business – which covers the entire East Midlands.

We are sponsoring a VIP dinner at MIPIM – organised by Marketing Derby. Some of the key Derby players will be at the Dinner.

I shall leave the lamb alone (if it is on the menu) – for fear of offending the good folks of Derby…

(only kidding John & Charlotte at Marketing Derby, only kidding!)

Feb 10 2011

An Insight into the market…

This week saw the launch of my firm’s latest Insight document. This is an annual publication which looks back at the market – so 2010 is analysed, but against the backdrop of the last five years. This hopefully shows some trends – but also sets a benchmark for the various sectors. It is intended to give an overview of Nottingham, Derby & Leicester.

The speakers at our Nottingham Market Insight event

As you might expect, the report shows a bit of a mixed bag. The reality was that we expected 2010 to be quite challenging – especially in light of the Election. But it wasn’t quite as bad as we thought.

In the Industrial and Office markets take up was pretty good – although it was a market characterised by a number of large deals – as an example the pre-letting to E.On of 105,000 sq ft probably skewed the market. But 75% of office deals done were below 5,000 sq ft. We still have 2.5m sq ft of Industrial space on the market!

The Investment market faired reasonably well too. In spite of three years of either stagnant or negative rental growth, total returns from property in 2010 was 15.2%. Yields compressed in the year – which means prices go up.

One of the speakers at our launch event was Sadia Sheikh from Experian, her overview of the whole economy was sobering – to say the least! She too thought that 2010 was generally good overall, but it was quite good for the early part of the year, but the last quarter has seen a dip in most indicators. Her story was that it was a ‘tale of two halves’. It looks like it will be a tough year ahead as the Comprehensive Spending Review starts to bite.

If you would like an electronic copy of the report please leave me a comment below with your details and I will forward a copy. Or email me at work tgarratt@innes-england.com

Feb 2 2011

Nottingham Contemporary – the best yet?

I couldn’t make the Opening night for the 6th Exhibition at Nottingham Contemporary – I was skiing in Meribel (which I thought was a fair excuse!)

But we did get a chance to visit at the weekend and I thought the Anne Collier and Jack Goldstein exhibition was one of the best yet. The pictures by Collier remind me of a different time (they have a Kodachrome feel to them). There are some images of a Nikon F camera which really do look like they are from a different age!

But the star of the show is Goldstein – who displays an impressive body of art – both in film, music (or rather sound-scapes), words and paintings. His most famous piece is the roaring lion done for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer as a preface for their films. I liked the over-sized paintings though – they are quite dark and foreboding. There is a lot to take in and you need some time to absorb some of this stuff.

And then we stumbled on a surprise – in the Study – there is a small exhibition by John Newling of the Miracle Trees. The Moringa Oleifera is native to the southern foothills of the Himalayas in northwestern India. And gram for gram, Moringa leaves contain: seven times the vitamin C in oranges, four times the calcium in milk, four times the vitamin A in carrots, two times the protein in milk and three times the potassium in bananas. There are samples growing in a table-mounted greenhouse, as well as pressed and mounted samples. Newling narrates his story on a TV screen. I think they should offer Miracle Leaf salad in the cafe!

Morning Coffee in the cafe is always great!

This place really is one of Nottingham’s treasures – and if you haven’t been, I think this is the exhibition you should go to.

On the way in and out you might just spot some names you recognise… If only they were for the art!

Jan 31 2011

MIPIM – the plan is set!

After much soul-searching we have reached a consensus agreement in Nottingham. After Nottingham City Council pulled out of the show last year we have managed to gather a group of like-minded private firms. Some are MIPIM die-hards, some virgins.

Team Nottingham 2011 will comprise:

Innes England
Gleeds – cost consultants
Morgan Tucker – engineers
CPMG – architects
Miller Birch – developers
Geldards – lawyers
Nottingham Regeneration Limited

We have all committed cash to create a brand (“Team Nottingham”) which will represent Nottingham on the world stage in March. We will be holding two events in Cannes – one a dinner for Investors, the other a less formal drinks reception. We have commissioned branding material for the event.

We have also offered to sponsor Invest in Nottingham to the extent of paying all the expenses for a key member of the IIN team to come out with us.

The real work is yet to be done to make sure we get the profile Nottingham deserves. We will be inviting key people to the events we have arranged in Cannes and we will hopefully be able to report on success stories in due course. As a team we are all optimistic about our chances. We are all very positive about our presence on the Cote D’Azur.

There has been much press interest in what we are doing – but I hope it will be seen as positive – unlike the rather negative coverage the City got last week in the Evening Post. Updated PR here from The Guardian though – more positive!

We are hopeful of keeping Nottingham on the world map! We are not really interested in the politics. There is quite a big picture here – which is about inward investment, jobs and wealth creation.

I will post updates here!

Jan 26 2011

We have a new office toy!

You might remember that I went sailing in the Little Britain race last year. We famously and impressively (after much hard work) came second*.

But I did win something. I won a raffle! And the first prize was a shiny new Dyson Airblade. I never normally win things in raffles! And I have never won a hand-dryer before, ever!

This week the new “toy” has been fitted at our office – and takes pride of place in the male visitors loo.

It is brilliant. In my early days of blogging I was saying that I had come across some imitation ariblades which were nowhere near as good as the Dyson. Since that time I have seen some more imitators and no-one seems to have come close. There really is something about originals.

As the blurb says – “It’s the fastest hand dryer – and it’s hygienic, too, cleaning the air before blowing it onto hands. And because it uses up to 80% less energy than warm air hand dryers, it costs less to run. It can also help lower a business’s carbon footprint – with no paper towels creating waste.”

These bits of kit are not cheap though – around £550 + VAT for a unit. But they are very good, they make your hands look like Clarksons face whilst driving the Ariel Atom.

You might not get excited by a hand-dryer, but this is no ordinary hand-dryer!

I think we might save up for one for the Ladies next (In a Andy Gray style it has been fitted to the gents…)

*to last.

Jan 12 2011

MIPIM 2011 and Nottingham

I blogged before about Nottingham City Council‘s decision not to attend MIPIM in 2011. This was primarily due to the severe cuts imposed on them as part of the CSR. But it is also a politically sensitive time with the 2011 Local Elections on the horizon.

Nottingham branding to the bone

My firm have attended MIPIM for the last 8 years or so and we consider it to be an essential part of our marketing spend. Many of our Client’s attend. It is a very powerful showcase for us and our City.

We have been able to assemble a private sector led team to represent Nottingham. We won’t have the gravitas of the City Council – although Nottingham Regeneration Limited will be present. The private sector sponsors are confirmed as Gleeds, Morgan Tucker, Innes England, Miller Birch, NRL and CPMG Architects. We will ply our trades individually, but also collectively as TEAM NOTTINGHAM.

We are hoping to sign up two or three further sponsors in the next week or so.

Our intention is to have a presence on a stand in the main exhibition and have one major event for Nottingham. We are likely to also have a number of other smaller events.

This will be a challenging year – we have always had a base (in the form of a yacht) and the benefit of a major support organisation (Invest in Nottingham). Neither will be there – which places more pressure on us.

However, we have some new blood this year and a great level of enthusiasm to step up to the plate. I have no doubt that the private sector will take on the role that the Public Sector have done so well over the years (even with our money!).

Roll on March – and our opportunity to keep Nottingham on the International stage…

Dec 20 2010

A very different Directors Meeting

We had a very different meeting of our Board of Directors two weeks ago. I have just about recovered! Not that it was difficult (more ‘challenging’) but there was so much to take in.

Some of the Innes England team

We had employed the services of John Green from The Green Light Partnership in Nottingham. He is not a consultant – but rather a facilitator. We worked through lots of different ‘exercises’ – but these were not games. It was a long day – with few breaks.

After a very long process we have ended with a very interesting ‘road-map’ of the next five years for the business – something we have never really had before. The map is our collective thoughts and ideas about where we want to take the business – and the challenges.

The process of getting to the road-map was really interesting – and was not at all contentious. We all had very different ideas and priorities but by some skilful manoeuvring and some science the map was agreed and printed.

Perhaps not unsurprisingly the key issue for us (as most services firms) was the attraction and retention of talented people. We have some now, but we are always looking for more. We have few other assets so this really is key to our ongoing success.

It turned out to be a hugely enjoyable day. Subsequently we have agreed a different format for our future Board meetings – which now includes some of the key things we have agreed to do moving forwards. We will still do the ‘financials’ but some other things are now firmly in focus. And I have a new job – I now have responsibility for Business Development across the firm. This will be a challenge – which I am really looking forward to!

Roll on 2011….