Bayleys is to establish a new consultancy division which will provide a comprehensive range of building surveying related services to clients.
Bayleys Building Consultancy Services will be headed by David Guy who will bring five Auckland-based staff with him.
He has more than a quarter of a century’s experience as a chartered building surveyor, specialising in technical due diligence, and has led teams advising on the acquisition of landmark commercial and industrial property throughout the UK, Europe, Australasia and the Pacific Islands.
Guy relocated to New Zealand in 2011 and in 2014 developed and delivered New Zealand's first accredited building surveying paper which now forms part of the University of Auckland’s Bachelor of Property degree.
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He was most recently managing director of Colliers International’s building consultancy division.
Bayleys national commercial and industrial director Ryan Johnson says Bayleys Building Consultancy Services will provide a full package of technical and professional services associated with all the practical aspects of acquiring, developing, leasing and maintaining property across a building’s life cycle.
“David Guy is highly regarded within the industry and will lead a team of very experienced surveyors and building consultants focused on assessing the condition, performance, risks and potential of properties which is crucial to maximising the value of investment assets.”
Johnson says the main role of the new division will be to provide technical due diligence services, usually prior to acquisition or sale.
This includes advice on buildings’ structure and services, reviewing and summarising statutory consents, lease and consultancy reports such as geotechnical or environmental studies and identifying likely future capital and operational expenditure as well as appropriate insurance cover.
Other services provided will include premises condition reports for tenants and/or landlords at the start and end of leases; development monitoring to determine how projects are tracking to time and budget targets; and contract administration for smaller projects to minimise cost and optimise value.
Bayleys managing director Mike Bayley says the establishment of the division is part of a continuing focus by Bayleys on scaling up the breadth and depth of its property offerings to enable an enhanced range of services to be provided to clients.
“We have established a range of strategic shareholding relationships with leading operators in sectors of the property market that complement and add value to our core commercial, residential and rural agency services and the partnership with David Guy and his team is the latest example of this.”
Other examples are joint venture relationships with Vega Mortgages to assist i with property financing; Australian-based MaxCap Group, which provides development funding for large-scale projects; Platform Consulting Group, which offers building design services to tenants and landlords, and Auckland Body Corporate that services owners and developers of multi-unit strata title properties.
“In addition, wholly owned subsidiary Bayleys Property Services, which provides property and facilities management, valuation and consultancy services, has grown to be a very big part of our business with approximately $5 billion worth of property under management.”
Bayley says Bayleys Building Consultancy Services will be investing significantly in both technology and personnel to enable its services to be expanded nationally, with two additional building surveyor appointments in Wellington and one in Christchurch planned within the next six months.
The division would also be working closely with the building consultancy team of Knight Frank, Bayleys’ international affiliate which has over 50 chartered building surveyors and project managers in the UK, to identify emerging global trends and technologies in the industry.
Guy says issues such as seismic performance, weather tightness and more recently fire protection have made more commercial property owners, including smaller scale investors, recognise the importance of having an in-depth knowledge of their assets.
“Building surveyors do sometimes get labelled as the ‘bad news guys’,” Guy says. “However, we do appraise the positive aspects of buildings as well. An important part of our work is identifying ways to improve and realise opportunities to add value.”
Guy has undertaken work for a wide range of large corporate clients including major supermarket operators, Fonterra and Fletcher Building. However, he says Bayleys Building Consultancy Services will be looking to also work closely with smaller landlords and owner-occupiers to help them protect and improve the value of their property assets.
“A lot of New Zealand’s building stock is owned by private individuals and family trusts. Unlike larger institutions and corporates, they don't typically have property teams to consider the risks, potential and maintenance of their assets.”
Guy has seen some dramatic changes in how buildings are managed and assessed in his nearly 30 years in the industry, particularly around the impact of technology.
Drones with high-definition cameras have become an essential tool in assessing areas of buildings that would have otherwise been difficult or dangerous to reach.
Other technical tools include 360-degree cameras and cloud services such as SharePoint which allows clients ongoing instant access to the status of their assets.
“They can now view their whole portfolio online, with all of the reporting and data we have gathered on their assets,” Guy says.
“That’s been a big change in how we do business over the years, that just makes things easier for everyone.
“Given the impact of climate change and sustainability on the property sector, an increasingly important part of the work we do will be providing environmentally sustainable solutions that reduce building waste and energy consumption and minimise costs for clients.
"There are already established measurement tools like the Green Star and Nabers ratings in the commercial sector and Homestar ratings for residential property and we are likely to see more of these in future.”
- Article supplied by Bayleys
