Bayleys launches new building consultancy team
Bayleys is to establish a new consultancy division which will provide a comprehensive range of building survey-related services to clients.
Bayleys Building Consultancy Services will be headed by David Guy, with five Auckland-based staff.
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 moved to New Zealand in 2011 and in 2014 developed and delivered the country's first accredited building surveying paper which now forms part of the University of Auckland’s Bachelor of Property degree. 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 practical aspects of acquiring, developing, leasing and maintaining property across a building’s life cycle.
Johnson says its main role 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 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 establishing the division is part of the company’s continuing focus on scaling up the breadth and depth of its offerings.
“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 with property financing; Australianbased 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 which 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, to identify emerging global trends and technologies in the industry.
Guy says issues such as seismic performance, weathertightness 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 large corporates including major supermarket operators, Fonterra and Fletcher Building. He says his new team will be looking to also work closely with smaller landlords and owner-occupiers to help protect and improve the value of their assets.