Editorial

Citation

Plimmer, P.F. (2010), "Editorial", Property Management, Vol. 28 No. 3. https://doi.org/10.1108/pm.2010.11328caa.001

Editorial

Article Type: Editorial From: Property Management, Volume 28, Issue 3

I have decided to resign from my role as editor of Property Management. I do this most reluctantly, because I have enjoyed the work enormously and have been privileged to have worked with very many interesting and talented referees and authors. However, an opportunity has arisen which has meant that I have had to rethink my workload very carefully, and in doing so, I have had to make a hard choice.

For some years, I have been a UK delegate to the International Federation of Surveyors (FIG), initially as the UK delegate to Commission 2 (Professional Education) and more recently to Commission 9 (Valuation and Property Management). With effect from April 2010, I shall chair Commission 9 for four years, setting up and managing the working groups within the Commission, as well as managing the wider work of the Commission.

This is a huge opportunity to work with valuers and property managers around the world and to make a difference, as previous colleagues have done, within a global scene, particularly given the association which FIG has with the United Nations. I am looking forward to the challenge.

Unfortunately, this has meant stepping down from the editorship of the journal because I do not want to risk doing two jobs poorly, and both of these roles deserve “grade A” attention. I will, however, be staying on as a member of the Editorial Advisory Board and will continue my association with the journal in that way. This will be my last contribution as editor of Property Management.

Looking back to the first few issues of the journal, I am able to recognise the breadth of topic areas: management of property assets; occupier needs; urban land policy; property development; leases; environmental management; IT-related issues; joint ventures; marketing; property taxation; and legal rights, with papers from China, Singapore and the UK. Issues covered in the latest Volume 27 include property portfolio management; heritage conservation; housing finance; health centres and care facilities for the elderly; volatility of house prices; evolution of land markets; property price indexes, disabled access; housing investment; marketing; sustainability; planning and land reform. Contributions have come from Australia, China, Hong Kong, Kenya, Sweden, Taiwan, the USA as well as the UK. I see this comparison as demonstrating a high degree of similarity between issues as well as the very major changes which have affected us all over the year.

The property world is very different now – more global, complex and dealing with a range of issues of which we were less aware in 1994. This is reflected in both the locations of the contributing authors and the topics of papers published. Increasingly issues of sustainability and how property can make a difference to carbon emissions and resource depletion and the need to adapt of our built environment to reflect a range of needs – conservation, disability, security have been published from across the world. However, the fundamental importance of the need to manage property investments appropriately, to support occupiers, landlords and the wider investment and pension fund communities remains a recurring subject. Understanding the experiences of other countries allows us to learn from the experiences of others and to improve the solutions we apply within our own environment.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has been involved in the journal since I took over in 1994, particularly the members of the Editorial Advisory Board, contributing authors and the staff at Emerald, and of course the readership, for all your support over the years with the journal. You have all made a huge difference in improving the quality of the content of the journal and I have learned a great deal from my work. I have also enjoyed it hugely. I am leaving the journal in the capable hands of Clive Warren from the University of Queensland and look forward to working with him in my capacity as a member of the Editorial Advisory Board.

Once again, I am very grateful for all your support of the journal and my very best wishes to you all for the future.

Professor Frances Plimmer