Corporate Real Estate Asset Management – Strategy and Implementation

Citation

Warren, C.M.J. (2010), "Corporate Real Estate Asset Management – Strategy and Implementation", Property Management, Vol. 28 No. 5, pp. 385-386. https://doi.org/10.1108/pm.2010.28.5.385.1

The management of corporate real estate as a subset of the property management profession is explored in this new book by Haynes and Nunnington. The authors, both lecturers at Sheffield Hallam University in the UK, have written the text from the occupier's standpoint and provide a clear structured approach to the strategic management of property on behalf of organisations whose principle business is not property related.

There are three main sections covered across eight chapters. Starting with considerations of the broader business environment, the authors outline the decision processes by which organisations acquire and manage property to support their business operations. The most important message emanating from this first part of the book is the need to align the business and real estate strategies of the organisation. The second section deals with workplace design and management. It provides an historical background to modern office design and its evolution over the past hundred years, as well as addressing contemporary issues relating to virtual working and the home office. This section relates workplace design, asset management and employee productivity to one another and goes on to address the link between these property issues and overall business strategy.

The final section explores issues relating to sustainable development. It examines the growing demand for green buildings and how this relates to the reporting of corporate social responsibility by an increasing number of corporations. The methods of benchmarking and evaluating sustainable development are described, as are the various elements, which go to make up a green leases. A series of five case studies are used to support the main text and provide good practical insight into modern strategic corporate real estate practices.

The book is primarily written for undergraduate students studying property and asset management and I believe it makes a very useful addition to the available teaching aids available. While pitched at undergraduate and postgraduate students studying within property programmes, it will also be useful to those wishing to gain a background knowledge of this important property discipline. It should, in my view, be essential reading for all business managers and not just those directly involved in the management of business property assets.