Project Management – People not Process

Real estate is currently subject to rapid change. Office occupiers want modern flexible workplaces of the future.  Retail assets need re-purposing into more viable uses. Sectors like student accommodation, logistics and PRS are attracting significant investment. The commercial drivers are different but the need to supply fit-for-purpose space for tomorrow’s occupiers has never been stronger.

Having successfully delivered a breadth of projects across commercial real estate, the common factor in their success remains simple – people. Control is important, but process is no substitute for communication. The ‘x’ factor that means exceeding, rather than merely meeting the brief, is the quality of the teams involved and the strength of relationships between them. Clients, consultants, contractors, occupiers, statutory bodies and local communities – how those relationships are nurtured to collaboratively deliver the best solution is the real skill of the project manager.

Our role isn’t just to deliver the client’s initial brief, but to provide sufficient vision and critical thinking to interrogate it. Having the ability to merely answer the question put to us isn’t enough, we need to challenge the brief and shape the strategy to maximise clients’ returns.

All projects require effective collaboration with many stakeholders; investors, occupiers, local communities and the officials that represent them. Communicating effectively from the outset, we must build constructive relationships to develop their trust, encourage their buy-in and ensure their support.

Project teams combine different specialist expertise and experience that needs to be brought together and exploited.  Robust but supportive leadership is required – leadership that creates team environments that engender a level of lateral thinking and creativity. Modern construction is highly technical, we need to get into the detail, encourage designers to be bold, to push opportunities and to drive efficiency.

Interrogate, collaborate, lead. These are the more intangible but, we believe, the most important qualities of project management. This philosophy has led us to create Venture – a project management service for real estate investors.

To see a sample of some of our recent projects, click here.