Talking about proptech is easy. Real estate companies are falling over themselves to advance their use of technology for the benefit of their business and customers.
At Bellrock, our vision is to deliver the organisational goals of our clients using their real estate as a lever for organisational success, be those goals commercial, user satisfaction or community engagement. We have an integrated property and facilities management offer including valuation and development advice complemented by planned and reactive maintenance, engineering and project management. We are also one of the UK’s largest independent service charge advisory businesses in retail and commercial property for both landlords and tenants.
Our business is underpinned by our bespoke database-driven technology platform, Concerto, giving our clients a unique insight into the performance of their property, enabling informed decision-making. Bellrock’s focus is on organisations with complex estates in the commercial, education, healthcare, retail and local authority sectors.
Our name is our guiding light. Despite being told it couldn’t be done, intrepid engineers built the Bellrock Lighthouse, the very first lighthouse at sea, making treacherous waters around submerged rocks safe. More than 200 years later, the Bellrock lighthouse remains an inspiration to those prepared to challenge how people think and strive for a better way.
Our property and facilities management team’s wide-ranging specialist skills mean we take pride in providing a personalised and quality service to a very diverse range of clients. We use data to drive efficiencies and help our clients make informed decisions about their estates and we have expert services that are truly unique.
Technical and real estate services
From planning to completion, remodelling and updating, construction and project management activities are fundamental to our property services, supporting lifecycle management and the real estate strategy.
Bellrock’s technical and highly experienced team delivers full turnkey projects. For some, we support the in-house team with expert services from design and procurement, to preparing tender specifications and validating responses and appointing contractors, to monitoring construction works.
We ensure the project is compliant with the Construction Design and Management Regulations and subject to the instruction. Our highly experienced team can act as principal contractor, principal designer or technical adviser.
Our consultancy team is made up of experts in condition surveys, feasibility studies and strategic property consultancy to help our clients make informed decisions on their estates and help them deliver their objectives.
Specialist development and valuation services
We provide specialist and wide-ranging services including valuation and development advice in the charitable sector, highly regulated by the Charity Commission. Our surveying team has expert knowledge and insight and has a pedigree of unlocking value from assets to enable the development of new facilities for the benefit of the organisation and the communities it serves. With funding under strain, our compelling solution is based on providing advice on relocation and reconfiguration and extracting latent value, steering development agreements to achieve our clients’ strategic objectives.
Bellrock structures contracts with developers and is appointed as the client adviser on behalf of the charity, overseeing the planning phase of the project and assessing the proposed development in relation to the charity’s objectives and agreed outcomes for the new space. During the design and build phase, Bellrock can project-manage and ensure that the agreed outcomes are met.
We have acted for numerous ecclesiastical organisations and charities including the London Diocesan Board for Schools, the R C Archdiocese of Southwark, the Diocese of Arundel and Brighton, the Salvation Army, the Scout Association Trust Corporation and many academy schools.
Service charge consultancy
Our leading commercial service charge consultancy services team provides clients with comprehensive data and analysis on service charge costs that offers comparative benchmarking in a range of sectors. Our portfolio administration and consultancy services are designed to improve the management of commercial service charges. Expert advice is provided to occupiers in the office and retail sectors.
Our tenant services include:
- Service charge administration and advice;
- Treasury payments of all occupancy costs and consultancy to ensure lease compliance;
- Analysis and forensic audits as well as detailed technical investigations and commercial service charge assurance reviews;
- Payment advice; and
- Advice on dilapidations negotiations.
Our landlord services include:
- Pre-acquisition due diligence on existing service charge accounting regimes;
- Management of service charges including governance and lease compliance ensuring RICS code-compliant service charge frameworks;
- Service charge budgets and collection services;
- Pre-certification assurance reviews and an analysis of the service charge accounts; and
- Security risk assessments.
We advise many of the UK’s leading FTSE 100 companies with a focus on blue-chip retail clients.
Insurance and expert witness services
Insurance is an essential cost of managing any property. The highly experienced Bellrock team assesses the necessary cover and benchmarks premiums to calculate best value. The comprehensive insurance management service incorporates data from lease obligations and premium rates, to sums insured and apportionment calculations. We consult and pursue savings either on individual or multiple cases.
Our in-house technical experts undertake insurance reinstatement assessments on behalf of tenants, determining the suitability of the landlords’ valuation. We also prepare expert witness reports on behalf of clients, guided by the Civil Procedure Rules. We are experienced in providing written and oral evidence at mediation and arbitration and, if necessary, the High Court.
We have a strong, diverse property services team that focuses on working with key clients to maximise the value of their assets and ensure compliance where there may be a high risk and cost of failure.
Andrew Walker, managing director, technical and real estate services, Bellrock
About Bellrock
“During a three-month period, we delivered more than £3m of projects, from classroom refurbishments to specifying and implementing building management systems and new security measures such as access control systems and creating new car parking areas. Every day we are recommending estate strategies, development opportunities and cost-reducing initiatives that not only deliver for the organisation but for the community at large.” – Andrew Walker
Service Charge Operating Report
Next year will be the eighth consecutive year that our Service Charge Operating Report (SCOR) has been published. The report doesn’t just cover benchmarking costs but also operational performance and is researched from both the tenant and landlord perspective. The report analyses compliance with the RICS code of practice. For your personal copy, please email Nigel White on nigel.white@bellrockgroup.co.uk or download the latest version from our website: www.bellrock.fm/technical-and-real-estate/#service-charge.
PW Perspectives: new opportunities and risks in evolving market
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How Bellrock maximises value of its clients’ assets
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