Knowledge Peers' members to benefit from property advice
30 Sep 2008
Robert Hardie, an experienced commercial property specialist, has joined Knowledge Peers to run its' new Property Knowledge Centre.
"The current downturn is likely to be causing most companies some heartache - and of course, property is one of the first areas people turn to when looking to save costs," said Robert Hardie. "So this is exactly the right time for Knowledge Peers to help its members with their property and facilities issues."
Until recently Robert was Director of Property at House of Fraser, where he was responsible for all aspects of property management including disposals, day-to-day management, raising finance from property transactions and negotiating with developers for new stores. His previous roles include Acquisitions Director at The Burton Group, where he oversaw the opening of a record 227 new branches in his final year, and running an independent property consultancy where he worked with predominantly smaller retail companies.
"For many companies, property is the second highest cost after staff," said Hardie. "So our research will look at how businesses are managing their property costs throughout the cycle of acquisition, service charges and rating. For example, is sale-and-leaseback an effective option? Relocation, sub-letting, re-negotiating leases, maintenance and service charges are other potential solutions, each with its' own issues and complexities that need to be thought through."
Knowledge Peers is a membership organisation for people who run growth businesses in the UK. We enable our members to tackle pressing business challenges by learning directly from the experiences of their peers. Our comprehensive research programme offers concise, practical guidance via video interviews and interactions with experienced executives and specialist advisors.
For more information, please contact the team at info@knowledgepeers.com or +44 (0)207 831 0076.
