The man with big plans for Liverpool’s property market

Mar 19 2008 by Alistair Houghton, Liverpool Daily Post

Alistair Houghton meets DAVID GUEST, the Liverpool director of Bruntwood

THE MIPIM property festival in Cannes is where Liverpool and its property developers get to sell themselves to the world – and David Guest says Bruntwood had to be there to tell the world about its grand plans for the city.

Serviced office specialist Bruntwood already has about 870,000sq ft of space across the Liverpool city region, including high-profile buildings such as the Plaza in Old Hall Street.

But at MIPIM last week Bruntwood revealed that it was planning to expand its portfolio to as much as 3m sq ft and said the city offered the company its best opportunity for expansion.

Guest, the company’s Liverpool director, says another “major deal” is already in the offing.

He says this year’s MIPIM was busier than it ever has been before, which was why Bruntwood chose the event to highlight its expansion plans.

And, as with all Liverpool MIPIM delegates, he is fed up with jibes that MIPIM is simply a jolly and says the event is the hardest networking week of the year.

“What people need to understand is that it isn’t about getting a load of work from it directly and immediately,” he said.

“But you come here to meet people in a relaxed environment and to open up business opportunities in the long term.

“I had a meeting with somebody about striking a deal with them – a significant transaction for both of us. It’s given us half an hour to get to the crux of the issues.

“You might meet funders or occupiers and take your business relationships with them to a higher level. You can build relationships today that will help the business operate better in the future.”

Guest was born in Culcheth, Warrington, and moved into the property business after helping out at his father’s Manchester property firm.

He spent a year out during his surveying degree working at Lambert Smith Hampton but on graduating joined Mason Owen in Liverpool, where he spent three years.

He then joined Bruntwood, working in Manchester before becoming Liverpool director five years ago.

Guest says Bruntwood wants to invest in properties for the long-term, not simply to do them up and sell them on.

“My job is to create a long-term sustainable business in Liverpool,” he said. “That’s the lead objective.

“We must understand what our existing customers want and what our potential market wants.”

Bruntwood, says Guest, always strives to offer a high level of service so client companies can get on with their business without worrying about facilities and building management.

He said: “If you’re going to be a long-term business, you’ve got to understand what your customers want. No business with long-term aspirations ignores its customer base.

“What we’re getting from our relationship with our customers is that they believe in city centres being the driving force in where they want to locate as a consequence of what a city centre location brings to them and their staff – such as the transport infrastructure.”

Bruntwood paid £24.5m for the Plaza – the former Littlewoods headquarters – in June 2003 and by the time refurbishment work finishes in some 15 months time will have spent £30m on it.

Tenants include high-profile companies such as Rensburg Sheppards, Royal Bank of Scotland and Alliance & Leicester.

“We did the right project in the right place at the right time,” said Guest.

At the Plaza Bruntwood is also starting to offer more flexible serviced office space.

The system means that instead of renting a fully-serviced office complete with furniture, a company could, for example, choose to sign up for serviced IT support but bring in its own furniture. Letting periods are also flexible.

At the Plaza Bruntwood is even encouraging tenants to take less space – by creating shared meeting rooms that can be hired by the hour so tenants do not need to let rooms that will mostly stand idle.

“It makes sense for them to pay for meeting rooms when they need them,” he said.

“We know ourselves how much we don’t use meeting rooms. In a traditional office you pay for that.”

Bruntwood paid around £20m last year for Liverpool’s Cotton Exchange office complex and Cotton House complex and is investing £3m there.

Bruntwood’s Queen Buildings, which faces Dale Street and Castle Street, is set to lose a key tenant when law firm DWF moves to St Paul’s Square, off Old Hall Street. Guest said it was “disappointing” for the business to lose customers but said Bruntwood was now planning to focus on attracting SMEs to the building.

At both Queen Buildings and Oriel Chambers in Water Street, Bruntwood has to deal with the challenges of creating modern office spaces in listed buildings.

Grade I-listed Oriel Chambers, designed in the 1860s by Peter Ellis, is seen as one of Liverpool’s architectural treasures and Guest says Bruntwood’s refurbishment work will match those past glories.

“The quality of the environment will match the listing that exists,” he said. “We’ll put in materials that meet the spectacular design that Peter Ellis created.”

“We are creating a new lease of life for our buildings, whether at a 1968 headquarters building like Littlewoods or at a Grade I iconic building.”

Despite the widespread gloom about the state of the economy, Guest says he remains confident in the long-term future of Bruntwood’s Liverpool business.

“Everyone is buoyant about expansion,” he said. “Inquiries seem to be at a good level. Take-ups remain positive.

“There’s some initial indications but at a very small scale at the moment from potential occupiers that they are taking a bit longer to make decisions.”

Guest says Bruntwood’s core business will always be investment opportunities in major city centres such as Liverpool.

But Bruntwood already has properties in Bootle, Waterloo and Warrington and Guest says the business will look outside city centres if the business case is right.

He said: “I was in MIPIM for several days and had a couple of emails and opportunities that are not Liverpool city centre – places like Chester, Southport and as far as Preston.

“If the basic parameters are there – can we buy it for an appropriate value, can we then invest an amount of money that turns it into a product we are prepared to put our brand against, can we offer a level of service at that location that befits what the brand stands for – then as long as there’s a market for businesses to take accommodation, we could decide to acquire in these town centre locations.

“We’re nimble enough in our business to be able to make those acquisitions.”

alistairhoughton

Age: 35

Family: Lives in Chorlton with wife Susan and daughters Olive, four, and Robyn, one.

Highest educational qualification: BSc (Hons) Surveying from Sheffield University and RICS qualified.

Best advice: Stop talking and listen. Too many people miss the most important part of a sentence by interrupting when a person is about to make their key point.

Biggest regret: No regrets. If something has already happened, what are you going to do about it?

Proudest achievement: Scoring the winning goal for the school football side when I was 11 years old and getting my name in the paper.