The Client
IPIF (Industrial Property Investment Fund) owns and manages over 2,000 industrial
units across the UK, from offices and warehouses, to workshops and studio space. The properties are let with short, flexible leases, offering their customers the opportunity to expand or contract as their requirements demand.
IPIF is a subsidiary of Legal & General Property, and is currently managed by JLL; one of the world’s leading real estate service providers. JLL buy, build, occupy and invest in a variety of assets including industrial, commercial, retail, residential and hotel real estate. From tech startups to global firms, JLL’s clients span industries including banking, energy, healthcare, law, life sciences, manufacturing and technology. Overall, they manage over 4.6bn square feet in property and facilities management.
The Challenge
The Property Management Team at IPIF had been managing a portfolio of 11 vacant industrial units across the UK. The units were mainly centred in and around London, but there were also properties in Colchester, the Midlands and Leeds.
Several of the units had been recently refurbished, but the rest were soon to be renovated - meaning they were currently in a poor state of repair, with a history of unauthorised activities such as squatting. In response to this, the security contractor for the properties at the time had employed security dog handlers on every site. This ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach represented a significant cost to the client, and did not take the different risk profiles of each property into account. JLL was therefore looking for a sensible solution to reduce the security costs across the entire portfolio, without compromising efficacy.
The Veritas Solution
Veritas has provided JLL with security services for several difficult properties in the past, so the client already had a good understanding of the quality of service, speed of implementation and value for money that we’re able to provide. We were asked to create a suitable and cost-effective solution to manage security across the 11 properties - without compromising security levels.
Within a week, each site had been inspected by a member of the Veritas senior management team and a security review of all the assets had been conducted. We then provided JLL with several tailored options for each site based on the unique risk profile of each property, which ranged from Ex-Forces Gurkha Security Officers working in a Security in Residence capacity, the installation of internal and external vacant property alarm systems covering vulnerable and key access points, concrete barriers, steel sheeting, steel doors and Heras fencing.
The Result
Veritas was subsequently engaged as primary security contractor on 10 of the properties. We facilitated a suitable handover with the incumbent security provider on each site, ensuring the units were continually secured and monitored without any down-time, and making sure any unique property information was recorded.
All security measures were implemented over a period of 5 working days, with a full installation record provided to the client at the end of each day detailing the works completed. JLL’s estimated security costs across the portfolio were over £1.7m per annum prior to our involvement. Our final proposal was less than £390,000.00 per annum, providing JLL with a significant estimated saving per annum of over £1.3m.
