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Following an invitation to tender, Union Investment has awarded property management contracts for 150 commercial properties in its Germany portfolio. Distributed across the country, the 120 office and commercial properties plus 30 hotels comprise total rental space of two million square metres and are valued at approximately EUR 7 billion. After a transparent and detailed assessment of 25 potential property management partners, the Hamburg-based real estate investment manager opted for a new 2+2 service provider strategy.
2+2 strategy implemented
The bulk of the portfolio covered by the tender will be managed by Strabag Property and Facility Services GmbH (49 properties) and Apleona Real Estate GmbH (45 properties). In terms of rental space, these properties represent 73 per cent of the tender volume. Alongside the above service providers, who are tasked with managing properties throughout Germany, Union Investment has selected B&L Property Management GmbH and Tattersall Lorenz Immobilienverwaltung und -management GmbH to provide additional regional support in North and South Germany and Central Germany, respectively. Going forward, B&L will manage 33 properties for the Hamburg-based real estate investment manager, while Tattersall Lorenz will be responsible for 23 commercial properties from the Germany portfolio. The Central Germany region includes German states such as North Rhine-Westphalia and Hesse, which account for a significant number of properties within the portfolio.
Property managers Strabag, Apleona and B&L are all existing providers in relation to the portfolio. In addition to some changes of responsibility for individual properties, signing up Tattersall Lorenz as a new service provider will boost competition within the Germany portfolio. Union Investment also took the opportunity to define the service catalogue for its contract
partners in greater detail. Optimised coordination between Property Management and Facility Management will also mean higher service quality overall for tenants. The new contracts have a three-year term. For the first time, it was possible to sign a standard contract across the whole portfolio with all the chosen property managers. Union Investment was advised on creating the multi-phase selection process by h&z and Drees & Sommer.
“We introduced several new elements when assessing the various providers, thereby making the tender process even more transparent,” said Volker Noack, a member of the management team at Union Investment Real Estate GmbH. “As well as a digital tendering platform, which enabled us to carry out a detailed assessment and comparative analysis of the bids, these new elements chiefly involved holding ideas workshops on specific issues. This allowed us to establish whether the property managers offer solutions that are conceptually aligned with our own approach in key strategic areas and whether they support our ideas for developing the portfolio.”
Digitisation and sustainability as key priorities
Looking ahead, digitisation and sustainability are two key priorities for Union Investment and also played an important role in the workshops. With regard to digitisation, one aspect considered was which CAFM system the property managers work with and how the data collected could be used to support asset management staff. In terms of sustainability, issues covered included energy monitoring and reporting. A close working relationship with property and facilities managers is also important for Union Investment in the context of further developing its Sustainable Investment Check.
Source : Company