Andrew Walker managing Director Bellrock Technical and Real Estate Services

Andrew Walker, MD Technical & Real Estate Services, Bellrock

Bellrock technical and Real Estate Services

At Bellrock our vision is to deliver the organisational goals of our clients using their real estate as a lever for 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 unique database driven technology platform, Concerto, allowing our clients a unique insight into the performance of their property, enabling informed decision-making. Bellrock’s focus is on organisations with complex estates be they in the commercial, education, healthcare, retail or 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. Over 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 FM team’s wide-ranging specialist skills means 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 estate and we have expert services that are truly unique.

Data-driven property managementSpecialist development and valuation services

We provide specialist and wide-ranging services from 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 they serve. With funding under strain our compelling solution is based on providing advice on relocation, reconfiguration and extracting latent value, steering development agreements.

Our process is simple. Bellrock markets the property along with the development potential to a network of developers, advising on the selection of those with a proven track record of working to the highest ethical standards in the charities sector. Structuring the contract with the developer is an extremely important step to ensuring that the charity’s project objectives, including commitments to the local community and a zero-risk profile are protected, and that the financial return is maximised for the charity.

Bellrock is then appointed as the client adviser on behalf of the charity, overseeing the planning phase of the project, 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, Diocese of Arundel and Brighton, the Salvation Army, the Scout Association Trust Corporation and many academy schools.

Technical and Real Estate Services Valuation Service Charge

Service charge consultancy

Our leading commercial service charge consultancy services, 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.

Technical and Real Estate Services Landlord Occupier

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
  • 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
  • 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.

Using our in-house technical experts we 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 ensuring compliance where there may be a high risk and cost of failure. During a three month period, we delivered over £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 estates strategies, development opportunities and cost reducing initiatives that not only deliver for the organisation but for the community at large.” 

Service Charge Operating Report

2019 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 the RICS code of practice now a professional statement. For your personal copy please email Nigel White or download the latest version here.

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