Posted by: Sanjay Dutt, 
CEO – Business, Jones Lang LaSalle India

True to form, the CoreNet Global Summit in Paris was a huge success. What excited me was that more and more corporate and real estate professionals are alive to the fact that in next decade, the success of most businesses will depend on how successful they are in Asia. It was also very evident that the rapidly changing world economic order has forced everyone to rewrite the real estate charter for organizations and CRE professionals.

After this year’s CoreNet Summit, I am more convinced than ever that the focus for corporates now needs to be on efficiency, sustainability and cost. These are now the embedded commandments of real estate for the next decade.

I believe that real estate is a factor of production. Whether in terms of services or goods, the businesses will always depend on it. Real estate enables business, and the professional responsible for real estate needs to have intricate knowledge of this business. It is not sufficient to merely service real estate portfolios – the CRE needs to be a CFO, as well.

Posted by: Sahel Pramendra
Managing Director – Markets, Jones Lang LaSalle India

What struck me the most about this year’s CoreNet Summit was the palpable positivity and enthusiasm visible in delegates from different parts of Europe. Understandably, there was also some nervousness about the global economic scenario. However, this nervousness was task-oriented, and there was a marked determination from the European companies to understand the global perspective, and how it impacts their business environment.

CoreNet yielded a general consensus that India and China are the two key markets in the global business arena, and that one cannot afford to ignore them in the bigger scheme of things. Among other things, cost efficiency, alternate work place strategies, sustainability and the changing roles of CREs were prominent topics of discussion.

Posted by: Lee Elliott
National Director
Jones Lang LaSalle EMEA Research

So it ends where it began – on a train.  As the chatter transfers from the conference hall to the railway carriage I reflect on what has been a positive CoreNet experience.  The strap-line to the Summit contained three simple but significant words: Connectivity, Creativity, Relationships.  Of the three creativity was perhaps less in evidence.  Although case study material and subject matter presented during the conference was solid and robust but it struck me that many of the themes and approaches outlined over the last two days have been around for quite some time.  No-one has a silver bullet that shakes the CRE industry and lifts it to a new level – or at least if they did, they weren’t sharing it.  

It begs a fundamental question for the corporate real estate community.   In the more challenging and demanding environment of today (and tomorrow) just how creative can CRE teams actually be?  Can out of the box thinking originating from within the CRE function, be transformed into new, one might even say radical, action?  Does the nature of real estate – in terms of assets and processes – truly enable creativity?  Time will tell.  What is clear is that the industry – if the connections and new relationships I have made are truly representative of it – has a real desire to push further.  There is an appetite to do things differently, to seize the moment, to reshape and reposition the CRE function and its contribution to the wider enterprise.  There are reasons to be optimistic and encouraged for sure, but the creativity deficit will need to be addressed by end users and service providers alike if changing context translates into a step-change in the evolution of our industry.

Eelco Hoet
Head of Corporate Account Team
Jones Lang LaSalle, Netherlands

A good discussion was held yesterday in the ‘service provider support strategy and planning’ session around the role and responsibilities as strategic partners for our corporate clients.  Jeff Schuth led the team for Jones Lang LaSalle, sitting alongside the big four real estate suppliers.

There was a general consensus around how to provide strategic support to clients, how to take on these roles and what kind of mandate is needed from the client side. This implies an ongoing change from a transaction management focus to more strategic consultancy. The impact on our business will be the need for a different kind of remuneration scheme, replacing fixed rates for hourly rates, for example, while being seen by our clients as “real” consultants as opposed to just brokers.  Similarly, top real estate businesses are looking for talent with a business management background instead of just a transaction management focus.

Feedback from corporates shows two camps: some can’t believe that we will be leave our brokerage background behind us and, therefore, do not consider us a partner for strategic support, while the other camp urges us to take on this responsibility – and soon – as it will be the most logical step to work together.

Posted by: Erin Karsten
Head of Business Development – EMEA Renewable Energy Solutions

When we polled the room yesterday at the Global Summit in Paris, it was certainly not surprising to see that only a quarter of those in the room answered “yes” to knowing what renewable energy is all about, but by the end of the session even those who raised their hands had questions, so surely there is still a lot for our corporate occupiers to learn. It reinforced the notion that there is still a lot of work to be done and clients definitely need advisors to help move them through the complex world of renewable energy and all the opportunities it presents.

In the end, I was extremely pleased with the panel discussion that we delivered and while I provided the basic background and context for renewable energy technologies, procurement strategies, and provided an overview of the financial incentives driving the argument for renewable energy, Brendan Fogarty from SEGRO built on that overview, with some examples of projects they have been doing and the challenges that they face. SEGRO has been a leader amongst Landlords in their pursuit of delivering renewable energy projects, from re-thinking leasing structures and creating a policy for them to be able to “lift and shift” solar panels so that they can meet the different needs of tenants and their rooftop equipment. Coca Cola’s Rudi Sueys, further added views and commitment to sustainability, reminding us all that energy efficiency projects have to come first to make renewable energy efficient too! He provided some great projects that they have been involved in across the globe from the US and Mexico to Belgium and Italy.

Dr. Rainer Blank, from Deutsche Bank, who moderated our panel, emphasised the importance of client advisors after one participant asked, “How can we meet with 20% renewable legislative requirements in places like Westminster in London and all across Germany, particularly in urban centres?” The answer is there are lots of considerations – from delivery of wood pellets for biomass boilers on already congested London streets to solar panel shading from adjacent buildings to drilling boreholes for ground source heat pump systems in underground car parking (which can be done with about 10ft of clearance) – but Rainer’s point was this, why, as corporates, they need good advisors. The renewable energy landscape in the last 2 years has been a rapidly changing landscape: from increasing legislative requirements for carbon reduction and energy efficiency, to changes in the financial incentives like Feed-in Tariffs – some being cut – some being added – to aggressive price reductions for solar panels after many companies went bankrupt or entered into administration this summer and also to understanding the technical and physical limitations of these systems as noted above.

So what did we learn? Walking away from yesterday…even as the speaker – there is still lots of be done…particularly educating clients – even those who already think they know all they need to know about renewable energy.  When they stop having questions then I can hang up my hat and retire.  But until then…I’ve got a mission…to spread the word.  The theme for this year’s CoreNet, is Social Dynamics and how blogs, video and audio recordings on the web, LinkedIn and Twitter can help spread the word…so off I go to post my blog link on Twitter, LinkedIn and when CoreNet posts the audio recording of our session…post that too.