The alignment of corporate real estate performance to enterprise needs Part Two: The business management view compared with CRE practice

Barry Varcoe, Global Head of Corporate Real Estate and Facilities Management, Zurich Financial Services Group

Abstract
Corporate real estate (CRE), embracing facilities management, provides organisations with their physical working environments. A literature review of current CRE performance practice and corresponding business management suggests that the practices used in measuring and managing CRE performance tend to be narrowly focused and insular. Aligned to this is a commonplace organisational perspective that at best tends to consider CRE as a tactical component of the overall business enterprise model. This has resulted in the identification of relationships between key performance variables, both within CRE and between CRE and the business, based on assumption and received wisdom rather than explicit proof. This article is the second in a series of two. It documents a literature review of the business management view of CRE, compares this with the findings of a CRE performance practice review (see previous article from issue 1.2) and considers the resulting conclusions and implications of this research.

Keywords
corporate real estate, facilities management, performance, satisfaction, service quality, cost

Barry Varcoe is Global Head of Corporate Real Estate and Facilities Management at Zurich Financial Services Group, a role he commenced in January 2011. He was the 2009/10 Chair of CoreNet Global, and has recently completed a research doctorate at Glasgow Caledonian University. He has over 25 years’ experience within the CRE industry, including heading up the property team for a large international bank and leading strategy and innovation within a global service provider.

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