A career in

Nigel Woolven, BSc, MBA, MRICS

Property Services Manager Deriaz Slater LLPT: 01628 495511

Nigel graduated with a BSc in Estate Management from Reading University and gained an MBA from the London Business School. He spent a significant part of his career in financial services with Johnson Fry Plc and Parnell Fisher Child before returning to property with Deriaz Slater. Nigel is responsible for Property Management at Deriaz Slater and works with Paul on professional work including valuations, rent reviews lease renewals and rating appeals. Outside the office Nigel is an enthusiastic sportsman, a hockey coach and likes to travel.

COMMERCIAL PROPERTY CONSULTANTS

In this edition of the Master-Guide series, Nigel Woolven gives valuable insight to those considering a career in commercial property. Not that we’re biased here at Deriaz Slater, but we’d thoroughly recommend a career in commercial property!

But before you join us, here are a few things to consider..............

The commercial property world is a wide and varied one when it comes to career options. If you have an interest in design or an aesthetic disposition, then you might gravitate into commercial architecture and become the next Richard Rogers.

If you are a people person then you may well find yourself building close professional and personal relationships with property owners, landlords, tenants and fellow professionals as your career develops and your circle of contacts grows.

On the other hand you may be legally minded or technically driven and therefore move into valuation, surveying or property

law and planning.

There’s a world of difference between working in commercial and residential property. The letting of flats and houses is by nature a fairly straightforward line of work with nothing too complex about most places of residence.

The laws and regulations governing flats and houses is not as complex as it is in the commercial sector and accordingly the skill set required to deal with residential property need not be as all-encompassing as with commercial property.

People skills are certainly of equal importance in the residential world in order to be able to sell effectively and attract people towards a property, but it’s a fairly straightforward singular transactional undertaking.

Commercial property transactions and management however, has much more complex layers, partly because of the law surrounding commercial property dealings, which is detailed and extensive and there is a much greater variety of commercial

ISSUE 009: January 2014

Commercial Property

Follow us here:Contact Us:

E: enquiries@deriaz.co.uk W: www.deriaz.co.uk

THE COMMERCIAL WORLD

COMMERCIAL OR RESIDENTIAL?

of commercial property types which include offices, shops, factories and warehouses, public buildings, pubs, hotels and restaurants to list just a few.

Climbing the commercial property ladder is easy, you just start by getting a foothold on the bottom rung and off you go.

But what does that bottom rung look like? The truth is that it’ll look different to different people depending on who you are.

it may be as straightforward as scanning the vacancies on propertyjobs.co.uk or securing a few weeks work placement over the summer months while you are at college and commercial property companies are trying to cover their staff holidays.

Or it may be as simple as applying for a locally advertised clerical position, or focusing on getting yourself onto one of the many commercial property related degree courses which are available around the country.

Local to Deriaz Slater is Reading University, which historically has always been extremely strong in commercial property as with Oxford Brookes and UWE (University of the West of England).

Obtaining a degree and completing a couple of years experience in the field can now enable you to bypass the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) written exams which you otherwise need to pass in order to be accredited as a professionally qualified RICS member.

As with most industries, London is where the U.K’s biggest commercial property firms are found, but we like to think that it’s in the provinces that you’ll find some of the best. There can be no

doubt that the big jobs in commercial property are in the capital, with the central London market being dominated by half a dozen very big firms of worldwide scale.

These include firms like Jones Lang LaSalle or Knight Frank who might employ tens of thousands of staff the world over.

Even if you see yourself being drawn to work outside of the capital there is certainly a good argument for spending a few years with a big London agency that will give you valuable experience and a noteworthy credit on your C.V.

Alternatively local firms like Deriaz Slater will operate through one or two offices employing several key staff who have a masterful grasp of the local market, an extensive network of contacts and good working relationships with other local firms.

In fact firms like Deriaz Slater often work with the big London agencies that rely on a network of local firms to broaden their service offering.

If you are studying in a University town such as Reading, Birmingham, Manchester, Bristol, then you’ll do well to secure a summer work placement with a commercial property agent close to you.

Although most firms will want to take on people who have up-to-date qualifications there is no reason that people can’t transfer into this industry from another sector.

Naturally they will have to have the right credentials and aptitude to succeed in the industry and if you are considering a second career then it is well worth looking at getting the necessary qualifications in order for you to fulfill your full potential.

To this end, bringing skills from the residential sector or related industry and

obtaining a relevant qualification, would hold appeal for a prospective employer.

As with almost any industry, the commercial property world has its up and downs and is subject to the boom and bust of the economic cycle.

The commercial world is typically cyclical which means that in good times there are lots of opportunities and lots of recruitment and the earning potential is very high.

The flip side is that in a downturn the commercial property sector tends to be hit very hard.

We have just witnessed such a downturn between 2007-12 during which time there have been a lot of redundancies and salary reductions as well as bonuses being cut dramatically.

So someone joining the industry in 2006 might well have had a difficult start and hold a negative perception of commercial property as a profession.

Others though, including many here at Deriaz Slater, have worked through those hard times more than once and come out the other side with more experience, greater understanding and with stronger professional relationships, all of which we then put to good use on behalf of our clients.

COMMERCIAL PROPERTY CONSULTANTS

Contact Us:E: enquiries@deriaz.co.uk

W: www.deriaz.co.uk

Follow us here:

WHERE TO START?

GET QUALIFIED

LONDON VS PROVINCES

SECOND CAREER?

JOBS FOR LIFE?

It’s not uncommon to find people who are passionate about their chosen area of work. There are plenty of documentaries featuring those who love to work with animals or engines, trees or cheese and everything in between, and there are even those of us who love working with buildings.

We might enjoy their architecture, their history, past and future. Even investors are drawn away from stocks and shares and into something they can have a relationship with, like a piece of art or a building that you can admire and inhabit. Call us anoraks if you like, but there’s no doubt that Deriaz Slater people are passionate about commercial property.

- ends -

Nigel Woolven, BSc, MBA, MRICS

Property Services Manager Deriaz Slater LLPT: 01628 495511

COMMERCIAL PROPERTY CONSULTANTS

Contact Us:E: enquiries@deriaz.co.uk

W: www.deriaz.co.uk

Follow us here:

PASSIONATE ABOUT COMMERCIAL PROPERTY