How to Build a Real Estate Strategy

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How to Build
a Real Estate
Strategy
Real Estate Solution Criteria
Criteria Weighting
Strategic Scorecard Creation
In order to build a real estate strategy,
CRE leadership should enact a process that
systematically aligns company goals and
real estate criteria to develop a repeatable
framework for decision making.
Cushman & Wakefield suggests the
following four steps when
building a strategy:
These steps are designed to base all decisions on the
ultimate core objective of the company, drive
alignment across stakeholders, and remove bias and
preconceived ideas from clouding the decision
process. This process-driven approach puts CRE at
the center of strategy development – increasing
visibility and connecting business units.
During the first step, key CRE stakeholders need to
define the company’s mission and the goals
required to achieve that mission. It is essential that
CRE stakeholders push their thinking and ensure
that the full potential of the company today and in
the future is included in the stated goals.
The second step is to take the goals and translate
them into specific real estate criteria that will
enable the company to evaluate future decisions
based on measurable data points. Criteria may
include cost, access to labor, client access, brand
and visibility, risk, transportation infrastructure,
departmental organization, and workplace design
standards.
Following criteria creation, leadership must weigh
each of the criteria according to relative
importance. This ensures current and future real
estate options are evaluated and compared
according to what matters most to the
company’s mission and are not subject
to bias and preconceptions.
In the final step, the company should be able to
construct an interactive, weighted scorecard to
compare di„erent locations and ultimately make
a decision based on a transparent quantitative and
qualitative analysis. The relative merits of any real
estate scenario, both portfolio-wide and individual
properties, can be examined using a comprehensive
and endorsed set of criteria.
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Mission & Goal Alignment
MICHAEL MCDERMOTT
Consulting Manager,
Strategic Consulting
DEBRA MORITZ
Executive Managing Director,
Global Consulting
The Occupier Edge | 17