Segro has already garnered a large collection of Eurobuild Award statuettes. What is the secret of your success?

These are very important for us because they were awarded to us by our clients themselves and this is a sign of the great trust they place in us. Winning this accolade for the third year in a row shows that Segro has built up this trust over the years through our cooperation; not only by providing high quality modern warehouse and production space but mainly through our openness to our clients’ needs. Their demands for rented warehouse space are constantly growing and evolving. Increasingly they look not only at the location and the price but also at such aspects as a building’s sustainability and the innovative technology used as well as its amenities for their employees. Top quality everyday service is also very important. At Segro, we guarantee this with our internal team of property managers.

On a daily basis, can you see how happy your tenants are with your services? And if so, how?

When we as managers talk to our clients, there’s always a feeling of mutual respect. Our sense of partnership as well as our openness allow us to face up to challenges and find solutions that please both sided. We can see the positive results of our work in our everyday working relations and in our customer surveys, which are organised several times a year by objective external advisors. With these data, we are able to continuously respond to the needs of companies that lease Segro’s warehouse space.

What is the hardest part of your work? Are there any drawbacks at all to the work of a Segro property manager?

Every sector is different and requires a different approach but being open to other people is always and invariably a requirement. Our work requires us to stay in close contact with our clients to face challenges for which we always try to quickly find the optimal response, but we also accept praise offered when we react efficiently, propose a useful adaptation or introduce improvements. Just as in any kind work, there are difficult moments but we also derive great satisfaction from projects that we complete on time and within a set budget.

Do you plan to change or improve anything in your centres in 2020?

It is very important for us to make further upgrades and introduce new systems that improve the operations of our parks while reducing operating costs. Segro has always shown a lot of flexibility and this applies both to adapting existing warehouses as well as building new ones. Innovation and automation are increasingly being used in industrial and logistics buildings and this is something that is very important for our clients who come from many different sectors. Using modern technology results in warehouse space being used more efficiently and brings down operating costs. At Segro, we are systematically introducing new proptech development including an access control system that can automatically read license plates and this results in better security with more ease of access for both employees and regular suppliers. We also have a comprehensive utility metering system, which monitors the use of electricity and gas in real time. And the data can be viewed from anywhere. We still have other such systems to install such a roof deformation monitor and we still have yet to introduce BIM.