Annual Review 2021-22

Managing Partner’s introduction

to the next year

are exciting opportunities for growth based on both investing in growing our teams and creating working environments that allow our talent to be able to perform at the highest possible level.”

The introduction of last year’s report started with a comment that the year had been like no other, and there was a risk of potentially repeating those words. This year started with the continued lockdown due to Covid and ended with Russia invading Ukraine and escalating economic pressure in the UK. External pressures and change are becoming a constant and looking forward, adaptability will be key to meeting our clients’ and colleagues’ expectations.

Despite these external pressures, Fisher German continues to go from strength to strength with the year delivering growth in turnover and profitability, founded on strong client relationships and the FG teams working tirelessly. Within an incredibly challenging recruitment market we have been able to increase the team size to meet client demands whilst retaining the talent that underpins our success. Later in 2022 we will have the largest cohort of graduates starting in our history, joining from a breadth of universities from around the UK.

Throughout the year, the diversity of services provided has helped us meet our clients’ expanding demands with growth in the transactional markets, retained management portfolios, advisory

services, and infrastructure services. Listening to our clients to truly understand their requirements remains critical in ensuring that a tailored solution can be provided. The internal structure was altered to reflect this focus and growth in being able to effectively service work across the UK. This has been underpinned with our Net Promoter Score received in our inaugural year providing a strong base to build on over the coming years.

Looking to the next year, there are exciting opportunities for growth based on both investing in growing our teams and creating working environments that allow our talent to be able to perform at the highest possible level. Challenges will undoubtedly materialise as they have done over the last three years however, we continue to focus on providing best service to our clients and supporting our colleagues. Adaptability and positivity remain fundamental to the culture within FG and have played a key part in the growth and successes through 21/22. Thank you to all those working in FG and to our loyal clients and we look forward to the opportunities that will materialise throughout the 22/23 financial year.

Andrew Bridge Managing Partner

Looking

there

Business profile

Fisher German LLP was established in September 2000 after the merger of Fisher Hoggarth and Germans with a history going back to 1830. Since then, we have grown at an impressive rate; at the end of the 2021/22 financial year, we had 26 offices with around 637 employees and partners. The firm’s strength is demonstrated by continued growth throughout the recent economic downturn to an annual turnover of over £46 million (21/22). We operate nationally

Our values

PIONEER

Find out more about The Green Offset on page 18.

EXPERT

advising and managing a wide range of client portfolios on behalf of blue-chip companies, pension funds, private landowners, utility companies, national charities, local authorities and government agencies. We have a national visibility across all the six-property market sectors; rural, commercial, development, residential, utilities & infrastructure and sustainable energy.

We have considerable resources to operate a localised approach

to service delivery. We deliver a wide range of integrated chartered surveying, consultancy and estate agency services across each of those sectors. We understand property and make it our priority to understand our clients and their needs. We help our clients to prosper by building longterm relationships, listening and delivering exceptional service. Many of our solutions are digitally led as we recognise the importance of on-demand services to our clients as their businesses grow.

Find out more about our collaboration with the EA and MoD for our sea defence project on page 16.

TRUST

On page 12 you can find out why we have developed our DRIVE group to promote diversity and inclusion across Fisher German.

DRIVEN

Read more about our driven and motivated colleagues and what they have achieved over the last 12 months on page 8.

Our vision: To always add maximum value through understanding, creativity and excellence

Adrian

Maria

David

Chair’s report

David Brewin, Chair

This time 12 months ago, I recall the cautious optimism we felt emerging from the Covid-19 pandemic with a real sense of pride and achievement for the tough decisions we made, both as individuals and as a business, resulting in a financially successful year despite the challenges we faced.

We have a strong, diversified business and the economic challenges our clients face should be met with innovative and creative solutions devised by our talented teams. The opportunities are there for us to seize.”

I am certain that the way we do business now has changed for the better. We made the bold decision to reorganise our business in April 2021 and as a result, we are now able to bring the full strength of the firm to our clients, deploying expertise where it is needed most across four specialist, national divisions. No longer bound by regional territories, we are enjoying the flexibility and freedom of working in a national marketplace with a more diverse and exciting client base than ever before.

The year to March 2022 has been another strong year for performance, both financially and in recruitment. Our workforce has expanded organically by more than 10% to around 650 colleagues as a result of winning and renewing high-value contract work across all specialisms. I was particularly pleased to see that our divisions outperformed against budget, confirming that our multidisciplinary offering is resonating in the market. Our challenge this year is to retain this impressive growth in a particularly tough recruitment market. Whether or not you believe in The Great Resignation, the pandemic has fundamentally changed the way we work, and employees hold substantially more control over their employment choices now compared to two years ago.

At Fisher German, we have a compelling and inclusive culture which empowers ambitious people to flourish and develop their careers; we need to take this offer to the market and communicate it clearly and positively to attract the very best in the industry to join us, and stay with us. I was delighted to hear that our Graduate Recruitment team were Highly Commended in the recent Institute of Student Employers Awards for Best Development Programme, in the first year of entering. This positions us very well to win the war for talent as we seek to continue our growth trajectory.

The economic challenges we currently face in the rising cost of living and record-breaking inflation rates are ones we must watch with caution. Nevertheless, we have a strong, diversified business and the economic challenges our clients face should be met with innovative and creative solutions devised by our talented teams. The opportunities are there for us to seize.

If the pandemic has taught us anything, it must be that the more time we can spend with our clients, and the deeper understanding we can gain of their issues, the better positioned we can be to support them in being resilient, flexible and profitable businesses in the face of economic adversity. As long as we continue to work together and support each other as one team over the next 12 months, I am confident that we will not only continue to meet our ambitious projections, but comfortably surpass them.

Auditor’s Report

The latest BM Trada Management Systems Certification Audit took place in November 2020 and returned 0 non-conformities for a third consecutive year.

This resulted in the successful recertification of both ISO 90001:2015 and ISO 140001:2015 for quality management system and environmental management system respectively.

The auditor said: “There have been no adverse trends identified, indeed the management system has continued to be developed and communicated to all personnel. The quality and environmental management system has evolved over the period to take into account their internal management structural changes and office movements.”

The management systems have been consistent because the personnel managing the administration of the systems have been fairly consistent and the top management have shown commitment to maintaining their reputation through consistent systems. Systems were sampled during the audit and the evidence found has all been compliant, which has confirmed continued conformity and effectiveness of their systems.”

Promotions & accolades

Duncan Bedhall, Senior Partner

I would like to open this report with thanks to my predecessor, Tim Shuldham, who retired from the Equity Partnership last year. Tim’s contributions to our success, as a Partner, as Deputy Managing Partner from 2013-19, and subsequently as Senior Partner, are substantial and he continues to work closely with the team in Doncaster as a Consultant Partner.

In his final act as Senior Partner, Tim confirmed the re-election of Managing Partner Andrew Bridge for a further three years from 1 April 2022, and the election of myself into the role of Senior Partner for a three-year term commencing 1 October 2021.

One of the great pleasures of being Senior Partner is announcing the promotions of colleagues who have demonstrated excellence in their areas of expertise. In 2021/22, we promoted 55 colleagues with a further 46 progressing from 1 April 2022. The high number of promotions is recognition of our firm’s growth and the success of our career progression framework, which gives everyone the opportunity to advance in the firm if they aspire to do so.

Our Partnership has also grown during this time and we were pleased to promote Helena Tibbitts to Partner on 1 October 2021. A former RICS Matrics Young Surveyor of the Year, Helena leads our rural and residential valuation team and first joined us as an administrator in 2006. She is the epitome of what our career progression framework aims to achieve – a structured progression route with no limits on what they can achieve.

We were also delighted to welcome Miles Youdan to the Partnership in the autumn, joining our Doncaster team to head up our investment agency

service. With more than 30 years’ experience in the property investment market, Miles brings a wealth of knowledge to the firm and will open doors for further growth in this area, for us and our clients.

I am also pleased to congratulate Matthew Hodgetts, Matthew Trewartha and Yan Gittins who all progressed within the Partnership.

It has been another successful year for our graduates with 14 individuals passing their Assessment of Professional Competence (APC) in both surveying and planning routes to become chartered professionals.

It is thanks to the dedication of our Graduate Team that our APC success rate remains exceptionally high at 98.2% for the last five years. It has been fantastic to see the team recognised for their commitment to early careers development by being shortlisted for a second, consecutive time for Best Development Programme at the National Undergraduate Employability Awards, facing much larger competition from the likes of IBM, Lloyds and SAP. We have also been placed 69th in the Top 100 Best Student Employers 2022 in our first year of meeting the criteria, having previously been listed in the Top 10 Medium-Sized Schemes in 2021.

Many of our colleagues hold prestigious posts with industry bodies and this year we are pleased to see more individuals flying the Fisher German flag. Reaffirming our longstanding relationship with the Pipeline Industries Guild, Rachel Bridge was appointed Deputy Chair of the Guild, meanwhile Jenny Salt replaced Rachel as the Chair of the Midlands Branch. Rachel Kirk was also elected Chair of the Chester Association of Property Professionals.

One of the great pleasures of being Senior Partner is announcing the promotions of colleagues who have demonstrated excellence in their areas of expertise.”

We were shortlisted as a finalist in the Insider’s Midlands Residential Property Awards 2022 in the ‘Deal of The Year’ category for the sale of a 100-acre site off Watery Lane in Curborough, Lichfield to Redrow Homes. The site has planning permission for up to 750 homes and a gross development value in excess of £240 million.

Two senior appointments

Charles Warrack has joined our Birmingham office as an Associate Partner who will specialise in the sale, letting and acquisition of offices. He joined our commercial agency department, further strengthening the team’s knowledge and expertise.

Emily Halpin has joined us as Associate Partner to expand our valuation team based at our Banbury office.

We welcomed Miles Youdan who joins the firm as a Partner within its commercial agency department. Miles is an investment agency expert with more than 30 years of experience in the UK property investment market, with a historic focus in the Midlands, Yorkshire and North East regions. He provides specialist knowledge and advice on investment sales and acquisitions, including forward funding developments and sale and leasebacks, to a client base of primarily property companies and institutional investors.

We were recognised as a finalist in the Best Development Programme and Best Student Employers categories in the National Undergraduate Employability (NUE) awards. These awards reward and celebrate the outstanding achievements of employers, agencies, students and universities in undergraduate work experience across the UK and showcase the passion, innovation and dedication of those who are making a difference in the industry.

We welcomed Tom Giddings as an Associate Partner to the minerals team in the rural property management department. Our in-house expertise for geology and mineral property issues is second to none, and we are excited to expand this team to meet the growing demand for this niche knowledge area in the portfolios we manage.

Four of our young planners, James Beverley, Nia Borsey and Melissa Balk & Antonia Wyatt and a project we were involved in were shortlisted as finalists for the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) Awards for Planning Excellence 2022.

Finance

Adrian Jones, Finance Director

Increasing confidence in the financial performance quickly built as the year progressed, vindicating the earlier decisions that had been made, and allowing the business to start focusing on plans for 2022/23.”

At the time of writing the latest financial year to the end of March 2022 has just been completed and it’s naturally a good time to reflect upon the changes that have taken place in the first full year of recovery after the start of the Covid pandemic. Whilst we will be reporting another strong set of results, the financial outcome doesn’t fully reflect the significant changes that have been taking place in the business operations and organisation, nor the strategic plans that are now in the process of being implemented.

It is fair to say that as we approached April 2021 there was a degree of trepidation about what a “post-Covid” recovery might look and feel like. The business had finished the previous “Covid year” with an increasingly strong performance as confidence gained, but there was no guarantee that the recovery would be sustained. The 2021/22 plans were very cautious in this regard but they did include an ambitious intention to recover the pre-Covid levels of capital expenditure, investment and recruitment that had been subdued during the previous year. It was felt that it was time to recapture some of the ground lost during Covid.

Additionally, the business had committed during the summer of 2020 to a plan to “divisionalise” the business, moving away from a regional management structure

to one that was based upon the services being delivered to the clients. This would be accompanied by a deep-rooted change in the financial reporting structure of the business that would facilitate a much deeper understanding of service and client profitability. All of these changes were implemented at the start of the new financial year in April 2021 and so form the backdrop to the latest annual step in the firm’s growth and development trajectory.

Increasing confidence in the financial performance quickly built as the year progressed, vindicating the earlier decisions that had been made, and allowing the business to start focusing on plans for 2022/23. Notwithstanding the challenges the firm expects to be posed by the cost of living crisis and recruiting the right number and calibre of employee in a difficult market, the plans include a series of significant new investments in fresh, modern and innovative office space and the identification of a prospective merger partner that will take the business into key city centre locations for the first time, further broadening the range of services offered by the firm.

Digging Up Britain

The last few years have been brilliant for our joint venture partner LinesearchbeforeUdig (LSBUD), a free to use online safe digging service which provides the location of underground assets and infrastructure across the UK. LSBUD exists to reduce the risk of death, injury, damage, and disruption caused by asset strikes. The safety of the public and those working near utility cables, pipes and other essential equipment is of the highest priority. Any individual or organisation can use the LSBUD portal to check their work against more than 100 asset owners’ utility networks which include over one million kilometres of

underground and overhead pipes and cables.

Evidence proves that there is a search being done every six seconds with more than 3.4 million enquiries each year. LSBUD’s goal is clear, they want to encourage all UK asset owners to make their information available through this collaborative service to keep assets and workers and the community safe in the process. The safe digging community continues to be stronger and there are now more than 100 members registered on the portal which has led to a safer environment for everyone. The majority of digging work has been performed by the telecoms sector who

Apr21 – Mar 22

• 3.47 million enquiries processed

• 40,017 new registrations

• 8 new members (SP Energy Networks, Squire Energy, SAS Associates, Palm Paper, DS Smith, NTT Global Data, EU Networks, Last Mile), with preparatory work with many more.

• Two of our major Members, Cadent and National Grid, made improvements which meant an addition of all of their network assets onto the service. Altogether, we were able to add over 200,000km of pipes and cables- reflecting approximately 20% growth

• We also finalised terms with John Bennett, who joined us as Head of New Ventures towards the end of 2021 to expand our offering to the market and work on some exciting new offerings.

need detailed underground mapping with over 1.2 million searched in 2021. The water industry submitted over 900,000 enquiries, a 11% increase from 2020. Together these two sectors account for 77% of all digging work. The consistent growth in number of search enquiries confirms the digging industry’s willingness to improve as well as the public understanding of the benefits of searching before digging even before starting a relatively small home improvement project. 2021 saw a 25% increase in the number of searches with 157,428 being carried out.

People

Maria Hawley, HR Director

At the beginning of the last financial year in April 2021, the business was restructured into four Divisions. This ensures that specialised quality services can be delivered to our clients and our colleagues have clear career progression pathways. High demand for our expertise, skills and experience remains, which has enabled continued, organic growth of our teams, increasing our headcount from 561 to 637. This people growth is delivering on our ongoing plans for expansion moving into the new financial year.

The pandemic certainly posed challenges for our people, and they really dug deep on their resilience to deal with the ongoing impact in their personal lives.”

The continuance of the pandemic certainly posed challenges for our people, and they really dug deep on their resilience to deal with the ongoing impact in their personal lives. The Partners remain eternally grateful for all of their hard work and commitment; we recognised that everyone was completely fed up and tired after two years of life on pause. To help colleagues take time to

celebrate the important times, we gave everyone the period over Christmas as additional holiday, and have also introduced a Birthday day off which has been very well received.

Individuals’ wellbeing remained at the core of our approach, with Wellness Wednesday initiatives, including a focus on men’s health and wellbeing, guidance on the menopause, and the return of our Walking Challenge, to name a few.

We also formalised our Hybrid Working Policy as the pandemic restrictions ceased. This followed consultation with our people to understand what different ways of working would suit them best. We are now designing our office spaces as places for people to come together and collaborate across our divisional teams.

I joined Fisher German in January 2022 and was surprised at the level of responsibility I was given straight away. Being able to go out on site with experienced team members has meant that I have learnt a lot very quickly. It also means I have a mentor who is committed to ensuring I feel supported all the time. I have been exposed to a wide variety of work within the Telecoms sector, primarily valuations, rent reviews and lease renewals. All my colleagues have been supportive, encouraging, and happy to help.

“The Graduate Team have ensured that we have had plenty of opportunities to interact and get to know one another. There have been various induction and training days and we have been given lots of information regarding the APC exam requirements. Having a mentor means if I have any questions or concerns, I have someone to go and speak to which is really important. I am really enjoying my time at Fisher German so far and I look forward to further developing my career within the telecoms sector.”

Edward Adams, Graduate Surveyor – Telecoms

Liberty Stones, Head of Planning

This year a free copy of Rebel Ideas by Matthew Syed was made available to everyone working at Fisher German. For those who haven’t yet read it, the book argues that individual intelligence is no longer enough and that the only way to tackle complex problems is to harness the power of ‘cognitive diversity’.

We know our clients want and benefit from the collective brain power of our people. They are telling us that they don’t just want a service from one member of our team, they want ideas from our 600+ people; it’s that which will help them succeed and be the best they can be.

We want to harness our diversity of thought at Fisher German and believe this is achieved by ensuring that Fisher German is place where people feel they belong; where everyone is included, treated fairly and have an equal chance to succeed.

The DRIVE group was created this year to focus on diversity, fairness, equality and inclusion within the business. Under DRIVE this year the Leadership Team and Divisional Managing Partners have had bespoke training on diversity and inclusion in the workplace; the Partners and Associate Partners have experienced a workshop which challenged individual thinking on everyday workplace scenarios; the group has driven changes to questions in our Time Out survey to ensure we are harnessing as much relevant information as possible from the business and better understand where our people see our strengths and weaknesses. In parallel to this, the group has been progressing a D&I Statement. Using the findings of the Time Out survey the group, in 22/23, will progress objectives and actions, based around a central commitment statement (below) which has been shaped by the group.

With the power of teamwork Fisher German provides a wide range of property services to a diverse client base, through which we strive to make a real difference to the world we live in.

We recognise the value and competitive advantage that diverse teams bring to our business and to clients, through knowledge, decision-making and creativity. To unlock this, everyone must feel they belong.

At Fisher German, this starts with an open culture built on trust, honesty, and a fearless resolution to challenge negative behaviours. We embolden colleagues to be themselves, treat each other with respect and positively embrace our differences.”

DRIVE is in its infancy; we have started our journey and are committed to pushing ourselves further.

Operations

Sarah Hammond, Chief Technology Officer

The year to March 2022 has seen a continuation of major operational projects established during the pandemic, including investment in remote working infrastructure and digitisation of our document management processes.

Since completing the integration of Vine Property Management into Fisher German, our office network has exceeded 25 and there is an ever-growing desire from colleagues to work cross-regionally and remotely. Our offices are undergoing huge transformations to meet the requirements for agile working and team collaboration spaces, which require constant investment and maintenance. As a result, I am delighted that we have grown our IT and systems development teams, and

Our offices are undergoing huge transformations to meet the requirements for hot desking and team collaboration spaces, which require constant investment and maintenance.”

appointed a facilities coordinator, to meet these demands.

Cyber security is a key priority for us and our focus for 2022/23 will be on making sure colleagues are sufficiently trained to recognise the most sophisticated cyber-attacks, rolling out multi-factor authentication across all devices and making sure our suppliers play their part in helping us to protect client and colleague data.

We were also pleased to launch our new CRM system, Lucid, this year, which will give colleagues more powerful data to really understand our clients and create more crossdivisional opportunities. This has been a huge undertaking, transferring data from across numerous systems into one, intelligent management system that gives us access to the data we need all in one place. Our next phase of development will be to integrate our conflict of interests process into Lucid to streamline tasks, save time and create a better user experience for our teams.

Guy Hemus, Chief Operating Officer, Property Management & Consultancy

The organisation of our firm into four national divisions last year is reflective of our continued growth; we recognise that as specialists in our respective fields, we are best placed to make the day-to-day operational decisions about how we run our divisions, under the leadership of Divisional Managing Partners and with central business support from Shared Services.

Following this restructure, and with Vine Property Management merging with Fisher German in April 2021, we now boast one of the largest full-service property management teams in the UK which I am proud to be a part of.

The constant drive to perform to our best individually, divisionally and firmwide is one which our colleagues relish, and which ultimately best services our clients.”

When each of our divisions operates efficiently, profitably and competitively, we deliver better results both for ourselves and our clients. Of course, there are constantly opportunities for us to collaborate cross-divisionally and one of the crucial changes implemented as part of the new structure is fair recognition for introducing work to other parts of the business. As a result, within the first year our colleagues introduced more than £800,000 of work to other divisions, ensuring that the right person for the job is always put in front of the client. The constant drive to perform to our best individually, divisionally and firmwide is one which our colleagues relish, and which ultimately best services our clients.

CASE STUDIES

State-of-the-art greenhouses brings all year-round strawberries

We submitted a full planning application for two acres of polytunnels for farm diversification at Middle Farm in Mixbury. We looked at ways to continue to sustain the business and generate more income for the family. The farm, run by the Rymer family for almost 100 years, already farms a range of crops and runs five B & B units and a 7,000 sq ft office complex.

The first strawberry plants, made up of both Everbearing and Junebearing crops, were planted in February 2022 in a hydroponic, soil-free system consisting of coconut husk and irrigated

First solar park in Torbay: Torbay Hospital

Our planning team were delighted to secure planning permission for the first ever solar park in Torbay, Devon. The £3.1 million scheme, at Nightingale Park will see renewable energy created for Torbay Hospital fed to the site from an underground cable. Torbay Hospital will be using the power generated by the solar array to support its plans to become carbon neutral.

Nightingale Park is a former landfill site which was in use from the 1950’s until the 1980’s. This new solar 13ha site park will provide 3.2-megawatt peak of power directly to Torbay Hospital and can provide energy for approximately 25 years. The solar panels will cover 3.9 hectares extending to 5.82 hectares, equivalent to seven football pitches. The plans also include enhancements to the wider area of Nightingale Park including

improvements to the circular walk, provision of exercise equipment so that the community can continue to enjoy the open space. More hedgerows will be put in to help and improve the already existing wildlife.

We are thrilled to have led the planning application process for this high-profile project which is the first ground mounted solar park scheme to seek a resolution to grant consent in Torbay, Devon. The scheme is intended to supply the nearby Torbay Hospital with renewable energy and will make an important contribution towards addressing the climate emergency declared by Torbay Council. Following engagement with the community and working with the ecologists and landscape consultants we were keen to ensure that the proposal also included

rainfall collected from the roof. The temperature and humidity are monitored using a climate controller to ensure the optimum growing condition for the strawberry plants all year round. The double layer of poly for added insulation is also one of very few in the country and will help the farm reduce energy use.

The farm has now welcomed its very first strawberries and is working with a company which caters for large-scale sporting events, with the fruit used at this year’s Queen’s Club Tennis Championship.

enhancements to the landscape and accessibility of the wider Nightingale Park for the benefit of the residents. We were particularly pleased with how the layout of the proposals developed which included the solar panels within the centre the site, a perimeter footpath, and a substantial area beyond retained for landscaping and ecological benefit.

Clients and Markets

Jeremy Phillips, Business Development Director

Alongside the challenges brought to us by the Ukraine / Russia conflict the post pandemic supply shortages of other key commodities lead to significant inflationary pressure, the levels of which we haven’t seen for 40 years.

Many of our clients want a pathway that seeks to achieve net zero in just a few years rather than over two decades. Another priority is to consume less energy, generate more of their own and if they have to buy in energy then to pay the lowest possible rate.

We recognise the huge importance of world class client service and the recommendation and referral of one client to another is far more powerful than anything we could say ourselves.”

The global race to reduce carbon emissions and achieve a net zero position remains a core challenge for our clients. In November 2021, the COP 26 summit in Glasgow, ensured that this will become a legally binding target to bring greenhouse gas emissions down to zero.

Whilst there has been a lot of talking about the subject for many years, we have been listening to our clients and and forming tangible service solutions that will directly assist with this challenge.

Our delivering net zero service (DNZ), at this stage designed to assist owners of multi let commercial property has been in huge demand.

We have been working hard on continual improvement of our client experience and the measurement of it. We recognise the huge importance of world class client service and the recommendation and referral of one client to another is far more powerful than anything we could say ourselves. We were delighted with our 2021 NPS score of +50.8 (global average of professional services is +43) but achievement of world class level of +70 or more is where we aspire and are working hard to be. From here on this will be front and centre of how we operate.

Simpson, Head of Infrastructure Consultancy

The increased focus on net zero and low carbon solutions for our society has not bypassed our clients and has become a core mission for many.

Throughout our tendering work we have seen a sharp increase in clients adapting to operate within environmental, social and governance (ESG) frameworks and many of our long-standing clients are leading the way in developing initiatives to drive the green agenda forwards.

These industry leaders have shown an eagerness to stay ahead of the curve with ambitious projects to help shape the future of the UK, spanning water, electricity, transport, biodiversity and food production, to name just a few. However, it is our existing property assets, more so than future designs, that will carry the greatest burden from legislative changes, particularly in the requirements to meet more stringent energy performance metrics and the retrofitting of necessary infrastructure like electric vehicle chargers.

There is also pressure on our landowning clients to carry out costbenefit analysis on their land use; whether to invest in British farm-to-fork initiatives, explore green projects like rewilding or solar panel installation, or to pursue opportunities to sell off land to support the UK’s housing shortage. With the basic payment scheme (BPS) being phased out, each of these options carries its advantages, both financially and philanthropically, and presents tough choices for many.

We are well placed to support our clients in assessing these requirements and have invested in creative solutions to support the drive to net zero across a wide range of specialisms through our Green Offset and Delivering Net Zero services, which you can read more about on page 18.

We look forward to tackling these challenges in partnership with our clients as we look to 2050.

...many of our long-standing clients are leading the way in developing initiatives to drive the green agenda forwards”

George

CASE STUDIES

New challenges for sea defences scheme in Kent

The Lydd Ranges Sea Defences scheme is on the Romney Marsh coastline and shares some of the plans to protect more than 14,500 homes, 700 businesses and nationally significantly infrastructure from flooding.

The sea defences scheme, a complex project, began in May 2021 as part of the Folkestone to Cliff End Strategy (FoCES) involving around 8.2km of beach frontage. The project is being completed by the Environment Agency to improve the existing frontage to maintain sea defences taking into consideration long-term predictions for climate change with a 100-year strategy for protecting the coastline.

Our work has had environmental constraints due to the very special new tenants we have on site, the

avocet, a protected wading bird with a breeding season during the winter. As such, the beach is a European protected RAMSAR site, as well as being a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and National Nature Reserve which means we must wait until the breeding season is over.

One of the main landowners involved is the Ministry of Defence (MoD) which uses the beach as a live firing range, with an exclusion zone 2.5 miles out to sea. The MoD is continuing to conduct live firing operations around the works which certainly keeps things interesting!

Other parties we are working with are the Crown, which owns the foreshore, and the Maritime

Property Action Plans (PAPs)

commissioned to achieve at least EPC Level B

We pride ourselves on being forward-thinking to consider and minimise the impact of our assets on the environment. Working with leading consultants like Fisher German on projects such as this is helping us deliver sustainability solutions across our portfolios”.

Rory Finnan, Director and Head of Asset Management at Chancerygate.

Our sustainable energy team were instructed to perform a desktop analysis of 17 units across two client portfolios in Brentwood & Cardiff to assess their current energy performance.

We made recommendations for building improvements along with providing a strategy for implementation and for transitioning them to at least a Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) level B. Roof-mounted solar photovoltaics (PV) and Electric Vehicle (EV) charging points were also considered.

We worked closely with our clients to understand both their requirements and how we

Management Organisation (MMO) due to several deliveries being made by boat – which this year includes 300,000 tonnes of shingle. We also work closely with EDF, which owns Dungeness Power Station based at one side of the site, as well as local businesses, the local community, and councils, along with a specialist consultant to liaise with fishermen in the area.

We are hoping that the new groynes will be completed in the summer with the shingle being delivered early August. This delivery will involve a dredger having a temporary mooring and a temporary pipeline to pump shingle onto the beach. The plan is for the scheme to be finally completed in 2023.

could help them to achieve their sustainability goals. By evaluating the current energy performance carbon footprintand ranked assets in priority order for future investment to ensure regulatory compliance and minimise the risk of stranding.

The client was presented with a PAP for each portfolio, with a unit-by-unit review and energy and investment recommendations.

Since launching the Delivering Net Zero (DNZ) service in 2020, a range of companies, including Wesleyan Assurance Society, IO Asset Management and Chancerygate, have already made significant advances in understanding what practical measures need to be undertaken to improve the properties in their respective portfolios.

We’ve completed several portfolio reviews, in each case establishing an energy performance benchmark for how the portfolio currently measures up and how it needs to measure up in time for regulatory deadlines (EPC level D by 2023, Level B by 2030 and net zero by 2050). That allows us to devise a plan for what needs to be done to achieve compliance.

Delivering Net Zero

The team has also advised on building-specific issues, such as a manufacturing facility in Romford, east London, where the tenant, an aeronautical business, had approached the landlord as it wished to generate its own energy on site via photovoltaic (PV) panels. The initial question was whether the existing building structure was strong enough to take on the load of the solar equipment, so our building consultancy team was called in to prepare a report.

In parallel, the landlord began to consider whether they, rather than the tenant, should be investing in the equipment. Our lease advisory team was brought in to review the tenant’s current lease and compare this with the

expected lifespan of both the new equipment and the existing building. At the same time, the Delivering Net Zero team was examining the practical aspects of the proposed improvements, including install costs and how much power would be required by the tenant.

The project is still ongoing and it is representative of the type of process that many landlords, investors and tenants will go through as they explore ways of retro-fitting older buildings to make them more energy efficient: The age of an asset and its structural integrity will decide how easy it is, or not, to fit features such as PV panels, LED lighting and cavity wall insulation.

Since launching, we’ve found that while the theory of achieving Net Zero is increasingly well understood, the practicalities of improving existing buildings may be less straightforward than businesses expect. Whether a proposed improvement is both commercially sensible and practically feasible isn’t always clear in advance and is the kind of question that needs to be dealt with on a building-bybuilding basis. When it comes to Delivering net zero there isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution but utilising our experience and through our turnkey service offering, we are able to move clients in the right direction.

One year on

We launched The Green Offset one year ago offering an online service pairing those looking for areas to site natural capital schemes with parties who have land available. There has been more than 36,000 acres of land listed across the UK.

The platform was created to help develop the market for natural capital schemes which are being driven by the Environment Act which was passed in November 2021. The Green Offset website enables ‘Offset Seekers’ –developers, companies or individuals looking for land for environmental requirements - to search for suitable sites.

Landowners, referred to as ‘Offset Providers’, can easily and freely register their land on the website, showing that they are potentially open to discussion and negotiation around siting of environmental schemes on their land. While the preference will be to deliver this within the development site, developers may need to deliver this off-site if this cannot be achieved, in the local area through biodiversity offsetting.

Developers will not only be required to avoid a loss in biodiversity but deliver a 10 per cent biodiversity net gain as part of any planning consent. Several local authorities have already implemented net gain requirements and some utilities companies are already voluntarily providing it as part of their projects as they start to recognise the long term benefit it will have on the environment and the communities we live in.

The policy is still in very early days and this legislation will not be mandatory until November 2023. Landowners, developers, and local authorities are still seeking clarification on what it involves and how it will affect planning, landowners, and businesses in the future. It will have a huge impact on developers who will need to demonstrate how biodiversity net gain will be achieved in relation to all developments.

It is a simple, free, and useful tool allowing people to identify offsetting opportunities and has

already attracted thousands of visitors. The website interlinks with the agricultural transition which is moving away from the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) providing opportunities for landowners to look at alternative ways to support their long-term future which could potentially be an opportunity for farm diversification and increased income generation.

The platform will continue to be developed and updated as policies and working practices change which puts us in a strong position to assist in developing offsetting requirements. We are able to signpost ecologists, planners, surveyors and accountants and support landowners to work through the challenges that they are being faced with.

Fisher German is calling on even more landowners and Seekers to visit the website to find out more about how the platform can assist in these emerging natural capital markets.

For further information about the service, visit www.greenoffset.co.uk

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