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BNP Paribas Real Estate is a property services company, which means it provides consultancy, surveying and other related services to owners and tenants of commercial and residential property. It is owned by French banking giant BNP Paribas, and operates in around 30 different countries worldwide.
The company has grown primarily through mergers and acquisitions, which have given it a strong presence in Europe. It was formed by the merger of BNP and Paribas in 2001, and the addition of UK-based consultancy Atisreal in 2004. Since then, BNP Paribas Real Estate has grown into a major player in the sector, achieving turnover of €618m in 2010, of which the UK business contributed €71.5m.
The company’s six key lines of business are:
Supplementary business lines include:
As well as its core property services, the company also has strong market research capabilities. The research division supports its main businesses and provides data analysis for clients. It also produces a large number of reports on a range of sectors and geographic regions. These are highly regarded by professional bodies such as the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, which ranks the company’s reports on the European commercial property market among the best available.
Its market research reports are highly regarded.
BNP Paribas Real Estate serves a wide range of organisations in many different sectors, providing a variety of services to each. These include:
Clients include Activision, BUPA, the Civil Aviation Authority, HSBC, IBM, J D Wetherspoon, the NHS, Royal Mail, Sainsbury’s and Vue Cinemas, among many others.
The organisation operates from 11 locations in the UK, numerous bases in its home market of France, and wholly owned subsidiaries in an additional 13 countries in Europe, India and the Middle East. These include Belgium, Germany, Hungary, India, Romania and UAE. It also has alliances in a further 15 countries, including Austria, Bulgaria, Canada, Japan, Russia and USA. Building new partnerships in emerging markets such as Albania and Serbia is also a major priority.
The company does not specify an exact starting salary for graduates – it says only that the salary is ‘competitive’. The figure varies between regions, but is regularly benchmarked against other companies in the industry, so it is likely to be in the region of £20,000 to £25,000. It will also increase on qualification.
The company also has a flexible benefits programme, which is available to all employees on completion of their probation period. This allows employees to choose and buy appropriate benefits from a range of options, including extra holiday days, carbon offsets, dental insurance, childcare vouchers, or even wine purchases. The value of these benefits is balanced out throughout the year, rather than being taken as a lump sum.
Given the company’s business model of expansion by acquisition, there are some cultural differences between different offices and departments. It is currently working to standardise internal procedures and ensure there is a single company culture.
In defining its own culture, the company cites four key values: expertise, innovation, proximity (to clients) and responsibility. It also lists four main ‘professional values’ that its employees embrace: energy, excellence, innovation and integrity.
Employees often describe the company culture as ‘friendly’ and ‘supportive’, particularly in regard to graduates. New starters in London share open-plan offices with many of the directors and board members: only six of its 250 staff have their own offices. Executive committee members have an ‘open-door’ policy, meaning that they are happy to be approached by staff of any level for help or feedback. There’s also an employee forum that meets three times a year to discuss internal issues.
Working hours vary from office to office, though 9.00 am to 5.30 pm is typical. The company does not pay overtime, but employees are generally expected to work late on some occasions, if workloads require it. This is particularly the case in departments such as valuations, which have monthly ‘hotspots’ as reporting deadlines approach.
The company supports a number of sports teams, including football, hockey, netball, rugby and sailing. It also sets aside a ‘Ministry of Fun’ social budget to subsidise regular social drinks and one-off cultural events: recent trips have included tours of St Paul’s Cathedral and the Stratford Olympic site and a visit to the Museum of London.
As an industry, surveying is still very much dominated by white, middle-class males. It is therefore worth noting that the balance of male to female graduates on the company’s 2011 intake was 50/50. It also boasts a women’s forum, a multi-faith prayer room and a new ‘pathways to property’ initiative, which aims to attract more young people from a range of backgrounds into the industry.
The organisation takes an interest in the artistic side of property, sponsoring architects, architectural projects and exhibitions such as the permanent collection at the Parisian Pavillon de l’Arsenal. It was the first property consultancy to join sustainability group Business in the Community and encourages employees to get involved with volunteering work such as community programmes. Previous projects have included the renovation of woodland areas and youth clubs. It also invites employees to choose a charity to support over a two-year period and matches their donations.
One of the reasons we moved to our office in Aldermanbury Square was to get as many people as possible onto one floor, and to get the teams interacting more and working more closely together. The idea is that if you work together, you’ll play together, and if you play together you work better together, because you know each other. So the office helps to develop that social network as well as the professional network.
Ann Ord, graduate development manager, BNP Paribas Real Estate.
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