Cushman & Wakefield

The overview

Cushman & Wakefield LLP is one of the world’s largest privately held commercial real estate firms, providing a range of advisory and asset management services for owners, occupiers and investors. It was founded as a property management firm in New York in 1917, and has since gained holdings in Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa, Canada, and Mexico, as well as other parts of the US.

Cushman & Wakefield has a particularly strong reputation across Europe in the retail sector.

Cushman & Wakefield currently has 234 offices in 61 countries and employs over 13,000 people worldwide. Within the EMEA region it employs 2,020 people, and 720 of these are based in the UK. In 2011, the firm posted the second-highest gross revenue in its history at $2 billion: a 13.4% increased compared to 2010.

Business areas

Cushman & Wakefield’s UK-based services can be broken down into the following:

• Agency/ brokerage – provides representation and lease advisory services to landlords and tenants.
• Capital markets – provides advice and investment management services to individuals, institutional and corporate clients engaged in buying, selling, investing in, financing or building property.
• Development and planning –
offers consultancy services covering compensation and compulsory purchase, feasibility, funding, occupier demand, and sustainability. Also helps to negotiate joint ventures.
• Research – identifies new opportunities for clients, conducts site specific and strategic analysis, and gathers intelligence in market reports.
• Corporate occupier services – may assist with portfolio strategy and development, acquisitions and disposals, cost management of projects, adherence to schedules, risk mitigation, building maintenance, rent reviews and annual audits.
• Investor services – divided into agency and landlord leasing, and asset management. Activities may include market, occupancy and location analysis, accounting and financial reporting, strategy and negotiations, regulatory and financial management, and emergency planning.
• Valuation.
• Global consulting –provides services for office, manufacturing and industrial occupiers who are expanding or consolidating, such as market entry and location strategy, as well as operational modelling tailored to local market conditions.
• Sustainability –runs across the different services to provide sustainability solutions across property portfolios.
• Building services – newly created in April 2012, this division will practice all areas of building services design, such as refurbishment and fit-out projects.

Cushman & Wakefield applies its services across the following property markets:

• Offices – tall and multi-tenant buildings, and business and office parks.
• Residential – mixed development and regeneration schemes.
• Retail – main streets, factory outlets, shopping centres and out of town parks.
• Leisure and hospitality – hotels and resorts, marinas, spas, health and fitness centres, casinos, racetracks, stadiums and arenas, and conference and exhibition facilities.
• Education – schools, colleges and universities.
• Industrial – warehouses and distribution centres, manufacturing plants, air cargo, and refrigerated or cold storage.

They have also developed several groups dedicated to specific industries requiring the application of specialist knowledge. These are:

• Information technology and telecommunications (ITT)
• Banking
• Life sciences
• Media
• Professional services (accountants, consultants etc)
• Data centres.

Clients

Cushman & Wakefield acts for clients ranging from multinational corporations to individuals owners or occupiers. Its recent corporate clients have included:

• Asda Living
• British Land
• Gap
• Ernst & Young
• Morgan Stanley
• Land Securities
• Tesco
• J.P. Morgan

Strength in retail

The firm has a strong reputation across Europe in the retail sector. It was ranked as top UK shopping centre letting agent in 2011’s ‘Going Shopping – The Definitive Guide to Shopping Centres’, published by Trevor Wood Associates. Cushman & Wakefield held the same position in last year’s guide. Recently, it assisted the outdoor brand Jack Wolfskin in entering the UK market, enabling it to open stores in Westfield London, Regent Street and Covent Garden. It has also been appointed by the private equity firm Duke Street Capital to assist in the planned expansion of its wagamama restaurant chain, from 71 stores in the UK to 300.

Rankings and awards

• Voted the 8th most popular graduate recruiter in the property sector at the TARGETjobs National Recruitment Awards 2011 and was also shortlisted for the diversity recruitment award.
• Ranked number 47 in the Sunday Times Best Companies to Work For survey in 2009 (featured for the sixth consecutive year).
• Won ‘Partnership of the Year’ at the CoreNet Global UK Chapter Awards in 2011.
• Won ‘European Office Agency Team of the Year’ and ‘European Retail/ Leisure Agency Team of the Year’ at the European Property Awards in 2006.

Cushman & Wakefield Sonnenblick Goldman

In 2007, Cushman & Wakefield acquired the real estate investment banking firm Sonnenblick Goldman, which was renamed Cushman & Wakefield Sonnenblick Goldman. It provides specialised financial services, such as debt financing, equity raising, loan sales, due diligence, hospitality financing and sales, and associated advisory services. Its offices are all US-based and it does not form a part of Cushman & Wakefield’s graduate scheme.

Salary and benefits

Cushman & Wakefield states that its salaries are ‘competitive’ and will vary according to locality. Competitive graduate starting salaries for property surveyors typically fall between £20,000 and £25,000, with London salaries edging towards the upper range of the scale.

The firm provides the following benefits:

• a discretionary bonus
• life assurance
• private healthcare
• pension scheme (with company contribution)
• a season ticket loan
• flexible working arrangements
• childcare vouchers
• retail vouchers
• discounted gym membership
• cycle to work scheme
• dental health insurance
• travel insurance
• corporate eye care scheme
• 25 days’ annual leave.

Culture and values

Diversity is a burning issue within the property industry, and Cushman & Wakefield has shown marked efforts to open up future opportunities for students from non-traditional backgrounds.

It has established a trainee surveyor programme in conjunction with the University of Westminster and Lambeth College, specifically targeted towards students from socially and economically deprived backgrounds.

After passing an extensive selection process, including workshops and interviews, students receive sponsorship for a real estate course at Westminster University. During their studies students undertake a part-time role at the firm and are offered a business mentor, as well as driving lessons and other incentives.

‘Changing the Face of Property’

Additionally, Cushman & Wakefield is one of a number of firms that have joined together and committed money to establish an initiative called ‘Changing the Face of Property’. This was led by property firm Jones Lang LaSalle in February 2011 after criticisms that the sector lacked ethnic, social and gender diversity. Together, members of the initiative aim to raise awareness of careers in property by going to disadvantaged schools and a broader range of universities. It is hoped that this will encourage a wider range of future applicants to the sector.

Working practices

The firm seems to embrace flexible working and promote a friendly atmosphere.

Top performers are rewarded

Graduates who distinguish themselves are rewarded with development opportunities: high-performing graduates are taken to Chamonix for a three-day personal and leadership seminar; some are offered secondments to client offices; and others to one of the firm’s overseas offices.