Asset Manager

Job Title: Asset Manager

Type: Permanent / Full Time / Monday to Friday / 37.50 hours per week

Type: Hybrid role with a requirement to work from the Northampton office 3 days per week

Salary: £42k - £50k plus car allowance

Full, clean driving licence (essential)

Purpose of the Role:

The Asset Manager is an important role in Bright Horizons UK, with responsibility for the property and asset management of circa 120 - 150 nursery settings. The role will ensure that each nursery can operate from the building/grounds securely (lease term, planning ) and flexibility which is appropriate to each individual nursery, be it a community or client nursery, leasehold or freehold. The Asset Manager will work with operations and other supporting functions to formulate and document a property strategy.

This role comes with accountability for reviewing lease terms, checking service charges, insurances, business rates, mitigating costs across the nursery portfolio including keeping rents as low as possible and recording information promptly on the property management software.

The Property and Asset Manager’s workload is varied from dealing with day to day enquires from the nurseries, operations team and other support functions, negotiations with landlords to having the ability to recognise and add strategic value to the business through the asset management and professional work (rent reviews/lease renewals ) of the nursery settings.

The role will get involved in the acquisition of new sites for either replacement nurseries or new locations and also the disposal of settings, via surrender, subletting/assignment, sale and reviewing opportunities and putting together the reports to support the business cases and working with the various internal and external team/consultants.

The role works closely with a number of different departments within Bright Horizons including legal, finance, operations, facilities and marketing and a key part of the role is to work collaboratively, seek alignment and ensure processes are followed and accountability taken for agreed clear actions.

Key Responsibilities:

• Provide day to day property management and working in collaboration with the finance team to ensure rents, service charge, business rates and insurance are paid on time and efficiently as possible.
• To keep CRM up to date regarding lease renewals, rent reviews, breaks and other information that is needed for the system.
• Build relationships with Landlord, assist in the property information held and asset management strategy for each nursery.
• To regularly plan and visit nursery in the Asset Man portfolio, such as 1 – 2 days per month to meet with NM/ops team to understand property related challenges and help forge asset management strategy.
• To deal with day to day enquiries from the nurseries and support functions.
• To work collaboratively with the other support functions to improve the process and improve efficiency and quality of information to inform business decisions in areas such as, but not limited to, legal (heads of terms), facilities (business cases for refurbishment work), finance (renewals, divestments and CRM ), project team (new developments)
• Formation of central data base of rents, yields, insurance, service charges
• To undertake rent reviews, lease renewals, divestments and disposals appointing and working with external consultants, if required. Reviewing data, demographic reports, competitor analysis, comparable evidence and compiling reports.
• To asset manager and formulate a property strategy for each nursery having regard to the nursery financials, demographics, the “nursery place” supply/capacity in the nursery catchment area and other factors where appropriate. This will be reviewed and agreed on an annual basis.
• Property Acquisitions, for replacement or new locations, preparing and presenting reports to support business cases, including demos, parent maps, financial models, working with consultants (planning, highway ), negotiating, developing and agreeing heads of terms, instructing legal and managing through to acquisition of site/building.
• To seek opportunities to add value to the nursery operation of the estate which might be through development opportunities, adding nursery capacity or mitigating/reducing costs such as rents, service charges, business rates or insurance, and re gearing leases with landlords.

Responsible For:

• Review and approving rent, service charges and insurance payments, keeping CRM up to date, day to day property management
• Management of 3rd party and vacant properties and coordinating with finance and facilities team
• Build relationship with operations to help resolve any property related issues and inform the property strategy
• Formulating Asset Strategy for each nursery to be agreed and review every 12 months
• Lease Renewals – preparing reports with recommendations
• Rent Reviews – review of lease, market evidence, negotiations with landlords/agents
• Managing and reviewing break clauses
• Managing dilapidations – developing strategy, working with consultants and negotiating settlements
• Preparation of Divestment/Disposal Business Cases
• Assisting with identifying opportunities to add value, reduce costs or increase flexibility – regearing leases
• Managing business rates strategy, working with consultants to ensure appeals are lodged to reduce assessments
• To work collaboratively with facilities to complete the business cases for capital investment
• Putting together business cases/presentations for replacement and new acquisition nurseries, assembling the reports undertaking the financial models, making recommendations and summarising risk and sensitivity.
• Co-ordinating the due diligence prior to the acquisition, planning, highways, costs consultant, working with the developer/architect to develop the design and working with the project manager on the specification
• Agreeing Heads of Term for the purchase or lease for the purchase contract, agreement for lease and lease clearing identifying the structure of the deal, the conditionality to ensure that the risk of the deal is mitigated for Bright Horizons.
• Assisting in the due diligence of the acquisition of other nursery businesses regarding property related matters
• Managing external consultants on areas where it is deemed necessary and work cannot be undertaken in house
• Build relationships with property agents for information on rent reviews and other property issues
• Take responsibility for own personal and professional development

Essential Experience:

• Property/Asset/Estate management experience across a commercial property portfolio
• Property acquisitions and development, demonstrating strategy, the importance of due diligence and conditionality
• Used to formulation of strategies for negotiations and projects with timelines and strategies and articulating
• Strong PC skills - Microsoft Word, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint
• Use of Property Management systems (BH use a CRM system)
• A pragmatic, solution focused approach using risk evaluation, outcome scenarios to determine options and solutions to problems
• Knowledgeable of L&T law, familiar with reviewing leases and where appropriate to work with legal to seek advice on the implication of clauses within leases and obligations placed on the landlord and tenant.
• Preparing detailed Heads of Terms, applicable to the transaction and instructing legal
• Good understanding of planning, party wall issues (desirable)

Qualifications Needed:

• Relevant first degree, post graduate degree and professional qualification in Property/Estate Management (desirable)
• Relevant qualification, then demonstrable experience in Commercial Property Management (essential)
• Evidence of continuous professional development (desirable)
• Chartered Member of Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (MRICS) (or working towards) (desirable)

Personal Attributes:

• A desire to provide high quality customer service (internal and external)
• Excellent influencer, and effective communicator, (oral and in writing)
• Ability to manage and keep track of a busy workload and prioritise
• Strong interpersonal and negotiating skills
• A positive collaborative approach - a team player, respecting the roles played by other people in the organisation
• Highly motivated and driven, achieving positive impact and meeting deadlines and taking accountability
• A ‘can-do’ attitude and high energy, thrives in a fast-paced, dynamic environment
• Accountable, making sure ownership of projects is clear and seeing projects through
• Able to use data and numerical detail effectively to review implement strategy,
• Strong commercial and strategic instinct

Bright Horizons are committed to creating inclusive environments where everyone has a sense of belonging and has the opportunity to contribute and thrive in meaningful and impactful ways. We are an inclusive employer and welcome people from all backgrounds to apply. We will consider reasonable adjustments required by applicants. If you share our passion, values, and have most of the skills listed, we encourage you to apply – as you may be just what we are looking for Please note, due to our sector all roles are subject to an Enhanced DBS. Some of our roles require specific qualifications by law, this will be highlighted as essential within the advert.