Property Integration is a vital part of the onboarding procedure for Centrick’s Building and Estate Management team, it’s critical to ensuring that your new building and estate managers perform for you and your residents – but what exactly is property integration? What does it mean? And how does it benefit RMC’s, Freeholders, Developers, Residents and Staff? As part of our Centrick Uncovered series, we take you behind the scenes with Associate Director, Sam Deffley, at one of our latest building management instructions to show you exactly how we do it.
What Does Property Integration Entail?
When we joined Sam, he was visiting one of our newest management instructions in the heart of Birmingham City Centre. As Associate Director, Integration, Sam leads the team in making sure all buildings are integrated seamlessly into Centrick management. After many months and weeks of planning Sam and the team were in the throes of “go live” so, in the immediate term, his priorities were about making sure all residents were aware of the management changes, keeping staff up to date, and understanding the current state of the development. This involves updating signage, conversing with staff, and examining the condition of the building.
It is particularly important that residents are kept up to date with these management changes, which is why Sam and the team have tried to talk to as many residents as possible on their first day of management. For those they can’t contact, a brochure has been made available to them outlining who Centrick are, how to contact us, and how we can help make their day-to-day lives at the development the best it possibly can be.
What Does Day One Of Property Integration Look Like?
It is also important to Sam and the team that the first day of management by Centrick is as positive as possible. When we met with Sam at our newest instruction, he explained that the team had already replaced faulty door mats and fixed the broken water fountain in the entrance hall for all staff and residents to enjoy. It is these small but significant tasks that help set the tone for the rest of Centrick’s management period.
All the backend technology, portals, resident login’s, leaseholder information is also integrated well in advance of day one – making sure any handover is professional for all involved.
It is important to the Centrick team that we make these positive strides in order to quickly restore a sense of community within the development, as well as help establish trust between residents and ourselves.
How Do You Onboard Staff?
At large-scale developments, it is commonplace that staff are brought under Centrick’s wing and become part of the Centrick team. As well as a clear TUPE process to ensure that the team stay consistent, experience is retained and no loss of stability is created, we also take care to integrate the existing team into the wider Centrick family – touches like uniform, training, certification and technology really go a long way to fostering a tight knit sense of team and community. After all, our people are the single biggest part of our success and critical to ensuring the smooth running of the development to our high standards.
Interested in our Property Integration Services?
At Centrick, we have been onboarding developments across the UK for the last 17 years. Our team currently manages 25,000 units across 500 different developments, each of which has their own building, finance, community, compliance and broader resident needs that we support and resolve every single day. From freeholder instructions, to developer-led instructions and resident-led companies, Centrick are able to add value and expertise to any development across the UK. Get in touch with our team below for more information:
