Leading retail property agents Harper Dennis Hobbs (HDH) is to offer a groundbreaking new service for both the retail and real estate industries after winning the bid to outsource Aurora Fashions and Karen Millen’s property team.
The new Corporate Outsourced Real Estate (CORE) Management team will be lead by former Aurora property director Ian Dudley and will provide an outsourced property function for retailers with portfolios that range in size from three to 100 stores in addition to continuing to provide full property services to Coast, Oasis, Warehouse and Karen Millen.
With property departments continually reassessing their store portfolios to adapt to the changing needs of today’s multichannel framework, this allows them to benefit from the support and expertise of a senior experienced property team without the specialist requirement of dedicated internal resource.
The CORE team can also offer a unique approach to dealing with international property having full transactional experience in many markets across the world. Ian Dudley will lead the team having spent the last five years at Aurora as Group Property Director. He was fundamental in the restructuring of the business in 2009 and has previously held senior real estate roles at Lloyds Bank and Vodafone.
David Harper chief executive of Harper Dennis Hobbs, said: “The retail landscape is changing fast and as such retailers, and their store portfolio requirements, are changing with them. With retailers now focusing on quality of locations rather than quantity it’s more important than ever that they make the most informed choices with their stores to ensure the best stores in the best locations to suit their brand.
“Our new team, can come in to assist smaller retailers who may find this important challenge daunting, giving them access to both cost savings advice and global property expertise.”
Mike Shearwood, CEO Aurora Fashions said, “This provides the perfect solution for our brands and other speciality retailers to utilise the expertise of this team who have achieved some excellent and innovative property solutions in the last year.”
The CORE management will be independent of HDH and will employ third party consultants where appropriate. Because of its retailer-only strategy there will be no landlord conflicts with the new strategy. The new team will also draw on the experience of outsourced FM teams to provide a streamlined and cost effective offering.