On account of the Covid pandemic, companies are allowing their employees to work from home ("WFH") to help flatten the curve and protect the vulnerable. But what does this mean for businesses?
While working remotely has its fair share of benefits, like saving time and money on commutes and encouraging better work-life balance, it also has some downsides. Because they're not in the office with a team, WFH workers often feel less engaged and connected to their company, which can hurt productivity and performance. When managers and company leaders prioritise employee engagement and teamwork, regardless of an employee's location, the organisation as a whole thrives. Engaging remote employees will ensure a team is still as efficient and productive as they would be in the office, if not more so. However, it can be difficult to define and measure what employee engagement looks like to your team members. Working remotely is a challenge for many, as there tend to be distractions like chores, housemates or roommates, social media, and TV at home. The best way to gauge your employees' engagement levels is by simply asking them about their work and their concerns about returning to an offices. An initial questionnaire covering some of the concerns that exist among employees can start the process of planning what your reconfigured workspace may look like and how the benefits for a company of being in an office can be maximised with minimal risk and anxiety to a workforce. A sample initial questionnaire is outlined below - Keogh Consulting can assist you in development of your engagement questionnaires to start to a) understand what a day in the life of a post Covid knowledge worker may look like, b) what should organisations be doing in the near term to make employees feel comfortable and safe returning to the office, c) review current space to evaluate what may have to be changed moving forward and put in place a plan to do so.
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When we started in 2013 with a blank page and long list of TCD stakeholders to consult during the development of the brief and business case for a new TCD Business School, this was the wonderful outcome that was hoped for down the line. After 17 draft outline briefs and 28 iterations of a financial and economic business case the project obtained approval and a design team was selected. The project is the first university building in the history of the State to be funded without taxpayer’s money. Lots of hard work and input from a wide range of others subsequently have produced a wonderful building that opens the College to Pearse Street, and one that will benefit TCD, Dublin City and the wider Irish Economy in the coming years. A true example of how over complicated and unwieldy excel financial models can turn into something beautiful!
The more serious point is how a detailed peer reviewed and audited financial model of a project with appropriate risk allowances and in built scenario testing is an essential part of setting up a project to give it best chance of success. Should you need assistance in the detailed brief preparation, development of a business case or cost benefit analysis (CBA) for your project please contact us at info@keoconsult.com There has been much talk recently about how long it is taking the Government and it's agencies to deliver housing ("Murphy says he can't shorten procurement process for social housing.", Irish Times Wednesday September 26th, 2018). The EU procurement requirements have been cited as a major road blocker to the quick delivery of housing stock in addition to adding significant cost on account of a number of factors. The reality is that the procurement itself is not the issue but rather the overall capital project management framework with it's staged approval gates - the duration of this project governance process adds a significant amount of risk to a prospective tenderer. This added risk, in the current inflationary construction environment and the backdrop of the Carillion collapse, is adding significant cost to contracting authorities as tenders look to target margin and not turnover. The procedures themselves (when the evaluation and decision making times are minimised) take either 65 or 95 days depending on the process used. However, the reality is that time taken to procure housing takes much longer - in most part due to the approvals and clarifications required under the capital works management framework. The following compares the public procurement process and the private sector process. The extended duration of the public sector process pushes out the time to completion (approximately 18 months longer to get first phase of units completed) and increases costs all around - not lest cost inflation allowances given current market conditions.
The requirements for transparency and good stewardship of the public purse are important but what can be done to quicken things up and make the projects attractive to tenderers? The following is suggested:
The recent forward purchase (for a reported price of €138.5 million)[1] by Irish Life Investment Managers (ILIM) of 262 apartments from Park Developments in Fernbank, Churchtown has highlighted both the attractiveness of the Private Rental Sector (PRS) as an investment class and the profitability of this transaction for Park Developments. With ongoing commentary on the viability of the construction of affordable homes and the publication of a number of reports by the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government and others regarding the cost associated with apartment and housing development – the continued difficulties around the viability of residential development for individual sale is clear. Given that average residential rents countrywide are at an all-time high of €1,261 per month[2] – the combination of high rent levels achievable and the viability issues around building homes to sell are driving build to rent as an attractive development option either for forward sale or operation by Developers.
This study looks at current affordability levels and calculates what value of loan a typical FTB can obtain and how much they can possibly save to accumulate a deposit. Given these estimates an affordability level for each household income level is calculated based on the household income distribution published by Ireland’s CSO – i.e. the price target that must be met by a housebuilder to enable a purchaser with a given income level buy a home. The study then looks at the current makeup of the components of sales price of houses and apartments in Q2 2018 and discusses the feasibility of constructing homes for this market given the estimated affordability limits. Finally, an analysis of Build To Rent as an alternative development option is presented. The findings are summarised as follows:
The full study can be downloaded here build_to_rent_or_to_sell.pdf Should you have any questions about the study please contact us. [1] Source: Irish Times 10/5/2018 & 6/7/2018 [2] Source: www.Daft.ie 4/5/2018 [3] Source: ESRI Richard and his friend Sean are exploring the idea of developing a student residence complex near University College Dublin (UCD). South County seems to present attractive market and demographic conditions for investment in student housing in 2018. But before committing a large share of his personal wealth to the project Richard needs to conduct a more careful analysis of its potential risks and returns.
By putting yourselves into the shoes of a budding real estate entrepreneur, you are required to evaluate the merits and pitfalls of various approaches to the technical feasibility and financial analysis of real estate development projects. Richard and Sean had been involved in a similar project in Galway in the late 90’s when they had previously worked together – they knew how much it would cost and how long it would take to build. The only questions remaining was where they would build and was a student residence really the best idea for their money. The attached case has been developed by Keogh Consulting to be used as a basis for discussion of property development, project appraisal and delivery in inhouse CPD modules. Please contact barry@keoconsult.ie should you need to discuss any aspect of real estate project training. student_residence_case_study.pdf |
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Keogh Consulting looks to help individuals and organisations deliver the right projects the right way. Here is some of our knowledge and a few case studies that we hope will help you on your project journey. Categories
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