Five new winners have claimed one of the industry's most coveted prizes: the Best Practice Awards, presented Oct. 18 at the Tennessee World Congress of the International Development Research Council (IDRC), the world's leading corporate real estate (CRE) association. Here are summaries of 1999's winning Best Practices, which SS will profile during 2000. Full Tennessee World Congress coverage will follow in SS's next issue.

Strategy: Capital One CRE/Jones Lang LaSalle
Though Capital One Financial's portfolio tripled in only four years, top management remained reactionary, viewing real estate as a "just-in-time" resource.

That is, until Capital One's CRE arm aligned with Jones Lang LaSalle in 1998 to devise a strategy that supports overall business objectives and growth and has elevated CRE into a leadership role. A four-step management model, for example, divides the portfolio into five major occupancy categories and outlines preferred real estate solutions. A new "real estate play book" also guides decisions and integrates real estate with Capital One's human resources (HR) and information technology (IT) infrastructure.

Real estate decisions now precede, not follow, financing decisions. And monthly "capacity planning meetings" coordinate CRE, HR, IT and business unit efforts.

Decision Support: Portfolio Management Office,
Public Building Services, U.S. GSA
With an 8,300-facility portfolio spanning 335 million sq. ft. (3.02 million sq. m.), the U.S. General Services Administration's (GSA) Public Building Service (PBS) is the largest U.S. commercial-style real estate organization.

To meet those vast challenges in decision support and asset value maximization, PBS turned to the Web, creating the Asset Business Plan (ABPnet) site.

Drawing from a centralized, standardized database, ABPnet provides users with standard financial data scorecards, monitors benchmark and performance data, helps them anticipate future workplace needs and tracks customer satisfaction and service.

Leadership: Whirlpool Corporate Real Estate
Whirlpool's CRE has become a "corporate integrator" spearheading infrastructure integration. CRE's strategy has promoted a more integrated, value-adding approach to workplace management, and has cost-effectively driven accountability through the business units.

The bottom-line results are impressive, including 1998's US$38.7 net reduction in transaction costs and $34.1 million in cash flow from dispositions.

With a CRE staff of only eight managing a 41.4-million-sq. ft. (3.72 million sq. m.) portfolio, outsourcing has been a key strategy. A new CB Richard Ellis facilities and administration contract, for example, yielded $1.8 million in 1998 savings.

Leadership: UnitedHealth CRE/Trammell Crow Outsourcing/Steelcase/RSP Architects
1996's United HealthCare-MetraHealth merger presented huge challenges, including duplicate locations, fragmented service delivery, varying workstation sizes and quality and divergent "infostructures." UnitedHealth's CRE Services (CRES) unit filled that void, adding substantial value by centralizing real estate functions.

The nine-member CRES developed long-term strategic alliances with Trammell Crow Outsourcing (for project/facilities management); Steelcase's Furniture Management Coalition (for furniture asset management) and RSP Architects (for design). CRES also established in-house partnerships with IT, HR and Procurement Services.

The myriad positive benefits include: overall facility management fees 30 percent below BOMA standards; $5.6 million savings in furniture management and a national design-fee matrix 15 below market rates. CRES can now simultaneously manage 90-plus projects, but still adjust its workload by 50 percent without disruption.

Service: AT&T Global Real Estate
As AT&T began refocusing after the Lucent Technologies/NCR spin-offs, Global Real Estate (GRE) in 1997 began fundamentally redesigning its planning and service delivery processes, intensely focusing on increasing productivity, optimizing space utilization and minimizing occupancy costs.

GRE's broad, clear performance metrics and space standards now link to corporate strategic objectives and promote mutual accountability. GRE has also established a broad range of strategic alliances, cutting costs and adding flexibility in work-force planning.

A GRE call center now handles service requests from clients, as does the Web, which also provides clients with project tracking and building information.

Though early retirement halved staffing, GRE during 1996-99 produced notable savings -- cutting business unit billings by $245 million, for example -- while maintaining client satisfaction, service continuity and performance levels.

-- Jack Lyne