Napier & Blakeley Articles and News » Rob Howells

Michael Ross returns to Napier & Blakeley

Napier & Blakeley — Wed, 15 Sep 2021 23:30:23 +0000

We take great pleasure in announcing that Michael Ross has returned to Napier & Blakeley as our National Head of Tax.

Michael was originally with N & B from 2000 to 2002 and since then further developed his career providing depreciation and asset based services, and the associated technology.

As a highly regarded leader and mentor with over 20 years of market experience, Michael has built up a fantastic network of clients and contacts across the Australian property market. He’s professional, innovative and has a passion for business improvement through technology and consultancy.

“This appointment aligns directly with the ongoing development of our strategic plan, enabling our clients to assess and manage the cost, risk and returns from their property investment decisions through improved efficiencies, integration of services and technology based solutions” said Rob Howells, Napier & Blakeley Managing Director.

As the National Head of Tax Depreciation, Michael will join Napier & Blakeley’s leadership group and will be based in Sydney, and his contact details are below and please contact him for any assistance or advice you require going forward.

Please contact us for any further information:

MELBOURNE
Rob Howells, Managing Director | 0437 649 082 | rhowells@napierblakeley.com
Peter Frith, Director | 0437 649 082 | pfrith@napierblakeley.com
Craig Smith, Director | 0407 371 664 | csmith@napierblakeley.com
Ian Gardner, Associate Director | 0488 225 569 | igardner@napierblakeley.com

SYDNEY
Alastair Walker, Director | 0419 503 289 | awalker@napierblakeley.com
Peter Hammond, Director | 0419 980 901 | phammond@napierblakeley.com
Peter Osborn, Director | 0439 765 571 | posborn@napierblakeley.com
Michael Ross, National Head of Tax | 0403 841 175 | mross@napierblakeley.com
Stephen Cooke, Associate Director | 0409 228 552 | scooke@napierblakeley.com

BRISBANE
Adam Greene, Associate Director | 0409 724 395 | agreene@napierblakeley.com
Paul Cosker, Associate Director | 0434 400 107 | pcosker @napierblakeley.com
Gavin Peach, Associate Director | 0412 225 781 | gpeach@napierblakeley.com
KY Pih, Associate | 0408 933 660 | kpih@napierblakeley.com

PERTH
Graham Rigby, Associate Director | 0419 847 998 | grigby@napierblakeley.com
Jorden Morris, Quantity Surveyor | 0457 001 545 | jmorris@napierblakeley.com

2021 Napier & Blakeley Construction Costs Datacards

Napier & Blakeley — Mon, 13 Sep 2021 00:05:51 +0000

Napier & Blakeley have provided cost advice to all sectors of the construction and development industries for over 36 years and are pleased to provide our updated Construction Costs Datacards:

Sydney

Melbourne

South East Queensland

Adelaide

Perth

Our Quantity Surveying team is able to provide the following services for your projects:

Cost Planning, Cost Control & Value Management
Reporting to the Project Financier (we are accepted by all major lending institutions)
Bills of Quantities and Contract Administration
Capital Expenditure Forecasting for Property Owners
Maintenance Reserve and Capital Replacement Funds Forecasting
Insurance Replacement Cost Assessments
Tax Depreciation

Do not hesitate to call us to discuss your project.

For further information on our Development Advisory & Quantity Surveying services please contact our team here:

SYDNEY
Alastair Walker, Director | 0419 503 289 | awalker@napierblakeley.com
Peter Hammond, Director | 0419 980 901 | phammond@napierblakeley.com
Peter Osborn, Director | 0439 765 571 | posborn@napierblakeley.com
Stephen Cooke, Associate Director | 0409 228 552 | scooke@napierblakeley.com

PERTH
Graham Rigby, Associate Director | 0419 847 998 | grigby@napierblakeley.com
Jorden Morris, Quantity Surveyor | 0457 001 545 | jmorris@napierblakeley.com

N & B People News

Napier & Blakeley — Wed, 18 Aug 2021 11:12:24 +0000

Strategic Planning + Increased Workload = New People at N & B

and we are happy to introduce you to them here…

…we are also delighted to announce to you the following promotions, and we congratulate them and thank our clients for their continued support.

If you’re interested in a career or a new challenge assisting us in providing services to our significant and varied local and international client list, N & B are always looking for new people.contact us if you’re interested.

MELBOURNE
Rob Howells, Managing Director | 0437 649 082 | rhowells@napierblakeley.com
Peter Frith, Director | 0437 649 082 | pfrith@napierblakeley.com
Craig Smith, Director | 0407 371 664 | csmith@napierblakeley.com
John Mathew, Director | 0414 559 326 | jmathew@napierblakeley.com
Ian Gardner, Associate Director | 0488 225 569 | igardner@napierblakeley.com

SYDNEY
Alastair Walker, Director | 0419 503 289 | awalker@napierblakeley.com
Peter Hammond, Director | 0419 980 901 | phammond@napierblakeley.com
Peter Osborn, Director | 0439 765 571 | posborn@napierblakeley.com
Stephen Cooke, Associate Director | 0409 228 552 | scooke@napierblakeley.com

PERTH
Graham Rigby, Associate Director | 0419 847 998 | grigby@napierblakeley.com
Jorden Morris, Quantity Surveyor | 0457 001 545 | jmorris@napierblakeley.com

Sweet toothed Technical Due Diligence team

Napier & Blakeley — Mon, 12 Jul 2021 01:21:05 +0000

Childhood dreams come true for some of our sweet toothed Technical Due Diligence team.

One of the benefits of our work is getting to understand the operations of other businesses.

Today, a lolly factory!

View this movie : IMG_4367

Federal Budget extension to depreciating assets

Napier & Blakeley — Mon, 17 May 2021 11:04:58 +0000

The Treasurer delivered the Federal Budget on Tuesday 11 May 2021.

Temporary full expensing of depreciating assets will be extended for an additional 12 months until 30 June 2023, allowing businesses to deduct the full cost of eligible depreciable assets acquired from 6 October 2020 and first used or installed ready for use by 30 June 2023.

Owners should be preparing detailed listing of depreciating assets as part of the tender process thus capturing more detail and potentially more write offs at the time of completion. A detailed analysis of variations that may have happened should pick up the rest of the write offs at completion of the project.

There is opportunity to bring “forward” capital projects for refurbishments and upgrades.

Any projects that are on the drawing board at this time (for investment not trading stock) and potentially due for completion by June 23 should capture the potential write off amounts for their feasibility calculations. The cash flow benefit will significantly increase as a result of the write offs.

We at N&B are here to help. Please do not hesitate to contact one of our trusted advisors for further assistance.

MELBOURNE
Rob Howells, Managing Director | 0437 649 082 | rhowells@napierblakeley.com
Peter Frith, Director | 0437 649 082 | pfrith@napierblakeley.com
Craig Smith, Director | 0407 371 664 | csmith@napierblakeley.com
John Mathew, Director | 0414 559 326 | jmathew@napierblakeley.com
Ian Gardner, Associate Director | 0488 225 569 | igardner@napierblakeley.com

SYDNEY
Alastair Walker, Director | 0419 503 289 | awalker@napierblakeley.com
Peter Hammond, Director | 0419 980 901 | phammond@napierblakeley.com
Peter Osborn, Director | 0439 765 571 | posborn@napierblakeley.com
Stephen Cooke, Associate Director | 0409 228 552 | scooke@napierblakeley.com

PERTH
Graham Rigby, Associate Director | 0419 847 998 | grigby@napierblakeley.com
Jorden Morris, Quantity Surveyor | 0457 001 545 | jmorris@napierblakeley.com

Property Sector Spotlight : Industrial & Logistics

Napier & Blakeley — Wed, 05 May 2021 11:08:07 +0000

The industrial & logistics property sector became the hot favourite in 2020, outperforming all other property types.

The rise of e-commerce has driven major brands to expand their footprint and therefore leasing activity. Vacancy rates are at all-time lows and major development work is underway to meet demand. Several AREITS are continuing their growth in this asset class and Transaction volumes were up to $3.5 billion in 2020, from $2.3 billion in 2019 – as recently reported.

So, what makes the sector tick? Here are some attributes and advantages of the sector from our perspective.

Construction and development advantages

Over time construction costs in the sector have been less susceptible to escalation than other asset types. This stability provides greater confidence to Developers when planning their next project.
The speed of construction enables Developers to receive a return on their investment earlier than most other forms of development.
Tried and tested construction techniques in the sector generally lead to less variations than other forms of construction.
There are also tax depreciation benefits available to developers / investors upon project completion.

Investment advantages

Typically, industrial & logistics properties are leased to a single tenant who has responsibility for repairs, maintenance and lease expiry make good obligations.
Relatively low levels of capital expenditure are required during the lease term.
There are good opportunities for environmental and social governance (ESG) initiatives. Both new developments and building improvement projects are taking up energy efficient strategies such as photovoltaic solar systems, rainwater harvesting, zero ozone depleting refrigerant choices, high efficiency air conditioning, time and presence controls and metering.

The following projects represent some of our recent capabilities and expertise within the sector, where we have managed Cost, Risk & Return.

	Target Distribution Centre, Foundation Road Truganina VIC Independent Certifier, Development Monitoring & Quantity Surveying – 62,000m2 Client: ESR/CIP & Charter Hall		Toll Mars Distribution Centre, Midwest Logistics Hub, Truganina VIC Independent Certifier, Development Monitoring, Quantity Surveying & Tax Depreciation Assessment – 45,000m2 Client: Charter Hall

	Uniqlo Distribution Warehouse, Midwest Logistics Hub Truganina VIC Independent Certifier, Development Monitoring, Quantity Surveying & Tax Depreciation Assessment – 35,000m2 Client: Charter Hall		Mainfreight Epping, 107 Gateway Boulevard, Epping VIC Quantity Surveying – 45,000m2 Client: Mainfreight

	Drystone Industrial, Estate Truganina VIC Technical Due Diligence – 44,000m2 Client: GPT		Telstra Data Centre, Clayton VIC Acquisition/Divestment Technical Due Diligence - 3.2 hectare site Client: Telstra / Centuria

	Aldi Distribution Centre Portfolio Acquisition/Divestment Technical Due Diligence – 370,000m2 Client: Aldi / Charter Hall Allianz		99 Sandstone Place, Parkinson QLD Technical Due Diligence – 54,000m2 Client: DWS Group GmbH & Co

	338 Bradman Street, Acacia Ridge QLD Technical Due Diligence – 55,000m2 Client: Mapletree		Lot 30, 247-263 Greens Rd Dandenong South VIC Quantity Surveying & Tax Depreciation Assessment – 16,000m2 Client: Logis Property Investments

	Ceva Logistics, Truganina VIC Independent Certifier, Development Monitoring, Quantity Surveying – 36,000m2 Client: Frasers Property		Salta Properties Portfolio, Dandenong South VIC Quantity Surveying & Tax Depreciation Assessments – 4 industrial warehouses 25,000m2 Client: Salta Properties
	.
	7 Dursley Road, Yenora NSW Development Monitoring, Quantity Surveying and Tax Depreciation Assessments - 65,000m2 Client: Fife Capital		9-13 Cool Street, Forestville NSW Development Monitoring and Quantity Surveying - 9,000m2 Client: Trumen Corp Pty Ltd

	8 Narabang Way, Belrose NSW Development Monitoring and Quantity Surveying - 4,000m2 Client: Life Property Group		50 Elwell Close, Beresfield NSW Development Monitoring, Quantity Surveying and Tax Depreciation Assessments - 8,000m2 Client: Hobson Holdings Pty Ltd

Please do not hesitate to call any of the people below to discuss your requirements:

MELBOURNE
Rob Howells, Managing Director | 0437 649 082 | rhowells@napierblakeley.com
Craig Smith, Director | 0407 371 664 | csmith@napierblakeley.com
John Mathew, Director | 0414 559 326 | jmathew@napierblakeley.com
Ian Gardner, Associate Director | 0488 225 569 | igardner@napierblakeley.com

SYDNEY
Alastair Walker, Director | 0419 503 289 | awalker@napierblakeley.com
Peter Hammond, Director | 0419 980 901 | phammond@napierblakeley.com
Peter Osborn, Director | 0439 765 571 | posborn@napierblakeley.com
Stephen Cooke, Associate Director | 0409 228 552 | scooke@napierblakeley.com

PERTH
Graham Rigby, Associate Director | 0419 847 998 | grigby@napierblakeley.com
Jorden Morris, Quantity Surveyor | 0457 001 545 | jmorris@napierblakeley.com

Walker and Frith pave way for Howells to lead Napier & Blakeley

Napier & Blakeley — Wed, 28 Apr 2021 22:56:11 +0000

INDEPENDENT property consultancy firm Napier & Blakeley Managing Directors, Alastair Walker and Peter Frith, have announced the appointment of Rob Howells as their new Managing Director as part of their strategic and succession planning going forward.

In making the announcement, Managing Director and industry leader Alastair Walker said the global pandemic had given the company an opportunity to undertake a strategic review and to transition the leadership team.

“Last year when COVID took over our lives, we decided to catch up with many things that we hadn’t done because we were continuously busy. A major part of this was to look at our strategic and succession planning going forward across the group.

“After 14 years as MD of Napier & Blakeley, it’s time for a change, and so it is with great pleasure that I announce that Rob Howells will be taking over as our new MD going forward,” Walker said.

“Rob joined us in 2004 and has been National Director of our Transaction & Asset Advisory and Due Diligence group over that time, and has worked on many significant property deals for both local and international property investment clients.

“Rob is a natural change for us, as he knows N & B inside out, and he is very well known and regarded in both our domestic market and by a substantial number of global property investors operating here,” he added.

“He will be managing our strategic plan going forward and myself and Peter will be assisting Rob on his new journey and we will also remain on the N & B Board as Executive Directors.” Walker said.

Incoming Managing Director, Rob Howells said “I’m honoured and delighted to take on the role of Managing Director and thank Alastair, Peter, my fellow Directors for their confidence and continuous support.

“We’ve already achieved so much over our 36 years in business and I’m excited about our future, building on our success to date, and to be working directly on our strategic plan and all the benefits it will create for our clients, people and the industry,”

“Over many years, we’ve worked on hundreds of $billions of development and property investment projects from smaller ones to some of the largest property deals globally, managing both development and acquisition cost and risk for our clients.

“During the pandemic’s early stages, we obviously weren’t sure how things would go, but it’s a testament to our strong brand and market knowledge, that we were very busy again pretty well from April last year, and remain so now,” Howells said.

“We’ve been providing pragmatic and commercially orientated advice to local and international clients on cost and risk, since 1985, and are unique in that we have a substantial database of both commercial property assets and actual construction and development costs from our development risk work for development financiers.” Howells concluded.

The company has offices across Australia and Singapore and clients include including private equity real estate investors; family and sovereign, superannuation, pension funds; REITs; property developers, just to name a few.

Posted in the Australian Property Journal
Written by Nelson Yap
28 April 2021

Did you know… about Lifecycle Expenditure Forecasts

Napier & Blakeley — Mon, 28 Sep 2020 00:54:38 +0000

Did you know… that industry asset management guidelines recommend the preparation of, and ongoing updates to Lifecycle Expenditure Forecasts as part of best practice solutions?

As an example, the Property Council of Australia Guide to Office Building Quality recommends office buildings have Lifecycle Expenditure Forecasts in place as follows:

Building Grade	Forecast Required
Existing Buildings:
Premium	10 years or more
A Grade	5 years or more
New Buildings:
Premium	15 years or more
A Grade	10 years or more
B Grade	5 years or more

Over our 35 years in service we have developed extensive experience in the preparation of independent Lifecycle Capital Expenditure Forecasts. We have also amassed technical property and construction cost data which can be used for quick and cost-effective benchmarking. As part of our service provision we have developed in-house online solutions that generate Lifecycle Capital Expenditure Forecasts from new or existing Asset Registers.

The solution also provides online storage for key documentation such as plans, specifications, operation/maintenance manuals and warranties related to the individual assets or building. All report data is available for consumption on a client-dedicated website.

If you would like to talk to us further about Lifecycle assessments, or if you have any questions on this topic, please contact us now:

MELBOURNE
Rob Howells , National Director | 0437 649 082 | rhowells @napierblakeley.com
Ian Gardner , Associate Director | 0488 225 569 | igardner@napierblakeley.com
Coco Williams, Senior Building Consultant | 0418 348 712 | cowilliams@napierblakeley.com

SYDNEY
Stephen Cooke, Associate Director | 0409 228 552 | scooke@napierblakeley.com

BRISBANE
Gavin Peach, Associate Director | 0412 225 781 | gpeach@napierblakeley.com

PERTH
Graham Rigby, Associate Director | 0419 847 998 | grigby@napierblakeley.com

Did you know… that half of Make Good obligations relate to building services

Napier & Blakeley — Mon, 24 Aug 2020 23:29:43 +0000

Did you know… through our extensive experience assessing Make Good obligations we have found that almost 50% of the cost of works for commercial offices, relates to building services.

And through our further success in negotiating Make Good settlements we have found that most of the errors we see in Make Good assessments by the opposing party relate to the building services.

Napier & Blakeley directly employ building services engineers as part of our Make Good assessment team to provide accurate and defensible cost estimates.

If you would like to talk to us further about Make Good assessments, or if you have any questions on this topic, please contact:



NATIONAL Rob Howells National Director o. 03 9915 6300 m. 0437 649 082 e. rhowells@napierblakeley.com	BRISBANE Gavin Peach Associate Director o. 07 3221 8255 m. 0412 225 781 e. gpeach@napierblakeley.com
.

MELBOURNE Ian Gardner Associate Director o. 03 9915 6300 m. 0488 225 569 e. igardner @napierblakeley.com	SYDNEY Stephen Cooke Associate Director o. 02 9299 1899 m. 0409 228 552 e. scooke @napierblakeley.com
.

MELBOURNE Coco Williams Senior Building Consultant o. 03 9915 6300 m. 0418 348 712 e. cowilliams@napierblakeley.com	PERTH Graham Rigby Associate Director o. 08 6244 1877 m. 0419 847 998 e. grigby@napierblakeley.com
.

Did you know… 5G is coming… is your building ready?

Napier & Blakeley — Mon, 10 Aug 2020 23:50:32 +0000

Did you know that your building contains a very significant amount of IT and communications infrastructure that needs frequent updating and renewal?

And did you know that there are significant cost implications for building owners associated with the introduction of the 5G network?

While the capital cost of existing infrastructure has typically been borne by the telecommunications provider, capital works required to make a building “5G ready” will rest with the building owner, who is frequently not aware of the requirements and has not adequately budgeted for them.

To assist in managing and budgeting for these imminent and ultimately unavoidable capital upgrades, we can provide:

A risk awareness review on IT systems, cyber security etc for BMS, Fire Detection, Access Control, CCTV, Wi-Fi services, Energy metering;
A review of existing mobile telecommunications installations to determine required upgrades to enable 5G readiness;
Advice relating to removal of redundant infrastructure (and where possible provide advice as to who is responsible for this work);
A lifecycle review to remove, replace and upgrade infrastructure, or alternatively prepare an upgrade pathway for upgrade works over a 3 to 5 year period;
Preparation of a tax depreciation assessment for the upgrade works.

We have in house engineers who have significant experience in this field. If you would like further information, or would like us to assess your properties contact Ian Gardner below or anyone else in our Transaction & Asset Advisory team:


NATIONAL Rob Howells National Director o. 03 9915 6300 m. 0437 649 082 e. rhowells@napierblakeley.com	MELBOURNE Ian Gardner Associate Director o. 03 9915 6300 m. 0488 225 569 e. igardner@napierblakeley.com
.

BRISBANE Gavin Peach Associate Director o. 07 3221 8255 m. 0412 225 781 e. gpeach@napierblakeley.com	SYDNEY Stephen Cooke Associate Director o. 02 9299 1899 m. 0409 228 552 e. scooke@napierblakeley.com


MELBOURNE Coco Williams Senior Building Consultant o. 03 9915 6300 m. 0418 348 712 e. cowilliams@napierblakeley.com	PERTH Graham Rigby Associate Director o. 03 9915 6300 m. 0419 847 998 e. grigby@napierblakeley.com .