Founder’s View
Expertise & Resources
Delivering property solutions demands the right experience; specialisation is vital in this post COVID world of ours. I am unashamedly, after many years of corporate governance, now a sole practitioner, but aim to deliver a ‘full service’ offering by making available to my clients a suggested group of carefully curated discipline experts, from the areas of location strategy, design / architecture, fitting out, building surveying, Planning and rating. See our ‘Network Of Knowledge’.
Those included here are there because I trust them unreservedly and have no hesitation in recommending them for the quality of their expertise and shared ethos with me in the way that they conduct their business. If I were a client, I would want these experts on my project team.
Integrity
As a Member of The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and the grateful recipient of the legendary Healey & Baker (now Cushman & Wakefield), collegiate training since 1985, I do things the right way – no ‘broking’ here!
Focus
Beacon Retail is not driven by tables of priority, Top 20 fee paying clients or similar – to me, every client is a KEY client, and I will never allow myself to get distracted from the client’s best interests. My way of working is to multitask on a limited number of projects, therefore, never becoming overstretched, under-resourced or ineffective.
Value
I have worked for large corporate real estate advisers where their size and fixed costs are so high, meaning everyone must run hard to service huge overheads, crippling debt and deliver profit for equity investors and / or shareholders. All of those are a major distraction for even the most seasoned property professional. My clients receive my undivided attention.
This has a tangible impact on charges to clients and a hard-nosed rigidity on inflexible/corporate fee scales. My aim for Beacon Retail is to deliver the highest level of service that is rewarded by a reasonable fee. The days of reliance solely on scale, rent based percentage fees should be over. I work with my clients to ensure the final fee they pay reflects the end result, not just the rent agreed – a share in the value created, if you like.
Over-performance or spectacular results can be rewarded entirely at the client’s discretion by an optional bonus fee and/or a donation to MIND, my chosen charity partner.
Size
There is nothing large about my business other than huge ambition and enthusiasm to continue delivering outstanding property advice to my clients.
Competitiveness
Experience has taught me that chasing new business can be a distraction from the job in hand. Beacon Retail Consulting is fundamentally based on collaboration with experts in their field. All of these are like-minded personal friends, well respected for their specialisation and available as individual appointments or as part of Beacon’s single point of contact management service.
Geography
I do not have multiple offices around the world. In fact, the only global elements to Beacon Retail are the invaluable experience gained from my retail work for owners & occupiers in some of the world’s capital cities including Copenhagen, Oslo, Reykjavik, Dubai, Cairo, Amsterdam, Brussels, Helsinki and Riyadh, as well as learning with clients in France, Germany, USA, Hong Kong, China, Australia and Switzerland.
I am always prepared to travel wherever the client/project demands – experience is a two way street, and I am constantly learning from my travels, importing ideas & concepts to the clear benefit of my client’s projects.
Charitable
The last three years have been difficult for many on both personal and professional levels. Thankfully, for many, normal service is resuming, but we must never forget those that need support of others. For that reason, I have thought I can assist in the non-work environment, so I have chosen MIND (the fight for mental health) as my ‘house’ charity and will donate a proportion of every fee to help them in continuing their amazing work across the UK. Please join me in supporting this very worthwhile cause.
Sustainability
In this busy and climate-changing world, I am proud of Beacon Retail’s very low carbon footprint. My rural HQ benefits from ground source pump heating and an extensive Photovoltaic rooftop array.
I’m also especially attentive to not undertaking unnecessary journeys by plane, or train and when in London I strive to make use of cycles, scooters and of course, my own self-propulsion!
Toby Comerford, Founder
