| Smart tech for smart buildings
The focus is on the proptech sector this week with news of a deal between BrainBox AI, a specialist in autonomous building technology, and AMP Capital, one of the largest investment managers in the the Asia-Pacific region.
Under the terms of the deal, BrainBox AI is to deploy its autonomous artificial intelligence (AI) HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning) technology across AMP Capital's entire managed real estate portfolio. This includes central business district office buildings, retail shopping centres and logistics facilities throughout Australia and New Zealand. And the tech could soon be seen in Europe with Brainbox AI having recently launched operations in the UK, Ireland and Italy.
Staying in the Emerald Isle, we also have news of an investment by food retail real estate investment manager Greenman in Irish drone delivery business Manna, which is currently trailing its service in County Galway. The money will be used to put together a pilot project in Germany offering drone delivery services across Greenman's OPEN chain of food stores in 2021.
“We continue to believe that bricks and mortar will be a vital component of food retail however, there are number of new and emerging technologies that will complement and enhance the uses of these sites and the experience for consumers," says Ronayne O'Mahoney, Director of Expansion for Greenman Partners.
Next up is news of a pandemic success story with UK proptech company Spike reporting a 120 per cent increase in its client list in the last nine months. The company's offering, Spike Living, is a white label resident portal app that can be tailored to suit the requirement of individual customers, and combines resident engagement and building management. "Delivering adaptive, responsive solutions that help our clients through these ever-changing times is our priority and our technology has proved invaluable," says Jeremy Heath-Smith, founder and CEO of Spike Global.
Another company looking to support clients in uncertain times is commercial real estate valuation platform Forbury, which has launched a new development appraisal solution. Forbury Develop is a new software solution for commercial real estate investment professionals who need to confidently analyse life-cycle returns for a build to hold investment scenario. "We’ve replaced the need for complex spreadsheet formulas with automated feasibility analysis to speed up decision making for development appraisals, commercial valuation lifecycle analysis, and run through modelling,” says Forbury CEO Scott Wilson.
In deal news this week, we report on the sale of a portfolio of UK buildings and land by logistics real estate specialist Prologis for GBP472 million, plus the GBP111.7 million acquisition of Fleet Place House, a 92,000 sq ft office building in the City of London by M&G Real Estate on behalf of an Asian separate account mandate.
And finally, new research from Knight Frank suggests that the serviced apartment sector has proved resilient during the Coronavirus crisis, while the company is expecting the short-stay leisure market to lead a wider post-pandemic recovery in the UK hotels sector.
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