If you have ever built an office, warehouse, or any other facility you know the challenges of bringing the people, the materials, and the schedule into synchronization. At AINEO, we have a seasoned team of project managers (PM) for Information Technology solutions. However, if you want us to do office interior work, redesign a workspace , or build a building. We are not that choice, as we are experts in technology not facilities. However, there are other options. Some of these companies operate in Japan only, while others operate throughout the Asia Pacific region and even Australia.
As project management is essentially an unregulated industry, there are varying degrees of project managers. There are some firms that base 100% of their income on PM, while other firms use PM as a add on or a valued added service to hopefully get some other type of business. The most common combination is Real Estate firms adding on PM services to carry the business from the leasing contract into the build out phase. Below is a quick summary of these firms
Bovis Lend Lease Website
PM Team Established- 1988
Key People-
Business Summary-
Bovis is fully focused on PM and construction with no connection to another business. They are not doing real estate. Bovis originally came to Japan under the name of Schal Bovis as Japanese firms were looking for American firms to team up with. The reason for this teaming, was political between the Japanese and US governments to get American firms more opportunities for business in Japan.
A New Zealander, by the name of John Dickinson is responsible for transitioning Bovis from a tag-along firm to a power hitter. One of his key accomplishments was getting Vodafone (now Softbank Mobile) to outsource the overwhelming tasking of rolling out cellular base stations (antennae) for Vodafone’s 3G cellular network.
Although Bovis is huge and can do anything from build an airport to just building out an office space. They are less active in interior work and more active with large infrastructure type sites.
Customers- Vodafone/Softbank Mobile,
Jones Lang LaSalleWebsite
PM Team Established- 1999
Key People- Mr. Miyamoto
Business Summary-
JLL is the real estate firm in Tokyo with the experience, the staff and the time in the market. JLL sells their PM services as an add on to their tenant representative (TR) services. Mr. Miyamoto originally hails from Bovus and overall JLL has a pretty good reputation for doing the job.
Customers- Exxon Mobile, Salesforce.com, Sprint, JD Edwards
CB Richard EllisWebsite
PM Team Established- 2005
Key People- Jason Willson
Business Summary-
CBRE in Japan has two distinct units. CBRE from the US originally took a stake in Ikoma Shoji which was an Osaka based real estate broker. (Other famous brokers are Sanko Estate and Miki Shoji). In real estate in Japan, a broker generally represents the building while a TR agent represents the potential tenant. This is something that you really need to keep in mind when you are selecting a real estate firm.
Jason Willson joined CBRE from ISG (an international project management firm focused on financials). CBRE’s international division and domestic teams both had project managers. The domestic team has done PM for an unknown time the international team is considerably inexperienced compared to the competition.
CBRE has a huge presence in Japan and could potentially catch up with JLL with regards to size and delivery ability. Mr. Willson is an excellent sales person and is well known in the market. CBRE does have considerable churn in foreign national management that could very well slow down their expansion.
Customers- Unknown
Cushman & Wakefield Website
PM Team Established- 2008
People- Stuart Kay
Business Summary-
Cushman and Wakefield is famous for real estate tenant representation but as all the competitors are offering PM services, C&W probably felt they had to get on the bandwagon.
They are a well-managed and excellent firm with extensive experience in the marketplace. Cushman is probably the firm to watch that could catch up with JLL. They have mass but do not seem to have the political red tape that many large firms tend to have.
Customers- unknown
As you can see from the list above the majority of the PM firms have an interest in real estate. Other firms doing project management are actually the interior design firms. Most of them see PM as an unnecessary layer that slows down the process of building out a facility. If you have a good PM, which is always the challenge after the sales person, they should manage cost and make sure of things such as; you`re not paying too much for air conditioning, materials, labor costs, and so forth. But a good PM is an experienced PM.
The conclusion the PMs just add a cost layer is partially true, due to the fact that there are no standards for PM. It all comes down to people. With this in mind, many firms put inexperienced people on sites and label them project managers. Hence, the architects/design firms essentially have to train the PM how things work on a project. Some of these firms would include
PAE
Gensler
Stephen Leach Associates (SLA)
The Design Studio
All these firms also have experience with project management. There is a whole separate group of firms that do “design-build”. These firms include
Meiho Facility Works
Midas Company
Berthier Associates
Design-build means exactly that. These firms design the facility, assign their project manager, and assign their construction team (usually separate vendors). As a one stop shop, this is probably the easiest way to build a facility. The biggest concern would be making sure that you have an advocate watching the costs and the project budget. This is where a good project manager comes in.