Purpose–Alignment of corporate real estate to a corporation’s business strategy is a long-standing issue. In the past multiple models have been developed to support this process, but research shows that they fall short on certain parts of the CRE alignment activity, often lack transparency and fail to choose the real estate strategy that delivers most value to the organisation. The Preference-based Accommodation Strategy (PAS) procedure has been proposed as a solution to these issues and results in two pilots are positive. However, to optimise the results, a brute force approach should be implemented in the procedure. This paper reports on a pilot study wherein this PAS procedure 3.0 was tested and evaluated. Approach–A literature study is conducted to develop a theoretical basis for the implementation of a brute force approach in the PAS procedure. This procedure is implemented in a pilot study by building a mathematical model. During the pilot the users improved the reflection of their preferences in the model, in an iterative process of manually designing portfolio alternatives. A brute force approach is applied to the final model to yield the optimum portfolio alternative. The implementation of the brute force approach is evaluated and it is determined if the approach yields a higher preference rating than the stakeholders can achieve by manual design. Findings–The pilot study shows that the brute force approach is able to improve the results over the manual design and yields a 7% increase in the real estate alignment compared to the current portfolio. The evaluation results reveal that the implementation process results in acceptance of- and trust in the model. Moreover, the users are very positive about the PAS and indicate that the model better reflects their preferences than their current process. They even indicate that they want to incorporate the tool in their daily decision-making process. Implications–This pilot study was less complex than previous pilots, therefore the PAS procedure 3.0 should be tested in more complex pilots to discover the boundaries of the brute force approach but to use it where possible. This pilot study has shown that the PAS procedure 3.0 is able to improve the corporate real estate (CRE) decision-making process and hereby improve the corporate real estate (CRE) alignment. This will result in more added value of real estate to the businesses in which the tool is used.@en

Net zero energy is already an ambitious target for several buildings, especially since the DIRECTIVE 2010/31/EU that requires increasing the number of nearly zero energy buildings. The existing commercial building stock needs to be included in order to achieve the 2020 EU environmental targets. The main barriers of zero energy refurbishment of existing nonresidential buildings appear to be financial rather than technical, next to a number of other extrinsic factors that do not stimulate such an investment. While a business case for new zero energy buildings is believed to exist, controversial opinions can be found with respect to refurbishment of large buildings. The present study aims to identify the factors that affect the feasibility of the zero energy refurbishment of existing commercial buildings, while suggesting ways to create the business case addressing the Dutch market. Through interviews with real estate investors, the study identified the financial and technical barriers encountered today to undertake deep energy retrofit. Subsequently, the design interventions needed to refurbish a Dutch office building and meeting the net zero energy target were evaluated using a software complying with the Dutch standards NEN 7120. A risk and sensitivity analysis with Monte Carlo simulations showed the influence that design aspects, energy price and landlord-tenant agreements have on the business case. The study has concluded that a business case considering the energy savings alone is not sufficient to convince investors. However, when the design provides additional benefits, such as increasing the property value, the refurbishment can become feasible. This is an important observation to promote the refurbishment towards a zero energy building stock. @en

One of the long-standing issues in the field of corporate real estate corporate strategy. Extensive research into existing approaches brought valuable insights into steps, components and variables that are needed in the alignment process. Despite that, it is not clear if existing approaches had much uptake in practice and they fall short in a number of aspects. In most models little to no attention is given to the design and selection of the alternative portfolio that adds most value to the organisation. Furthermore, university campus managers have indicated that they need better information and tools to support campus decision making. The Preference-based Accommodation Strategy design (PAS) procedure is a tool to enhance CRE decision making and has been developed to remove these gaps. In the PAS design procedure decision makers define criteria and iteratively test and adjust these criteria by designing new real estate portfolios. The portfolio design that adds most value to the organisation, i.e. has the highest overall preference is suggested as the portfolio that optimally aligns real estate to corporate strategy. The PAS procedure is iteratively repeated with the participants in a series of interviews and workshops. Two pilot studies have been performed at the Delft University of Technology (DUT). The study into the portfolio of lecture halls showed that stakeholders were able to use the procedure successfully. This paper reports the pilot study for their portfolio of food facilities. The objective of this research is to test if participants are able to perform the PAS procedure. Therefore a mathematical model of the group decision making process is designed and tested. This pilot study also reveals that the participants by completing the steps in the PAS procedure are able to express their preferences accordingly. They designed an alternative portfolio with a higher overall preference score than their current real estate portfolio. In addition, the design method is evaluated positively. The positive results suggest that designing a strategy by using the PAS procedure is a suitable approach to alignment. The PAS design procedure enables CRE managers to determine the added value of a real estate strategy. Because the PAS design method is generic in nature it can be used for a wide range of real estate portfolios.@en

The department of MBE was originally called Real Estate & Project Management (BMVB: ‘Bouwmanagement & Vastgoedbeheer’) covering the domains of construction management and real estate management. The “raison d’être” for this new department was based on the recognition that a fair amount of architecture graduates were more interested in managing a building’s design and construction process than in its actual design. These students, however, were not taught management theories and skills at that time. As a result, they would end up in the construction industry poorly equipped for doing the job they were required to do. This lack in education was addressed by our new department. Our graduates are multi-disciplinary schooled, not only in architectural design, computational design and management theories and skills, but very importantly also in building economics. The research domain Building Economics comprises research on the market and the value of buildings, and the relationship between quality and revenues, and costs and fi nance (Soeter et al., 2009). In the real estate market, the space market is interlinked with the asset market and the construction market. The Building Economy research programme analyses the real estate portfolios of investors. In what type of properties do they invest and what are the returns, risk profi les and outcomes? A crucial aspect in this is the expected rental income. To a large extent, the research focuses on the rent level and return on investment, in connection to location and building characteristics (quality) (see for instance Koppels et al., 2009, 2011). A guideline for studies on costs and quality is the consideration that organisations are interlinked with their location and buildings. An optimal solution for accommodation depends on the selected approach. For example, with a lowest cost approach, a minimum of investment costs, running costs and life-cycle costs are sought after, usually resulting in low values as well. Research on the relationship between cost, quality, and willingness-to-pay is important to understand and steer on costs and quality.@en