Hexagon LandMark and CODA Dream prove clear winners for Brixton plc’s £2bn portfolio
Brixton plc, founded in 1924, is the leading specialist owner of industrial and warehousing space in the UK. With a portfolio worth over £2bn, comprising 18m sq ft in over 1,200 units in more than 80 estates, it is one of the largest listed property companies in the UK.
Some 74% of the portfolio is based in Greater London, 16% in the rest of the South-East, 8% in the North and 2% in the Midlands. The company has a strong focus on Heathrow (35% of the portfolio) and Park Royal in West London (32%).
No hesitation as to which system we wanted to go for
Brixton bought out Industrious Target Group in 2005 – and as a result discovered how much Hexagon’s LandMark property management system had to offer. Their new acquisition was already using LandMark, integrated with CODA Dream accounting software and Brixton soon began to see the advantages.
Paul takes up the story:
"Our old system was proving slow and cumbersome, so it was time to look at a new one. We ran Hexagon’s LandMark for 12 months alongside our existing system, at the end of which there was no hesitation at all as to which system we wanted to go for – Hexagon. We all agreed it was a much better fit for our business."
Data management made so simple
When LandMark and Dream were introduced across Brixton plc, the solution rapidly proved a hit:
"From the user’s point of view, the first real gain was that the front end is very intuitive, so it is much easier to find your way around and access the information you need. Secondly, it made managing the data so much simpler. For example, in the past we couldn’t physically link an external document such as a pdf report by a site inspector to a property within the system, but with LandMark we can and it is very simple to do."
Clear time saving benefits
"The other big gain was speed. It is a lot quicker than our old system. Take a report like a tenancy schedule, for example, it is our Bible in terms of vacant units, lease expiries etc. Our users are running it every day of the week, and in the past it would take hours, but now they can run it off in minutes. A great business benefit – people aren’t hanging around waiting for key reports."
A hit with the accounts department
"On the finance side, Dream gave us figures we could rely on and trust and it is a lot quicker than our old system. Our accountants love it. It is more flexible too and our old system was hard-coded, so changing anything was very difficult, but with Dream we can create our own custom forms very easily to match our business flows. That gives us another major benefit and we get a system that works for our company."
In addition to the standard LandMark package, Hexagon offers a range of optional modules. These are fully integrated with LandMark and allow clients to tailor the system to their own requirements. This is a service that Brixton plc particularly appreciates, says Paul:
"Being able to plug in these separate modules means we can pick and choose what we want. We have taken up quite a few, for example, the service charge module, which we’ve had a hand in developing quite extensively because our service charging is slightly different to everybody else’s. Hexagon has pulled and pushed them in every direction we want so that they fit with our business model. The LandMark core product stays the same, and we just buy the extra modules, have them adapted and plug them into the system and the guys who are running our service charging can produce their figures so much quicker than they ever could before. It is far more flexible than anything else we found."
Committed to product development
Hexagon’s commitment to developing its products in partnership with clients is only part of its high-quality customer service. Paul continues:
"The people at Hexagon are very approachable and they get things done in the time that they say they will. When the help desk say they’ll get back to you, they do. If we say it’s urgent, they jump on it."
Hexagon listens - the staff are there for us
"We work very closely with the development team and they are very open to listening to what we have to say and moving the system forward. The relationship that we’ve built up counts for a huge amount."
Hexagon demonstrated its commitment to the Brixton project right from the start. Paul adds:
"When we had to move all the data across from our previous system, the Hexagon guys were there for us, they helped us out. They were great."
The obivous choice
The unique qualities of the LandMark and Dream package have proved just what Brixton plc needs to support its business. Looking back, Paul can see it was an obvious choice.
