PRIVATE SECTOR CONSULTANTS The dark art of consultancy, Part 2

Phil Farrell

Phil is a director in the development and public sector consulting team at Lambert Smith Hampton. He works largely for public sector clients, providing support on developer procurement, options analysis, viability, contract negotiations, disposals and general consultancy. Phil has worked in commercial property for over 20 years, during which time he has worked for Homes England, Solihull MBC, JLL, Avison Young, and National Grid.

Phil continues with Part 2 of his ‘dark arts’. Part 1 can be found in 2026 Spring Terrier. It’s well worth picking up Phil’s insights in the first part, if you missed it. He observes: “You perhaps won’t appreciate this, particularly if you have worked in the public sector for most of your career, but you are very peculiar clients, totally different from most of the clients we work for.” But, the public sector genuinely cares. Phil exhorts the value of lasting trustful relationships. 

We are peculiar clients

In the last issue of ACES’ Terrier I considered whether it could be useful for the public sector to understand how private sector consultancies work.  The theory being that a bit more knowledge, and perhaps empathy, might make for a more productive relationship.

In this second instalment I provide some suggestions to public sector surveyors on how they could make the most from consultants.  I won’t pretend that many of these suggestions will not also have advantages for the consultants as well, but strictly in terms of them being more efficient and effective in their jobs.  The relationship between consultants and clients (particularly public sector clients) has to be ethical and legal at all times, erring on the side of caution if there is any doubt.

Perhaps the most important thing to understand is that all surveyors are not the same.  Surveyor is a misleadingly unified term – valuers, agents, rating surveyors, property managers, estate agents, quantity surveyors can all be RICS qualified surveyors, but in reality, they all work in very different fields, only connected by the fact that it involves buildings or land.

From the perspective of getting the right service for you and your organisation, my best advice would be to spend time finding the right person or team.  Nobody walks into a hospital and just asks for a doctor. You want someone who has specialised in your particular ailment.  Only a few surveyors, a very few, have any idea how to work with the public sector.

You perhaps won’t appreciate this, particularly if you have worked in the public sector for most of your career, but you are very peculiar clients, totally different from most of the clients we work for.  The vast majority of clients for surveying firms are private sector – investors, developers, occupiers.  They need a service and contact a surveyor they know to do it, or ask for a quick fee quote to compare a few firms.  Terms are exchanged (often belatedly, much to the fury of the compliance team) and the work starts.  Compare that to the processes of public sector procurement legislation: Frameworks, Prior Information Notices, Pre-Qualification Questionnaires, sifting briefs, Invitation to Tender, social value, financial checks, equality and diversity questionnaires.  The majority of surveyors have never completed a public sector framework or tender, and they are more than happy to leave it like that.

Then if appointed by the public sector, we arrive at the challenge that many of my colleagues can never, ever understand: profit is not the only deciding factor in assessing success!  The public sector cares (as in genuinely cares, not just providing high quality lip service in the annual mission statement update) about place making, community cohesion, social outcomes, design, environmental improvements, job creation, social housing provision and a plethora of other non-financial issues.

Though it is always nice if there is a profit on top as well.

Most surveyors work for companies and people whose sole purpose, quite legitimately, is to make profit from land, property and development.  If they make up 95% of a company’s clients is it any wonder that the surveyors struggle to adjust to a new, baffling definition of the successful outcome?

So, if you don’t want to start every appointment with a lengthy lecture on your obligation to serve the ‘Public Good’, how do you find that simpatico person to engage with?  Well in many circumstances they will find you.  These are the people who are the lead contact on the frameworks such as Crown Commercial Service, Homes England, Eastern Shires Purchasing Organisation, etc.

How to find the right team 

But, if you are not going through an established framework, you should look initially for the person, people or team that focuses on public sector work.  There is no universally accepted name for such a team, but they tend to work in the consultancy (as opposed to transaction) part of the business, and often have ‘development’ in their title.  The best way to find the right person is through recommendations from your public sector colleagues, but published articles, LinkedIn posts and their attendance at public sector conferences are also indicators.

There are some consultancies that have a reputation for delivering public sector work and might be your first port of call, but a note of caution - there are very few people in any firm who specialise in the public sector, and if they choose to join another firm, it can entirely strip their previous company of that skill set.  Follow the people, not the companies.

It is also worth noting that the public sector specialist won’t be able to deliver every service you need, but they can act as the conduit to bring in other colleagues and manage them for you to get the sector specific outputs you need.  A good specialist surveyor acts almost as a translator between the public sector client and the property industry.

Trust

On reflection I was premature in my statements above. The following is actually the best advice I can offer: once you have gone through all of the effort of securing approval to tender, writing, issuing and scoring the tenders, agreeing the appointment of the right specialist consultant, and they have committed significant resource to respond to the tender and get the appointment through their compliance process, actually trust the person.  Do not keep the consultant at arms-length and treat them like a spy in the camp.

This is a re-occurring problem.  Even though the client has appointed you to help them, and as a professional they enjoy your loyalty and duty of care, they won’t be open enough about the project to really let you understand all of the aspects and advise them with full knowledge.  There seems to be an assumption that all consultants are just trying to find insider information, which they can take advantage of for nefarious reasons.  We are not given all the relevant information, reports, or details of other consultants.  We are not invited to all useful meetings on the project.  We are kept well away from senior officers and members.

I suspect this seems to be fundamentally down to mistrust of the private sector and its motivations for profit.  I once had an infuriating discussion with a public sector planning officer who challenged why a development appraisal should contain any developer’s profit.  Not an unreasonable level of profit, but any profit at all.  Perhaps instead of ‘Developer’s Profit’ the appraisal should use the description ‘Developer’s salaries, tax, rent, national insurance, pensions, and a little bonus for taking the risk.’

I will return to the doctor analogy – would you withhold a few symptoms from your GP in case they offered you a better diagnosis?  Trust us, tell us your problems, share information - see how it works out.

Conversely, clients that really bring us into the heart of the project get a much better informed service, and often a lot of free advice in addition to the specific task they appointed us to advise on.  Generally, consultants who focus on public sector work are genuinely interested in the built environment and all that involves, and they like to talk about their sector.

Let’s be clear, much of consultancy is about advice.  We can provide you with advice on the issue you are facing so you can evaluate all the potential options, but it is always up to you and your colleagues to decide whether to take the advice.

And you are among friends here; we can all be honest about the fact that sometimes the public sector officer knows the solution to the problem before they appoint the consultant.  However, their ‘superiors’ or Members will only believe advice that comes with a price tag and the assurance of the consultancy’s logo on the report.  You should feel free to share your thoughts with the consultant.  It is a foolish surveyor indeed who is not willing to listen to the opinion of an experienced officer who has lived and breathed the local area for decades.

The right question

A major problem I have encountered with how the public sector uses consultants is we are asked to provide advice on the wrong question.  If you ask us the wrong question, there is a very good chance you will get the wrong answer.

I regularly receive tenders that are asking consultants to deliver services that will not tackle the problem at hand.  Don’t ask for a master plan if your main issue is viability.  Don’t procure soft market testing when the market’s response is screamingly obvious.  Don’t openly market land for office development, when your prevailing office rents are half of the level needed for viable construction.

The decision for the consultant is whether to just ignore the fault in the tender’s premise and simply try to win the instruction, or to approach the public authority and explain why its approach won’t work.  I have decided to take the ethical high road a few times.  Bear in the the time and effort that the public sector officers have had to put in before issuing the tender, and bearing in mind the potential bruising of egos if they had to withdraw the tender and explain why to their hierarchy, guess how welcomed and successful my honest advice has been? 

As part of your process of understanding your problem and defining the solution, pick up the phone to a trusted consultant and ask their advice.  Explain the issues (they will understand if some elements are confidential) you are facing and ask their advice on the actions you can take to address them.  They will be able to give you a fresh perspective on market appetite, viability, competing schemes, etc.  They should also be able to suggest innovative solutions that conform to the regulatory framework the public sector has to work within.

Lasting meaningful connections

Property is still very much a people business, built on trust and relationships. I want to develop a strong connection with clients which will last many years.  This is not only mutually beneficial, but also professionally satisfying – don’t forget that many consultants get as attached to their projects as their clients do and want to see them through to a successful conclusion.  So, when a client or prospective client asks my opinion, I try to be as open, helpful and imaginative as possible.

The usual result from a friendly chat is that you have additional comfort that you are on the right track.  Sometimes, you may have an improvement or an alternative solution to consider before finalising your plans, but that is much better than a failed project.  My aim from each interaction with the public sector surveyor is to become, or remain, a trusted advisor, even if I deprive myself of the potential for a short-term fee.  In my experience, this is the way to create a sustainable business model, and maintain a positive reputation, which is still vitally important in our industry.

The public sector can legitimately take advantage of this situation.  Reach out to the consultants; have that occasional coffee; discuss your problems. To paraphrase Gordon Gecko: ‘Gossip is good’.

You will very quickly realise if the consultant is not playing the game, if they are asking for inappropriate information, if they seeking unfair advantage.  When a consultant does not respect those professional and ethical boundaries then cut them off. They are a liability and should not be working with the public sector.

It would be ideal if we could get over the client/consultant position and regard all of us (including other consultants, developers, contractors, solicitors, etc.) as working together in the property industry.  We all have our particular roles, but we can achieve nothing without each other.  There are certain regulations, ethical considerations, commercial confidentiality etc. which must be respected, and as long as they are, then co-operation and communication is the way to achieve success.

An experienced consultant is a mine of knowledge and a conduit to even more within their firm and network.  If you have a problem, then pick up the phone to a trusted consultant you know, or perhaps one that you don’t, and ask their advice.  They will appreciate being consulted - they might even have the answer.