Self Storage FOCUS · 2018-10-31 · ELEPHANTE SERVICES LIMITED 2 Goddard Road, Astmoor Industrial Estate, Runcorn, Cheshire WA7 1QF Tel: +44 (0) 1928 500005 Fax: +44 (0) 1928 500006

2008 Volume I

FOCUSSelf Storage

ELEPHANTE SERVICES LIMITED2 Goddard Road, Astmoor Industrial Estate,Runcorn, Cheshire WA7 1QF

Tel: +44 (0) 1928 500005Fax: +44 (0) 1928 500006E-mail: [email protected]

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FOCUSSelf Storage

Wishing all members a successful 2008Here’s wishing you a Happy and successful New Year from all the SSA UK team. As I enter my fifth year as your CEO I am reminded of the efforts of a small number of people who managed to launch this magazine just before I arrived. It has come a long way since and I hope continues to give you a current “feel” for what is going on in the industry and the association. I never cease to be amazed by the number of issues which bubble away, some gently, some not so gently in and around our industry. Some of them require the corporate strength of the association to be brought to bear and some are totally frustrating. For example the Government has now completed its consultation on reforms to Empty Property Relief and the announcements made in the 2007 budget. Unfortunately it has taken no notice of the SSA UK’s submissions (and for that matter any other submission from the property sector) on the principal change – the introduction of business rates on empty properties from 1 April 2008. The Government is now drawing up secondary legislation to implement all the plans in April. Nevertheless what has just come to light is the fact that the Government, even after the consultations, is unable to quantify the full impact of the change. Is this really the way to conduct business? We also understand that the Government has delayed the April 2008 deadline for the introduction of Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs) for commercial buildings by six months. Under the European Energy Performance in Buildings Directive (EPBD) which came into force in 2003, EPCs will now only be required by April for the construction, sale or rent of commercial buildings with a floor area greater than 10,000m˝. Meanwhile the draft European standard on self storage has reached yet another positive and important landmark having received unanimous preliminary acceptance throughout Europe. It is hoped that the final draft will be launched in the near future for formal agreement. We were delighted to see so many of you at the inaugural UK conference at Hellidon Lakes in November. We judged it to be a great success. In this magazine we are advertising our next major event – the European Conference in Rome in May 2008. Last year’s similar event was a record-breaker for us all and I sincerely hope that as many of you as possible will make the trip this year especially as we have changed the date to the warmer month of May. Rome will be at its best and the Conference will be its special event of the year!

Yours sincerely

Rodney WalkerCEO

FOCUS may be subscribed to by applying to the SSA Head Office at Priestley House, The Gullet, Nantwich, Cheshire CW5 5SZ. Tel +44 (0)1270 623150. Fax +44 (0) 1270 623471 E-mail [email protected]. Current annual subscription is £4 per issue in the UK and Europe. EDITORIAL: Contributions on all aspects of the self storage industry are welcomed, and should be sent, together with photographs if appropriate, to the Editor Stephen Webb at [email protected]. Opinions expressed in Self Storage Focus are not necessarily those of the Self Storage Association. ADVERTISING: In the first instance please contact Jane Rowe, Commercial Department, SSA, PO Box 5220, Southend, Reading, RG7 6YE. Tel +44 (0)1635 869427Email [email protected]

SSA News 8

News 11BiG Storage’s big day… Team effort expands Storage Team effort… Lok’nStore preliminary results show profit increase

Conference Report 21Autumn Conference meets a demand… Honorary Membership for Paul Fahey… How to lose £8mn and come up fighting… The future is green. It better be!... Nature can show the way to protect the environment

Economy 41The party is finally over

Employment 45Employers need to face up to Facebook

Insurance 49“Expect the unexpected; prepare for the worst”

COVERThe Spanish Steps in Rome. The colourful backdrop to an exciting FEDESSA European conference in The Eternal City.

CONTENTS

Self Storage Focus2008 Volume I 7

New Members

On behalf of the Directors and members of the Association we would like to extend a warm welcome to:

Full Operators

Access Self Storage Fort Box

OxfordKent Space

LordswoodUnit Self Store

NottinghamU Store Depot

N. Ireland

Provisional Operators

4 Secure Self Storage Thetford

Lopen Storage Company South Petherton

Pack and Stack Ipswich

Simple Self Storage Leicester

U Store Sandhurst Self Storage Sandhurst

Yorkshire Self Storage Topcliffe

Suppliers

Bank of IrelandBarclays Commercial

BankCushman & Wakefi eldDebit Finance CollectionsProperty Link Self Storage

.

Dates of Meetings

The programme for 2008 includes:

7 - 9 May 2008European Conference and Trade Show, Sheraton Roma, Rome

11 - 12 November 2008UK Self Storage Conference

Web site

Members will only be able to enter the members’ section using their own company username and password. If you have not already been contacted by the Head Offi ce team, who are the only ones who can input this information, please contact them as soon as possible

so that you do not miss out on any important news. They will also keep a log of your details just in case you forget it. There will only be one password per company – the company lead may, of course, pass it on to whoever requires access to this section.

Deadline for contributions to the Next Issue of Focus

Contributions on all aspects of the self storage industry are welcomed. They should be sent initially to the Editor, Steve Webb. The deadline for the next issue is 12 March 2008

Training Days

12 March, London: Effective Managers Day (new course)11 June, Scotland: Customer Care

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BiG Storage’s big dayHis Grace the Duke of Westminster offi cially opened BiG Storage’s latest acquisitions. Partners Paul Fahey and Andrew Donaldson recently welcomed His Grace to a packed schedule fi rstly opening the Warrington facility in the morning, where he was joined by the Mayor of Warrington and other guests. The freehold property is conveniently located just off the A57 which is a main road into the city centre from the M6. When it is fully fi tted out it will have a 60,000 sq ft lettable area. The Duke of Westminster then proceeded to Handforth, Cheadle to inaugurate the second new facility. Both the Mayor of Stockport and the Mayor of Macclesfi eld, together with other prominent names in business as well as representatives from a local Business Leadership group (in which partner Andrew Donaldson plays a leading and integral role) were in attendance. On a 20 year leasehold, and ultimately with a potential for over 120,000 sq ft of net lettable space when fully fi tted out, this facility must be a contender for the

title of one of the largest self storage facilities of its kind in the UK. Partner Andrew Donaldson said that BiG Storage was “delighted to welcome His Grace to the openings, particularly since he had also presided over the launch of their fi rst facility which opened in Chester”. The Handforth site happens to be situated on the border of the boroughs of Stockport and Macclesfi eld, with the offi cial boundary actually running through the building, hence the presence of the Mayors of both boroughs at the offi cial opening. Just off the A34, it is also very close to one of the region’s largest Marks and Spencers’ outlets

as well as a major John Lewis store. With both sites being fi tted out to a high specifi cation; features include the incorporation of biometric fi nger print access, with plans to expand this easily operational element to the remainder of the facilities within the next twelve months. The two new additions to the portfolio brings partners Paul Fahey and Andrew Donaldson right on target with their business augmentation plan which is, as Paul states: “to roll out two new facilities or more per year in the North West, dependent upon the identifi cation of suitable locations with sustainable catchments”.

Andrew Donaldson and His Grace the Duke of Westminster at the offi cial opening of BiG Storage’s new Handforth facility

Chamberlain Group acquires PTI Integrated Systems

PTI Integrated Systems has been acquired by Chamberlain Group Inc. PTI Integrated Systems of Scottsdale, Arizona, USA, was established in 1979 as a developer and manufacturer delivering complete solutions for access control, security, and site management to self storage customers worldwide. Commenting on the acquisition Chamberlain’s CEO J David Rolls said: “The acquisition gives Chamberlain the ability to leverage PTI’s unique array of product offerings and capabilities to grow its customer base in new channels and provide even more integrated access solutions and innovation to the commercial and industrial markets.” “We are thrilled to join the Chamberlain family and look forward to combining resources to help realise the continued product line development and technological advancement our customers are anticipating,” says PTI President and CEO, Lance Comstock, who will remain with the company as a consultant.

Paul Fahey (left) with the Association’s CEO Rodney Walker at the offi cial opening of BiG Storage’s Warrington store

Another North Circular self storage facility The fi rst let of an industrial warehouse unit fronting the North Circular in London has been taken by Flexistore. The ten year lease of Unit 1, comprising 4,952 sq ft, is part of the 400 NCR, Great Central Way, Neasden, Brent. The new industrial scheme from Kilmartin Property group, advised by Strutt & Parker and Dutch & Dutch, comprises two terraces of buildings, with six industrial warehouse units fronting the scheme and 13 two storey offi ce units to the rear of the property. Doherty Bains advised Flexistore. At the beginning of December units were quoted at rents of £17 per sq ft.


Twenty one per cent drop in Big Yellow Group’s pretax profit“Sell”, said the Questor column in the Daily Telegraph at the end of November referring to Big Yellow Group shares. The recommendations came in the wake of Big Yellow’s half year report which showed a 21% drop in fi rst half pretax profi ts. Contrary to the DT, J P Morgan analyst Harm Meijer is reported as saying: “We like Big Yellow and believe it should be a preferred pick within UK property because of its high quality brand, great management, strong like-for-like growth of 7%, strong balance sheet (32% loan to value) and relative high net yield – before overhead costs - of 7.4%.” Big Yellow Group Chairman Nicholas Vetch in his company report said: “Profi t before tax in the period to 30 September 2007 was £46.3mn, down from £58.8mn, largely resultant from lower revaluation surpluses following the opening of fewer stores in the period when compared to the same period last year.” Revenue for the period

Safestore Holding PLC reported a 14.1% increase in its full-year like-for-like sales, to year end 31 October 2007 and a 15.5% in its second half year revenue. Closing occupancy grew 7.4% to 2.9mn sq ft from 2.7mn sq ft in 2006. Property Portfolio

With 103 stores in the UK and 20 in Paris Safestore CEO Steve Williams said: “The pipeline of new stores has continued to increase and is on track to deliver our stated objective of seven to ten new stores for both 2008 and 2009.” During the fi nancial year the company successfully opened six new stores (Slough, Guildford, Hayes, Newcastle, Eastbourne, Kremlin Bicêtre - Paris) and two satellite stores in Burnley and Stevenage. The new, purpose built freehold facility in Eastbourne has allowed it to relocate from its leasehold facility which has now closed. The pipeline for expansion stores has increased to eighteen (properties that have been acquired or are under contract) of which two (Dobbies Loan and Rutherglen) are expected to open by the end of 2007.

was £28.6mn, up 17% from £24.4mn in the comparable period last year. Revenue for the second quarter of £15.1mn was 12% up on the £13.5mn reported for the quarter to 30 June. Turning to occupancy the Chairman reported that at the period end occupied space represented 1,918,000 sq ft, up 7% from 1,792,000 sq ft at the same time last year. “This represents a 73% occupancy rate across all 43 stores open at the period end, unchanged from the same period last year. “During the period we opened a store in Sutton, with further centres opened in Ealing and Barking Central since the period end. We are intending to open a further three stores in the fi nancial year, in Balham, Merton, and our fl agship 139,000 sq ft store in Fulham.” The 32 stores that were open for more than two years at the beginning of the period was 83% occupied at the end of the period, with an average occupancy during the period of 84%.

Of the remaining pipeline stores, nine are due to open in 2008 with a further six planned to open in 2009/10. Of the expansion stores 14 are freehold/long leasehold, four are short leaseholds and ten have planning permission. Steve Williams commented: “We have continued to deliver on our key performance indicators. Increased enquiries resulted in a strong number of new lets. We continue to see growth in occupancy, increased rates per square foot and ancillary sales growth which have all contributed to the uplift in revenues. “The pipeline of new stores has continued to increase and is on track to deliver our stated objective of 7 to 10 new stores per annum for both 2008 and 2009.” The UK and French markets show lower penetration rates than the US or Australia and, according to the UK Self Storage Association, the UK market is expected to grow with a CAGR of 10% to 15%. Safestore currently has approximately 39,000 domestic and business customers with an average length of stay of 77 weeks for current users.

Safestore Holdings grows in size and revenue

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Team effort expands The Storage Team storeA second phase turn-key fi t-out for The Storage Team in St Helens has recently been completed by Active Supply & Design (CDM) Ltd. The fi t-out included the extension of a two-tier mezzanine fl oor which created the potential for more than 62,500 sq ft of storage space. Owner of The Storage Team, Kevin Thompson, has worked closely with the Active team since his initial moves to enhance his already successful removals business with a self storage

facility. Kevin set up his removals business with a £5,000 grant from the Princes Trust in January 2001, gaining a contract with Liverpool Community College some three months later. As the business developed Kevin became acutely aware of the self storage market, as more and more customers enquired as to the availability of self storage locally. At this stage, and after much research, Kevin contacted Active Supply & Design and was pleasantly

surprised by the help and guidance Active offered and its eagerness to make his project run as quickly and as smoothly as possible. From placing the original order with Active, Kevin now has an ultra-modern facility with a plush reception area and serviced offi ce space available from 100 to 500 sq ft. The storage rooms vary in size between 25 and 225 sq ft with Active’s fl at white plastisol system being used for the corridor walls.

Big Yellow and Pramerica joint venture

Big Yellow Group PLC is to develop 25 stores in the Midlands, the North of England and Scotland in a £150mn investment partnership with Pramerica Real Estate Investors. Big Yellow will invest up to £25mn in the Partnership and Pramerica up to £50mn, while the Royal Bank of Scotland will provide a fi ve year non recourse loan of £75mn. Big Yellow has initially agreed to sell fi ve of its development sites, together with its existing store in Leeds to the Partnership. The consideration for the sites and the store to be transferred into the Partnership is £20.3mn in cash. “Joining forces with this prestigious institution will allow us to continue to expand with confi dence into the northern part of UK, whilst at the same time improving the fi nancial performance of the group,” said Jimmy Gibson, Big Yellow’s CEO.

Self storage expansion for Derby company

A self storage company with a branch in Burton is moving its headquarters to bigger premises. B E Webbe’s Self Storage, based on the Racecourse Industrial Park in Mansfi eld Road, Derby is moving to a new home just a few yards away with a much increased capacity. A self storage facility was opened two years ago at a former brewery building where Webbe’s spent £750,000 refurbishing the 19th century four-storey building at the Maltings, which was originally part of the Salt & Co brewery. After just 14 months the 250 units were 85% full.

General lighting, emergency lighting, smoke detection and a fi re alarm system were incorporated in to this turn-key fi t-out. With the fi rst phase selling out very quickly the need for more rooms to satisfy customer demand was paramount. Active again responded rapidly to Kevin’s needs and by utilising effi cient project management were able to complete the second phase within timescale and to budget.

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Storage King recently organised a faces-to-names evening for its major suppliers. The event consisted of an evening’s greyhound racing at Hall Green Stadium in Birmingham. The highlight of the evening was the Self Storage Classic, a race sponsored by Active Supply & Design and won by Emmies Friend with Blue Hawaii in second place. Among the more successful punters on the night were Paul Chambers and Gordon Lawrie, both of Active Supply & Design, and Dave Betts of Storage King. The event served its purpose very effectively with staff from Active Supply & Design, PTI (UK), Elephante and Prospective Signs combining with Storage King staff to make for a very memorable occasion.

As Storage King’s expansion plans gain momentum the need to maintain excellent relationships with suppliers and contractors becomes ever more important. Dave Betts, Chief Executive of Storage King commented: “We believe we have the best suppliers in the business. “The night was a fantastic success and achieved exactly what we set out to do and I look forward to the next time and would like to thank all the attendees for their time and effort.” Meanwhile, on the same night in Manchester, other members of the Active Supply & Design team were attending a gala dinner to mark the end of Halliwells Challenge. The challenge raises money for the Prince’s Trust, and involved over 150 teams from the Manchester area, all starting with a £50 stake, and having three months to grow that £50 by as much as possible. This year’s challenge was a resounding success, with a huge total of £204,000 being raised for this very worthy cause. Active Supply & Design managed to accrue a very credible total for the trust and will continue to support this key charity in the years to come.

Storage King and suppliers go to the dogs in Birmingham

Owner of Emmies Friend (centre) joins winner of the Self Storage Classic Greg Dale (Active Supply & Design (l) and Dave Betts (Storage King)

Lok’nStore has acquired two new sites. The acquisitions, in Maidenhead and Northampton, will take the company’s total number of stores to 23 and total space to over 1.2 million sq ft of which 64% is held freehold/long leasehold and 36% short leasehold. Maidenhead The long leasehold site of 1.6 acres in Maidenhead will provide up to 83,000 square feet of self storage space when completed, subject to planning permission. It is prominently located opposite a busy retail park and was acquired for £2.5mn. Total investment will be up to £7mn (inclusive of acquisition) with opening scheduled for Summer 2009. The lease term runs until April 2076. The decision to acquire more new build sites follows the success of Lok’nStore’s fi rst new build store at Farnborough and the imminent completion of purpose built stores at Harlow and Portsmouth which are due to open shortly. Northampton The 20 year leasehold site in Northampton is prominently

located close to the city centre, and will provide up to 36,000 square feet of self storage space. The existing building will be fi tted and branded on a short time scale and will open during Spring 2008. Total investment will be £700,000. Kingston Sale Further to these acquisitions the Board confi rm the receipt of £4.14 mn representing the balance due plus accrued interest following the sale of its Kingston store in June 2007 for £10mn. These proceeds will be used for the acquisition of further new sites. Andrew Jacobs, Chief Executive of Lok’nStore Group said: “We are delighted to have made these two acquisitions in Maidenhead and Northampton. “The three sites acquired so far this fi nancial year add around 180,000 square feet to our pipeline demonstrating our commitment to the continued growth of the business.”

Two new sites for Lok’nStore

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Lok’nStore preliminary results show profi t increaseAIM listed Lok’nStore plc secured a pre-tax profi t of £10.82mn, compared to a loss of £41,019 last year. The group’s turnover climbed 22% in the year to the end of July to £10.67mn and its EBITDA, before exceptional items, was up 65.7% to £2.63mn. “In June 2007 we completed the sale of our Kingston store to developers for £10mn,” said Group Chairman Simon Thomas, adding that the group sold its Woking store to a private investor for £2.4mn. The group’s average price for self storage was £17.29 per square foot per annum at 31 July 2007, which compares favourably, according to the Self Storage Association, with the average of £20.63 for the UK industry.

“We believe that there is room to continue to increase prices while retaining our strong price competitive position in the market. Packing material, insurance and other sales increased 18% over the year accounting for 7.8% of turnover,” said the Chairman. The company has bought three new sites and expanded two existing stores. “Work on the visibility of our stores is also improving the response to our marketing. Our Farnborough store with its prominent design, distinctive orange elevation and position adjacent to the M3 motorway has raised the profi le of the whole Lok’nStore brand,” said Simon Thomas in his operating review.

HomeStore to open a purpose built store in IpswichA new purpose-built self storage faci l i ty is to be opened in Ipswich. Currently under construction, it is adjacent to the Makro store on the Ransomes Euro Park and will offer 70,000 sq ft of storage for both domest ic and business customers when completed in mid March.

Storage Boost expansion plans

The new development follows the success of the company’s store in Bury St Edmunds, which has added 150 new units to its Anglia Lane Industrial Estate store. The company has only been trading for 12 months, but has already needed to increase it’s storage capacity by a further 10,000 sq ft.

Storage Boost is increasing its self storage capacity in the North of England. It is expanding its Crewe operation into a fi fty thousand net lettable facility and opening a new fi fty thousand net lettable facility in Stafford. The brothers, Nick and Andy Wood, who launched their business in January 2006 have recently linked up with two property entrepreneurs, Steve Walker and Mike Wrigley. Nick says: “We are very pleased to be working with Steve and Mike to expand the Storage Boost brand into further sites.

Storage company acts quickly on site acquisition

Yellow Box Self-Storage Company Limited has bought a long lease on an industrial site at Woodbridge Meadows, near Guildford. The site was originally earmarked for the GSA Conservatoire, formerly known as the Guildford School of Acting. However, GSA has now decided to consolidate its seven locations around the town centre at the University of Surrey’s Stag Hill campus in Guildford.

“The new partnership will enable Storage Boost to grow throughout the North and the Midlands with further sites planned for this year, starting with East Manchester.” Steve from Manchester and Mike from Derbyshire have built up very successful property development businesses over the last 30 years. They are keen motor sport competitors, Mike was the historic TGP Formula One Champion in 2004 driving Martin Brundells Tyrell car and Steven was the Volkswagen Cup Champion in 2002 driving a VW Golf.

Yellow Pages closing datesThe publisher of Yellow Pages advises the following closing dates for booking advertising in its directories:

Aberdeen - 18/3/08; Blackburn - 14/03/08; Southampton - 26/3/08; Swansea & SW Wales - 1/4/08; Lincoln - 2/4/08; Grimsby & Scunthorpe - 2/4/08; Highlands & Islands - 4/04/08; Glasgow South - 8/4/08; Ayr, Kilmarnock & Irvine - 8/4/08; Glasgow North - 8/4/08; Stirling & Falkirk - 8/4/08; 17/4/08; Sutton Coldfi eld, Tamworth - 17/4/08; Birmingham Central - 21/04/08; Wolverhampton - 21/04/08; SW Birmingham, Redditch - 21/4/08

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Workshop Content� Getting to know each other – networking� Customer service trends� What IS great customer service?� Customer care skills� Managing attitudes and behaviours� The customer journey

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Self Storage Association UK • T: 01270 623150 • E: [email protected] • www.ssauk.com

IMPROVE YOUR TURNOVERAND INCREASE PROFITS12 MARCH IN LONDON:THE EFFECTIVE MANAGERDesigned for Managers or potential Managers, thiscourse covers basic management techniques:

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Workshop Content� What would you expect?� Reading and finding out about the customer� How to tailor your presentation to each customer� Where to, how to recruit and select the right people� How to plan consistently� Managing your time� Managing others

TRAINING IS KEYTO YOUR SUCCESS

(FOR MEMBERS ONLY)

The fi rst Self Storage Association UK Autumn Conference was held at Hellidon Lakes, Daventry and sponsored by Active Supply & Design (CDM) Ltd. It was a great success with numbers exceeding expectations, but as with all fi rsts it was diffi cult to foresee the numbers, both of delegates and exhibitors in the trade show. The fi rst day was aimed at managerial staff with training elements led by Anne Ballard of Universal Management Company in USA giving the presentation which covered management and operations and sales and marketing. One cannot help be caught up with Anne’s enthusiasm for all things to do with self storage.

come from as far away as the USA, Australia and Europe for attending, as well as the high numbers of UK delegates. A special thank you was given to the sponsors: Active Supply & Design, the main sponsor, RADical Systems, Reason Global Insurance and Steel Storage for their support and to Anne Ballard for her two days of presentation and for the suppliers with their trade show stands. “It has been an extraordinary year,” said David. “We have had a bank purchasing Armadillo, Big Yellow taking the REITs route, Storage King’s acquisition by the Australians and, according to Mintel, a 15% growth in

watch our green credentials. On hand to help were Julia Hailes, MBE, and Michael Pawlyn, whose articles follow.

Autumn Conference meets a demand

SSA UK Chairman David Milton

Anne Ballard (Universal Management Company)

the UK self storage market. “The training programme for members is being further developed. The Association now have a dedicated packaging supplier and more membership benefi ts are to follow. We have gained considerable media interest, governmental bodies seek our advice and we respond quickly and emphatically to Government proposals such as CGT and Waste Management, while driving forward the draft for a European self storage standard,” said David. The evening was rounded off, for those with the stamina, with ten-pin bowling. Next day the sessions were launched by round the world yacht racing skipper Tracy Edwards MBE enthralling - and waking-up - delegates with her roller coaster presentation. (See following article). You can’t get away from it! Although self storage doesn’t present that big a carbon footprint it behoves us all to

The trade show, with its 31 companies represented, provided a tremendous insight into the industry, and was attended on the day by a number of people interested in seeing what self storage is about, as well as those that are already well established in the industry. As always, the trade show venue provided an opportunity to meet and greet friends and colleagues while enjoying the pre-dinner drinks reception sponsored jointly by RADical Systems (UK) Ltd and Reason Global Insurance. The conference dinner sponsored by Steel Storage Europe Ltd was an enjoyable event that included a magician who pick-pocketed delegates, as he circulated the tables demonstrating his card tricks. (All items were returned!). SSA Chairman David Milton took the opportunity to thank those that had

Another very topical issue was aired – the economy! Roger Martin-Fagg of Henley Management College focused on the workings of the economy. He began his career in the New Zealand Treasury, which was followed by airline business planning and teaching post-graduates all aspects of the economy and working with the Bank of England and three of the major UK clearing banks. Roger’s take on the economy as at last autumn follows. Exclusive to the Self Storage Association UK was

the panel of industry experts to answer delegates’ questions on all and any self storage issues. This was one of those conference sessions that are invaluable for delegates and a good reason why attending a conference is so essential. On hand to give delegates the benefi t of their experience were SSA Chairman David Milton (ABC Selfstore), Adrian Lee (Big Yellow), Doug Perrins (Ready Steady Store Ltd) and Tim Morley (Derbyshire Self Storage). Anne Ballard returned to the microphone again to round off the conference with advice on how to manage your store’s income and expenditure. Bringing the conference to a conclusion SSA Chairman David Milton thanked the delegates for coming, to the sponsors for their support and to the head offi ce team for organising the conference. Finally he looked forward to meeting all again at the FEDESSA European Conference in Rome, 7 – 9 May 2008.

Panel team: (l-r) David Milton (ABC Selfstore), Adrian Lee (Big Yellow), Doug Perrins (Ready Steady Store) and Tim Morley (Derbyshire Self Storage)


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FEDESSA President Paul Fahey of BiG Storage was made an Honorary Member of the Self Storage Association by Chairman David Milton at the recent Conference. This is in recognition of Paul’s innovations within the Association while he was a Board member and its Chairman. Paul was appointed an SSA Director in 2001 and immediately took responsibility for revamping and updat ing the professionalism and fi nancial viability of the conferences, organising those held in Amsterdam (2002), Paris (2003) and Manchester (2004). He became Chairman in 2004 for a two year term, but in 2006 was asked by the board to stay on for an extra year. During his time he served on various think tank groups, which evolved into SSA advisory groups, which initiated the introduction of training, the launch of Focus and a web site, the appointment of a CEO, Rodney Walker, and a dedicated Secretariat and the organising of members’ meetings In 2003 Paul spearheaded the formation of FEDESSA and became its founding President and in 2006 became President

again for a two year term but has been asked by the General Council to undertake a third term to help progress and development of the Federation.

Paul is the seventh Honorary Membership to be awarded in the Association’s history.

Honorary Membership for Paul Fahey

Paul Fahey (left) was presented with an Honorary Membership by SSA Chairman David Milton

Members and exhibitors enjoyed pre-dinner drinks in the Conference Trade Show

Marc Arjona Alonso (Reserva Self Storage SL) Daniel Tecedor Rotaeche (Tecro Montadores SL), Jason Figart (US Door & Building Components), Sandra Noya Serrano (Asociacion Espanola de Self Storage)

Leanda Buchschacher (ECB Group) persuading Reg Hackworthy (Plymouth Self Storage) of the virtues of steel containers

“Two hundred stores by this time next year,” Steve Williams tells Dave Davies (Safestore)

Lorraine Dicksee (Reason Global Insurance) shares a joke with Shurgard’s Andy Webber, Dion Marshall, Terry Doman

Sam Chapman (Transdek UK) is the lucky guy with Jasone Garcia (Tecro Montadores SL) and Mary Ann Diehl (US Door and Building)

Hugh Murray and Geoff Spring (Knighthood Security Systems Ltd)

2008 Volume ISelf Storage Focus 24

Adrian Lee (Big Yellow) and Dave Betts (Storage King) Steve Williams (Safestore) and Andrew Donaldson (Active Supply & Design Ltd)

Barry Rimmer, John D’Aprano (PTI), Doug Perrins (Ready Steady Store), Robin Greenwood (Shurgard)

Sue Putterie (Smithpack) with a delegate

Fred Taylor (Access Self Storage) and Michael Homan (Steel Storage Europe)

Alistair Wells (Absolute Self Storage) chats to business psychologist Margaret O’Sullivan

sponsored jointly by RADical Systems (UK) Ltd and Reason Global Insurance.


2008 Volume ISelf Storage Focus

SSA Chairman David Milton (ABC) Caroline Doran (Rooks Rider) and FEDESSA President Paul Fahey (BiG Storage)

William O’Brien (William O’Brien Public Storage) and Doug Perrins (Ready Steady Store)

Michael Homan (Steel Storage) and Michael Fogelberg (Selstor AB)

Mike Clegg (Sentry Self Storage) with Nancy Martin and Tony Borysenko (Chateau)

Gerard Hosty, Desmond Houlihan, Clinton Tempany and Damien Kelly (Barons Self Storage)

James John (Rooks Rider), Dave Betts and Sarah Hopkins (Storage King)

Over 200 delegates sat down to dinner, sponsored by Steel Storage, at the UK

26

Sue Kenny and Jane Massey (SSA) with Fred Taylor (Access Self Storage)

Darren Vale (Ledgerstar) and Miranda Hyder (BAR Services)

Adrian Lee (Big Yellow), Oliver Close (Cushman & Wakefi eld), Mike Clegg (Sentry Self Storage) and Christine Doyle (Admiral Self Storage)

Self Storage Focus

Self Storage Conference

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Tracy Edwards always wanted to sail. Expelled from school at 15 with her headmaster’s blessing and adjuration “to go and do something” ringing in her ears, she decided to travel. Her father died when she was young and her mother travelled the world as a ballet dancer, but tried to persuade Tracy to get a proper job instead of mucking about in boats. Tracy’s way to travel was to work on yachts, fi rstly as a stewardess on a motor yacht in Greece, but after two years in sailing yachts, fi rstly in the same job, but then as cook. When 19 she sailed from the Mediterranean to the Caribbean and for the next four years worked on charter yachts and then on racing yachts learning the sport of ocean racing. The life was a complete revelation to her: “for the fi rst time I felt part of something,” said this super charged pint sized lady, in her fi recracker presentation to delegates attending the recent SAA UK Autumn Conference. “This was a whole new world where you look after each other. There has to be the will to win as well as professionalism. I fell in love with the ocean.” Having spent the fi rst few years learning to deal with sea-sickness, at 17 she realised that ocean racing on yachts was what she wanted to do. Luckily in her early years she had wise mentors who pushed her, not just to be the galley slave, but to learn something more, such as navigation, and who considered she could hack-it on ocean racing yachts. On her fi rst ocean race, the 1985/86 Whitbread Round the World Race, she was a crew member on the Atlantic Privateer, which came fi rst on the Cape Town to Auckland leg. “I was over the moon to be part of it; even when the 17 men, all huge South Africans with rugby type frames, promised they would make me cry every day,” recalls the petit Tracy. She realised that of the 253 participating crew members in the race, there were only four women. She vowed to introduce more women to

ocean racing in what had been, until then, a male dominated sport. This led to the Maiden Project. It took four years, 1986 to 1990, to get a boat, an old second hand yacht, which proved to be the heaviest in the Whitbread race, then to muster the dozen all-women crew, not to mention shore-side support team and to gain sponsorship. It was an amazing achievement for one so young to master the nuts and bolts of such a task, giving presentations and convincing a sceptical press and public that she and her crew could do it. However, unable to fi nd a sponsor she had to sell her house to buy the boat and refi t it, fi nally getting the Duchess of York to name it. The Whitbread round the world race is 27,000 miles long, divided in six legs, with fi ve stop-overs and it takes nine months. Maiden came second. Her mother had been the lone fi gure waving off this all female crew. On their return 50,000 cheering, fl ag waving people welcomed Maiden back to Southampton, and all Tracy was worried about on the day was not ramming the quay at the Ocean Terminal. “I realised we had created a stir, but we could do better. Give a team an achievable task, that is reachable and feasible, and they’ll make it,” she said. The stir led to Tracy being awarded Sportswoman of the Year in 1990 and an MBE. She also wrote the story in her book Maiden which was published in 1994. Tracy set herself another challenge: to win the Jules Verne round the world race with another all women crew. “I went to the Jules Verne offi ce in Paris to ask them for a race rule book. The gentlemen asked me to wait and following some quick writing he handed me the rules. Basically they were that the race started in the Channel and boats should then sail south turning left at the bottom of the World and continue to the fi nish line, having covered 22,000 miles!” The big difference for Tracy and her all female international crew was that

they would be sailing a multi-hull – a totally different beast to the mono-hulled Maiden. This boat, named Maiden 2 would be travelling at 37 knots. “The boat would be dangerous. I had to throw out the mono hull disciplines and learn new ones, as this yacht would try to kill us. One person can turn a multi-hull over – the helmsman. At any moment she is the most important person on the vessel, more important than the skipper. However, we couldn’t be frightened of her,” said Tracy. Tracy’s budget for the race was £3.2mn and was sponsored by Royal & Sun Alliance. The sponsors perceived that Tracy and her crew were capable of generating coverage to the value of £12mn. The interior of the boat was Spartan. The crew lived in a very confi ned space and hot-bedded. They had to store all bedding and possessions away before going on watch, and while below it was diffi cult to hear others talking because of the sound of the multi-hull crashing through the sea. “We had two end results: win and survive. I hate technology, but it helps to win races. Unlike Maiden where a radar looked like a radar and a wireless looked like what it was, on the multi-hull everything was run from the lap top - even the emails caught up with me,” said Tracy. “I like my sextant and tables, and I love charts. Now we had charts on the computer, a sat nav, and a satellite phone.”

Tracy Edwards


“Crew start to deteriorate as soon as they start a race, so putting on body weight before the start is important, over the course of the race I lost two stone. You only use your body from the waste up. By the time you get to the Southern Ocean everything must be in place, both bodily and mentally. Under these conditions people become introverted. It’s a dangerous time.” Tracy and her team broke seven world records and were on course for the record for more than half the race, but disaster struck on day 22 as they headed for the Chilean coast. Maiden 2 planed into the wave ahead, jarring to a sudden stop and all but going stern over bow. In the relative silence that followed there was an ominous cracking sound and the mast, rigging and sails came crashing down. They were 2000 miles from land. It took four hours to clear away the sails, and eleven hours later they were underway with a jury mast. It took another 16 days, without any assistance, to make land. Everything had been going brilliantly for Tracy; she had a lovely daughter, a beautiful home and no husband, but

she felt that, although not wanting to risk her life in ocean racing as she now had a daughter, she had a tremendous amount of organisational skills that could be turned to organising around the world sailing events and developing a formal governing body for multi-hulls with championship tables and rules. So, in 2003 she set up Quest International Sports Events and signed a £6mn sponsorship deal with the Crown Prince of Qatar to create two round-the-world races and a marina complex in the state. HSBC sponsored the fi rst event to the tune of £3mn. Tracy had moved to Qatar to organise the event which would start and fi nish in the Gulf State. It was hard work of 17 hour days, seven days a week to organise the four fastest boats in the world to compete in what was Oryx Quest 2005. The race was a huge success and created $46mn worth of press coverage for Qatar. In spite of this Qatar refused to pay Tracy the £8mn she had borrowed to facilitate the event and pay the teams to enter. The State also refused to pay the $1mn prize money. “This is where I went wrong,”

confessed Tracy. “Instead of letting the team know what was happening I kept them in the dark and borrowed £8mn from the bank, setting £6mn sponsorship, plus my pension and house as collateral. “I know it was stupid but I was caught up in everything.” Tracy was held in Qatar and on her 41st birthday was made bankrupt in September 2005. “I could have crumbled or I could carry on. I had a fi ve-year-old daughter and fees for the school to be paid. I went home and cried. I realised I would have to stop crying or I would never stop. I decided to put my life back together organising events, consulting for companies doing business in the Middle East and other activities including pursuing legal action against Qatar. I now live in London, have a man and have put my life back together. And much to the delight of my mother I have a job,” said Tracey. She is Project Manager for the International Youth Advisory Congress, part of CEOP, Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre.

The future is green. It better be!Julia Hailes MBE advises industry on its environmental issues. She introduced architect Michael Pawlyn at the recent Self Storage Association UK Conference at its Hellidon Lakes venue, by highlighting some topical environmental issues

Julia is another girl that started her working life on yachts, crewing down in the Caribbean as a stewardess. She was shocked to fi nd crew members dumping rubbish overboard, and then moaning about the litter on pristine tropical island beaches. But not for long; Julia soon put a stop to that. “A big part of what I do is trying to illustrate to people that lots of small things that you do can make a difference. Each of the individual actions you make, do not make much difference on their own,” she admitted, giving the incidence of the fl ashing clock on a microwave which probably uses about £2.50 worth of electricity in a year. “Is it really worth switching it off? But when you think about it, there are over 30mn households in the UK; that is about £70mn worth of electricity.” Julia said a lot of people thought that technology can sort out environmental problems, “why should we really make any changes. “We have fantastic technology, there is new technology coming into play all the time, and we certainly have enough to deal with the problems we are facing, but the issue is we are not prepared to make the changes that are necessary. “How many people have come across LED light bulbs? LED light bulbs are the next generation of energy effi cient light bulbs. The LED bulbs use less electricity than the compact fl uorescents and last even longer. For instance, they are beginning to put them in traffi c lights. Instead of lasting for six months, which a normal traffi c light bulb will do, a LED traffi c light will last for ten

years. It saves a lot on labour. “Instead of 60w of electricity as most traffi c lights uses, it uses something like 4w. One of the statistics I think interesting is if 90% of American lighting was LED light bulbs it would save the equivalent of 133 power stations. The technology is there, but is the will to use it there?” she asked, adding that if the average car in America ran at 40mpg or more, they wouldn’t have to import any oil.

What has this got to do with self storage? “Before I was contacted by the Self Storage Association I had not thought a great deal about self storage,” she admitted. Julia therefore looked to see if she could fi nd some attractive self storage buildings. “I gave a speech for an Estates Gazette sponsored conference. The audience were the sort that built shops and shopping centres. “One of the key messages I was putting to them was a Tesco development near where I live had run into all sorts of problems with the local people who were very upset with what was basically a bog standard Tesco development, with no energy effi ciency, no dealing with waste properly, problems with the transport systems and not fi tting into the local community. Tesco is building bog-standard stores, and it is building in problems for the future.”

In 1988 Julia co-wrote The New Green Consumer Guide it went on to sell over a million copies worldwide. It illustrated the power the individual has to change business and government. When carrying out the research for the book in 1987, she telephoned the supermarkets enquiring about their environmental performance relating to their products. They didn’t know what she was talking about. They had ideas about additives and health issues, but when it came to green issues they were in the dark. Six months after the New Green Consumer Guide was published, she sent a questionnaire asking what the supermarkets were doing for the environment? By that stage every single supermarket had an environmental adviser. It happened that quickly. “If the supermarkets say to their suppliers that they want certain changes to happen, of course the suppliers are going to make those changes because it comes down to whether they are able to sell to those supermarkets and make a profi t.”

Julia Hailes


Nature can show the way to protect the environment

Nature can show the way to protect the environmentMichael Pawlyn is an architect who has worked on the Eden Project and, for much of the last ten years, working with Grimshaw Architects. Very recently he left to set up his own company called Exploration, focusing exclusively on the idea of environmentally sustainable architecture inspired by nature.

The planet earth is not in a great shape, and humans as a species are in deep trouble, Michael Pawlyn told delegates attending the recent SSA UK Conference. He said: “An international panel on climate change drew some alarming conclusions. What is not so well known is that actually they toned down, very substantially, what they said. They thought it more important to get universal buy-in rather than to paint the picture as bleakly as it really is.” It is not just the atmosphere that is in trouble, the state of the lithosphere is quite alarming. A study prepared for Earth Summit in 1992 shows the amount of soil mineral depletion that has occurred in one generation - between 1940 and 1990 - indicates that North America has lost 85% of its minerals in the soil and Europe is not far behind at 72%. “Because farms can’t make

minerals, it translates directly into a drop in the mineral contents of plants. So if you look at just potassium that suggests that a child growing up today would have to have seven times as much vegetable matter to get the same amount of potassium as a generation ago.” World food production has increased by the continual reapplication of fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides, but a lot of these chemicals are leached out of the soil. All mineral loss is ending up in the oceans, which means the hydrosphere is not in a great state either. For as many millennia that records can reliably show the chemistry of the ocean has been fairly steady at a ph of between 8.3 and 8.2. But for the last 100 years it has been dropping quite rapidly and it is now at about 8.03. If it was to get to the ph of 7.9 there would be alarming changes, because that is the level of acidity at which calcium carbonate goes into solution. So all the marine organisms, the algae that create the little micro-skeletons from calcium carbonate, would disappear and you would see the collapse of marine ecosystem of which a very substantial proportion of the world depends for food. “Putting all those things together,

if you were to assume the economy needs to carry on growing, and if you assume 2.5% annual growth for the next 50 years, coupled to an increase in population heading toward 9.5bn then that equals an impact on the environment ten times what it is today. So I think it is clear that the current economic paradigm is not one that is sustainable,” said Michael. “I think most people are broadly sympathetic to the environmental agenda, but perhaps what people fi nd diffi cult is the level of change that is necessary. Some people talk about achieving a 60% or even 90% reduction in CO2 emissions, but some fi nd that level of change

Michael Pawlyn

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quite daunting. So what I will do is relate one or two examples that demonstrate you can actually achieve the same results with a tenth or hundredth of the resource input. The Eden Project used a concept of dragonfl y wings to help resolve the steel junctions in the globes. The site for the project is a Cornish china clay pit so the architectural solution had to cope with more or less any ground profi le. “The idea we came up with was like a string of bubbles. So the diameter of the spheres could vary to provide the right growing height for different parts of this greenhouse and the metal parts that connected all those bubbles together could be varied to suit the topography, as much as we could predict. “The challenge was to think of a way of making this building as light and energy effi cient as possible. We wanted to update the greenhouse and make it suitable for the 21st century. We worked out the part of the site that received the most sunlight, and that is where we positioned the building and then we thought about how we would enclose these big structures. The most effi cient way of enclosing a circular volume is with a geodesic structure - that is a structure made of hexagons and pentagons.” The next challenge facing the architects was to fi nd a way to enclose that structure in as light a way as possible. Glass is quite limited in terms of its size; it is heavy. “We were aware of a material at the time called ETFE, it’s a high strength polymer. The way it is made is you put it together in three layers and you weld it around the edge and then you infl ate it with air, just like LiLo,

and that is what gives it its structural rigidity. The great thing about that is you could make it in much bigger sizes than you can get in glass. “What we found is we got into a virtuous cycle of improvements, in that one design improvement actually facilitated the next one. So by using ETFE we could make these enclosing pillows much bigger, which meant we needed less steel, with less steel it meant we were getting more sunlight in, so there was going to be less additional energy required in winter, and also less steel meant less money was being spent, also less substructure and so on.” The next project the practice undertook was another botanical visitor attraction, but this time in the North of England, near St Helens. Once again we had a very challenging site - a landfi ll site. “It really does bring home to you what a crazy idea it is to take valuable minerals and resources and turn them into short life products and then dump them in the ground. Some 70% of what we take out of the ground in this country is back in the ground within a year,” says Michael. “We wanted to do something that responded to the waste and thought it would be great if we could do something clever with our building. We also thought we would try and recreate an example of the Amazonian rain forest on our site and make this very specifi cally about eco-systems. We thought it would be great if people could come in at a high level and get a view over the jungle, so all senses are engaged by the heat and steam and so on. With walkways through the treetops you could start to explore all the vertical

dimensions of this building working your way down through the canopy and ending up at the forest fl oor,” recalled Michael. Part of the brief for this greenhouse was to make it carbon neutral. All the energy had to be created in a carbon neutral way and ideally on the site. The project had its raw material on site - the waste in the landfi ll, which is 60% biodegradable waste. “If we were to put it into a bio-digester we could get a lot of low grade heat which could be the heating source for our carbon neutral heating system,” explained Michael. To do this the walls are built with stockpiled rouble waste. There is a south facing glass roof, so that for much of the year the building is self heating from passive solar gain and from heavy masonry that can store the heat. Vertical bio-digesters built in the walls means that during the coldest time of the year the heat generated heats the building. “That actually drove the form of the architecture because it wasn’t any longer about achieving the biggest clear span, what we needed was more wall service area relative to the volume, because it was the walls that were providing the heat,” said Michael. The third project Michael spoke about owed its inspiration to a beetle. The practice was asked to make some proposals for a very run down part of the port area of Las Palmas, Tenerife, to be regenerated, which is where the beetle came into its own. “This little beetle is absolutely fantastic. It has found a way of creating its own fresh water in a desert. It has this matt black shell, so

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amount of pumping energy. “Working on the Las Palmas project we realised we had quite a lot of very distinct advantages. First of all we had a very steady wind direction all the year around, secondly it was very sunny so if we used fairly simple solar thermal panels we could heat up the seawater going into the evaporator part which means it would evaporate more readily. “Also the Canary Islands are volcanic and have very steep sides and that makes it fairly cheap to put a pipe down to deep sea water at 1000 metres below the surface where the sea temperature is 8°C. The cold sea water is pumped through the condenser part which, combined with the heated water evaporator and good wind direction, achieves very powerful desalination effect. “We took banks of evaporators and condensers and turned them into something really sculptural which became the backdrop to an outdoor amphitheatre. It is achieving desalination for one tenth of the energy of conventional forms of desalination. We have achieved a factor ten reduction in energy use and I think taken what might have been a fairly mundane bit of infrastructure and elevated it to a level of architecture,” said Michael Ray Anderson, a UK carpet manufacturer, decided he wanted solar electric panels over the whole of one of his factory roofs. Michael explained: “Ray asked his fi nancial people to look into this. They thought about it but said it was too expensive. However, he is not the sort of person who takes no for an answer. He brought together a group to brain storm the problem, including a number of people who are interested

in using nature as a source of inspiration. “Some one came up with the idea of a carpet that would not only be made with biological materials and be fully biodegradable and recyclable, but would be entirely manufactured using solar energy from the factory roof. All the emissions from transporting it to customers would be offset through carbon offsets. Then they would charge about an extra 15% for the carpet that would pay for the solar panels on the roof. “They did this and within a year it was their best selling carpet. So by creating a market you can produce products that are completely manufactured using solar energies. “I think it is possible to create a world in which everything runs on current solar income. I think it could also be a world in which waste could be eliminated, because we have learnt the way in which nature has created closed loop cycles and we have redesigned our products so that everything stays in these closed loop cycles. “It could also be a world in which we have learnt to make everything of non-toxic ingredients. One in which we have learnt to live as if we intend to stay, because we have learnt to live within nature’s limits. “I know it may sound like a dream, but I think we have a duty to dream and all those examples that I have talked about may be on a small scale, but can be applied on a bigger scale. I really think we can’t wait for the politicians to sort us out - because they won’t! We all need to become leaders in this fi eld, we all need to transform the companies we work for, and that is partly why I set up my company,” said Michael.

that at night it comes out of its hiding place and is able to radiate heat so that when the on-shore breeze blows in droplets of water form on its shell and just before the sun comes up it tips its back up in the air, the water runs down to its mouth, it has a good drink then goes off and hides before the sun comes up. “This is the fascinating thing about nature it has had a long research and development period of about 3.6bn years. Most of the faulty products have been withdrawn so that the remaining products actually demonstrate a very ingenious adaptation to resource constraints situations. “We wanted to create a very charismatic building that would be the centre piece of this regeneration scheme. We decided to work with Charlie Paton, a brilliant inventor who designed the seawater greenhouse.” The seawater greenhouse is designed for arid coastal regions, explained Michael, and the way it works is that on the seaward side a whole wall of evaporator grills, made out of cardboard, has a trickle of seawater through it. When the onshore breeze blows through it picks up a lot of moisture and it is cooled slightly in the process which means that it is about 10°C cooler inside than outside, so giving a much better environment for growing plants in arid regions. The really clever bit comes at the leeward end of the greenhouse, where the whole wall is made out of thin polythene tubes and once again seawater is passed through them so when the warm humid air is coming out of the greenhouse it passes these cool surfaces, condensation forms and runs down to the bottom and is collected. Seawater has produced distilled water just using the sun the wind and a tiny

Roger Martin-Fagg is an economist and strategist at the Henley Management College, who spoke at the November Conference on the future of the economy

The party is fi nally over

The long economic boom based on abundant cheap money has ended. Economic growth in the USA, and the UK will be below trend for the next three years, this means tougher trading conditions for all. Retail, non-food spend will show little or no growth over the next 18 months. House prices in the USA will continue to fall and will begin the fall in the UK. Expect up to 7% drop in 2008. The level of employment will fall everywhere, and then the level of unemployment will rise in 2008. The US and UK stock markets will be somewhat volatile but on average will grow by about 6% in value. Market Interest Rates in the UK will sit at 6% to 6.25% until April 2008. In the USA, interest rates at 4.5% as at November will not prevent the USA nearing recession in 2008. The liquidity crisis in the short-term money market is because the banks have lost trust in each other. This has happened because no one knows who is holding securities derived from sub-prime mortgages, and what they are worth in the market (not much!). Expect considerable shocks from the banking sector, i.e. substantial increases in bad debt provision. The US Federal Reserve (Fed), the European Central Bank and the

than numbers or ratios. Banks are either in lending mode or calling in loan mode. This behaviour is driven by their perception of risk. About 80% of all lending is secured against the value of fi xed assets. When the value of these assets is rising faster than the retail price index or the growth in nominal GDP, the perceived risk is falling, and the willingness to lend is rising. The moment asset prices stop rising or rise more slowly than retail prices and nominal GDP, the banks quickly turn off the credit tap, and as they do so, a growing number of customers default on their interest payments. This requires the banks to make provisions against their capital. They always over provide, because the defaults come as a shock to them. It is the provisioning which reduces their regulatory capital. And they tighten their lending criteria. The consequence is lower, slower growth in the money supply which guarantees that asset prices fall further. The Basel regulatory capital

Bank of England have all provided emergency funds, lending for 30 days, against a collateral of securitised debt. The Bank of England has lent Northern Rock £40 billion at 6.75%. As consumers become less optimistic, they will increase their savings. This will hit retailers hard. Corporate profi ts will come in below expectations in 2008, with some surprise profi ts warnings from retail, banks, house builders, and anyone in the mortgage industry. The party is fi nally over; those who drank too much at the fountain of cheap and abundant credit will be suffering a persistent headache. It will take up to three years to get better. Broad money M4 has been growing at double-digit rates for the past 12 months. UK Banks are extremely well capitalised and profi table; it is in their interest to leverage this capital. Profi table lending breeds more capital, which in turn allows more lending. Basle 2 the new regulatory framework is being rolled out. It allows large banks with sophisticated risk management systems to grow their balance sheets further, but using the same amount of capital as before. The pressure to lend has been greater than ever, and it causes credit guidelines to be relaxed. The last recession was caused by a sharp reduction in the rate of growth in M4 money in 1990 -1993. Banks were well capitalised then. Their balance sheets were leveraged 10 times in 1990. Today they are leveraged 8.5 times. A further look at the past suggests that rates of monetary expansion are driven more by attitude

Roger Martin-Fagg speaking at the recent SSA Conference



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ratio only determines the TOTAL of lending not its RATE OF CHANGE. As the credit tap is turned down, the amount set aside for bad debt provision increases exponentially thus reducing capital adequacy and a further tightening of lending criteria. This produces a second round effect of further monetary contraction, and then a third and so on. The consequence is a recession. Over the last year, commercial and residential property values have both grown in excess of 10%. Nominal GDP has grown at 6%, and retail prices at 4.5%. Banks were still very fi rmly in lending mode, and this is why interest rates rose everywhere. The Bank of England had to fi nd a rate at which would-be borrowers decide not to borrow, or at least borrow less. We know that the long run real rate of interest is 2.5% (this is the same as long run real GDP growth). And that this is the fi gure we add to infl ation to produce a neutral rate of interest; i.e. one that keeps money supply growth around 7-9% per year. This growth rate is consistent with an RPI infl ation rate of 3% and a real growth rate of 3%. RPI is growing at 3.9%, so we add 2.5% and get 6.4%. This today is what the neutral rate of interest should be. If it had been at this level for the past year M4 would not have been growing at 13%; it would be around 7%. LIBOR is now 6.3%, so the market is providing the signals and M4 money growth will slow. The forces, which kept infl ation below three percent, particularly prices ex-China and oil at $25 per barrel are no longer benign. Oil is $90 and prices from China are rising at nearly 10% per annum albeit from a low base (a combination of domestic infl ation of 6% plus a 4% appreciation in their currency). It is clear to me that the CPI will continue to be above 2.5% and over 3% in the next 12 months unless interest rates move close to seven percent. We know that households are running down their money balances to maintain their consumption spending. Household saving is currently negative. We know that this plus credit creation is maintaining retail sales growth. And we know that because wage payments are below company income growth, corporate profi ts are at record highs. Profi ts have grown for fi ve successive

years, and it is this, which is keeping P/E multiples close to the long run trend. It is highly unlikely that this will continue. A combination of wage increases and slower than expected sales will squeeze corporate profi ts in 2008. This squeeze on corporate profi ts will change the behaviour of banks; particularly their willingness to fi nance highly leveraged private equity deals. And a 6% LIBOR rate will produce a 7.5% mortgage rate. This will reduce would be house buyers willingness and ability to pay current prices, which must fall. When the economic system is at the top of an expansion cycle there is always a trigger that pushes the system back to more normal behaviour. The events of August 2007 have provided the trigger. Capitalism has created booms and busts for at least the last 300 years. The cycle of greed and fear will always be with us, alternating between unfounded optimism and unreasoning pessimism. These emotional states create behaviours that, via group thinking, result in unpredictable levels of activity.

The slicing and dicing of mortgage debt into securities which then attract a good credit rating is a bit of fi nancial engineering which appeals to foolish twenty-something traders who work for the major investment banks. It also produces a tradeable asset, which is low risk but high return. Or rather was…at long last the market is beginning to price risk properly. But there will be a considerable fallout and the market makers having pocketed their £1million bonuses will look to blame someone else! The Austrian school of economics epitomised by Frederick Hayek argue that a recession is a cleansing of the system where unwise investments are liquidated at a much lower than expected price, and that any attempt by the authorities to avoid this process only stores up bigger trouble for the future. The adjustment we will see over the next two or three years is long overdue. It will be caused by a sharp reduction in the rate of growth in the money supply which then hits the real economy via the transmission process which is complex and subject to unpredictable feedback loops. The fi rst and most likely impact will

We witnessed in the second and third weeks of August a breakdown in trust between the major banks particularly in the USA and Europe: they refused to lend to each other because no one knows who holds how much junk derivative instruments leveraged off the sub-prime mortgage market in the States.

be a sharp reduction in the rate of growth in consumption spending by households in the UK and the USA. Over the past 10 years the above infl ation growth in house prices has created a powerful wealth effect. Feeling wealthy households have reduced their saving and increased their borrowing to fi nance consumption

Non-food retail spend in the UK is inversely related to the mortgage rate


spend which has grown faster than their income. This money has boosted company profi ts, excessive pay for directors, unwise mergers and acquisitions and share buybacks. In the UK, non-food retail spending has been remarkably buoyant, growing by value by 4% up until July 2007. This can be explained by households bringing forward expenditure decisions to take advantage of aggressive retailer price discounts. It will not continue. Real disposable incomes fell by 0.7%, the fi rst reduction for 18 years. Note that this fi gure averages 2.25 % growth year-on-year, normally. The following chart shows that non-food retail spend is inversely related to the mortgage rate. At the end of the third quarter of 2006 this was 5.32%; it is now 7.25%. We can expect a very disappointing fourth quarter, which could be the start of a recession. The numbers in the dark shaded boxes are real household disposable income. The numbers in the un-shaded box are the mortgage rate. The thick black line is a smoothed quarter on previous year quarter non-food retail sales; the thin black line is unsmoothed non-food retail sales. UK households have been dis-saving after pension contributions i.e. living beyond their normal means. The most recent fi gures for earnings growth are 3.3% year-on-year, and RPI is 3.8%, so real incomes are still falling. A two percent increase in the savings ratio is about a £12 billion reduction in spending.

The USA

In many respects the USA is further down the cycle, consumer spending has been volatile over the past year. We await US employment fi gures. The data will show a ‘surprise’ fall in the level of employment. The transmission mechanism is at work. In the USA house prices fell 10% in the year to July 2007. The US savings ratio is still negative, and real disposable income is hardly growing this year. So it is not surprising that Wal-Mart has issued a profi ts warning. New car sales in July were the worst for nine years, and the supply of unsold new homes is at a 16 year high. Used homes sales fell by 10%. The second transmission channel is via company capital expenditure and recruitment. As I have said, the China effect has depressed wages in the

USA, and the Polish effect has done the same in the UK. Consequently companies have been able to build their margins and free cash fl ow. Many are making returns well above the cost of capital. In the UK this is typically around 9%, in the USA a bit lower at around 7%. Capital spending has been reasonably strong, fi nancing was very easy to obtain, and the returns good. The cost of capital is now rising. Capital expenditure will slow, and unexpected falls in consumer spending will then cause it to be delayed. This a second round effect, which will come through towards the end of 2008. The combination effect of the fi rst and then the second round effects is a sharp slowing of GDP. This will happen over the next two years, the degree of slowdown, or even recession will depend on the level of interest rates, which central banks (or the market) choose over the next few months, and the extent to which the current liquidity crisis in the fi nancial markets becomes a credit crisis in the high street. But the slow down in the USA will continue and it will begin in the UK from now on. Large economies are like super-tankers they take a long time to change direction, and once the change has begun it takes time to reverse it. It will be a challenging three years. The above graph tells us all we need to know about the likely behaviour of the UK housing market over the next 15 years. It is a fact that average house prices in the long run - over 25 years - can only grow in line with average wages and salaries. If they grow faster than these due to a mixture of banking system push and media driven pull then at some time they have to stop growing or fall. The graph shows that adjusted for infl ation house prices have grown in

line with real GDP - that is the growth of wages and salaries for the whole system. This is 2.4% per annum. Since 1999 real house prices have grown sharply because equities were relatively expensive and houses relatively cheap. As interest rates fell from 2000, affordability grew too. Banks were faced by large debt repayments from their corporate borrowers; to maintain their balance sheet growth they pushed hard in the mortgage market offering would be borrowers attractive deals. The chart shows how real house prices responded. The average house in the UK is now priced at fi ve times average household incomes. The last peak was in 1987 at 4.2 times average household incomes. If house prices grow in line with earnings (about 4% per annum) then it will take 11 years to get back onto trend. The alternative is for prices to fall. To get back to trend would require a fall of 30% in real terms. This will happen, the question is, will it be sudden or gradual? We don’t know, but if history repeats itself, the next fi ve years will be diffi cult for the house building industry in the UK and the USA. Buy a house today and it is likely you will gain little real capital growth for the next 11 years. But you will have somewhere to live. If you are an investor, then income growth in nominal terms is likely to be around three to four percent per annum. This is not much of a return for the hassle and inconvenience of holding an illiquid asset.

Roger Martin-Fagg may be contacted by [email protected]

Are houses a good investment in the UK?

2008 Volume ISelf Storage Focus 44

Employers need to face up to Facebook

Dear Ned

This brings up two main issues: fi rstly, about staff wasting time during offi ce hours (or “E-Dossing” as it is sometimes called) and secondly, what if they also damage the company reputation you have worked so hard to build up.

1) Wasting the company’s time

Facebook enables people to get in contact with and network with old friends, colleagues and strangers. It was launched three years ago and has approximately 6.5 million users worldwide and MySpace has 6.4 million. You have good reason to be concerned. In 2007 an American study by Salary.com alleged that the average employee wastes 1.7 hours within an 8.5 hour work day on the internet and chatting to colleagues. It is not just a problem for employers across the pond, as research by Peninsula suggests that 233 million hours are lost by UK employers every single month on social networking sites such as Facebook, Bebo and My Space. This is at the cost of £130mn per day to employers. I have been getting lots of queries

about Facebook recently. I recall similar concerns a few years ago about staff wasting time or damaging the company’s reputation on email, then the queries were about Ebay and more recently blogging. Now Facebook appears to be the cause célèbre. If your concern is that facility or head offi ce staff may be wasting time on the internet, then often the company’s current internet/communication policy will adequately cover this scenario. You may also have a policy (or even better, a term in everyone’s employment contracts) which states that damaging the company’s reputation either inside or outside working hours can be a sackable offence. Please can you send me a copy of the policies and contract so I can make sure it is drafted widely enough to cover these issues both now and in the future. It may be that they need to be tweaked to give the company the most protection and also you the most options should you be faced with an errant Facebooker. Firstly, employers need to decide what they will accept in terms of staff using the internet for personal use. Then comes the hard part which most employers do not do, which is you need to actually monitor it and also enforce it.

What are the company’s options?

Your options are: Only allow personal internet use at

lunch, before, or after working hours; No use of the internet during working

hours (or at work) at all for personal purposes;

Access allowed all day as long as it does not interfere with work;

Access is allowed so long as it is kept to an absolute minimum during working hours;

Prohibiting certain sites;Blocking access to certain sites.

The next step is to ensure all staff are told about:(i) the current policy; (ii) how it will be enforced (eg will IT monitor on an ad hoc basis, or monthly basis etc); and(iii) the penalties for ignoring it (eg

disciplined or even dismissed).

The tough love option

I am a big fan of “prevention not cure” so I suggest you make it crystal clear that access (length of time, sites etc) will be monitored on an ongoing basis. I would strongly recommend sending around the revamped or new internet policy and explaining that every single member will get a print out of sites accessed (and for what length of time) for the upcoming calendar month and you also reserve the right to do this at any time during the coming years without further notice (including at appraisal time). Those who have breached the new policy will be disciplined. This is a tough stance so you should only do this if you are prepared to go all the way, whether the miscreants are junior staff or CEOs. Staff members are often fl abbergasted when they realise how much information you can lawfully access. In my experience, once they realise that employers can and will access this type of information they will be much more circumspect with their use of the internet. Hopefully productivity will go up rather than them going back to the old fashioned and untraceable “dossing” over the water cooler or photocopier.

Dear Caroline

I have heard other facility owners talk about staff and the internet. One manager said she sacked staff because of what they had been up to on Facebook. I am not up to date with this phenomenon and I am not sure if there are things I should be doing to protect our corporate reputation.

Please help.

Ned Ludd

Caroline Doran, an employment law specialist with SSA Supplier Member Rooks Rider, explains the steps employers can take to prevent employees time-wasting on social networking sites

Caroline Doran


To ban or not to ban?

Many companies are banning specifi c sites such as personal email (hotmail) and Facebook. The Evening Standard paper’s survey said two-thirds of employers were restricting or even banning access (including the Metropolitan Police and Credit Suisse) to social networking sites. An Internet Security fi rm, Sophos, found 43% of employers specifi cally banned Facebook type sites on productivity and security grounds. So if you would rather ban it – you will be in good company. If you do ban it outright, you need to be sure of your facts and have courage of your convictions. Another City law fi rm banned access to Facebook only to have to do a public and embarrassing u-turn after it was inundated with staff complaints and bad press about the staff being prevented from networking and keeping up with friends and contacts.

“I have dossed around on Facebook all day and

consequently have done no work”

The age old problem of dossing around at work has been given a new dimension by the Facebook. There is a Facebook group called “I have dossed around on Facebook all day and consequently have done no work”. It has 240 members. Is one of your employees currently listed on it? This then brings us into the next area of potential danger to employers, the public aspect of these sites.

2) Has your company been “named and shamed” on Facebook?: The damage caused by staff to your reputation Other employers who have been named by staff in a less than fl attering way and therefore shamed on the internet include:

Argos. There was a Facebook group entitled “I work at Argos and can’t wait to leave because it’s s**t” . This Group was created by Tom Beech, an erstwhile Argos employee.

118 118. This directory enquiry company tried to get the Facebook group entitled “I survived 118 118” shut down from May 2007 and the group was taken off the air in August

2007. The group apparently contained exchanges from employees and former staff who were trading insults and horror stories about the terrible clientele they had to put up with. And, even more problematic for 118 118 was that they also detailed how they reaped their revenge on the company’s customers. One employee claimed he wrote the telephone numbers of callers he found annoying on public toilet walls and internet sites. Others said they hung up on callers.

Waterstone’s. Few recall the name Joe Gordon but more may remember the bad press that involved his departure from Waterstone’s; where he had been employed until they read his personal blog in which complained about his “evil boss” and renamed it “B**tardstones”. Although there were reports that he was eventually offered his job back by Waterstone’s after he appealed, which he apparently declined. Again, your employment contracts and any staff handbook already should have a section which deals with “bringing the company into disrepute”. To avoid situations like the Waterstone’s blogger, you should make it clear in a explanatory email what exactly you regard as bring the company into “disrepute”. You may want to clarify (so not to give them any wiggle room) that any derogatory comments about the company, staff, suppliers or clients will not be tolerated. One can chastise current staff, however it is much more diffi cult to discipline former staff. Unless ex- staff members are saying something libellous or unlawful you may only be able to threaten them with amending their reference to refl ect their unprofessional behaviour on the internet. I again would advocate prevention as from experience I know that if staff know that management or their lawyers will be tasked with regularly monitoring of the use of the company’s name on Facebook and the internet, etc. and any breach of policy will be dealt with rigorously; only the most foolhardy will continue.

3. Other Facebook Issues

There are other issues such as Face- book vetting. In simple terms instead of typing in an interview candidate’s name in Google you also do it on Facebook to see if they are talking

about drugs or bad mouthing their current boss. Although individuals may not be doing anything unlawful by putting photographs and comments about their drinking, partying or sexual prowess it may make employers, who want discreet and professional staff, have second thoughts about offering them the job. This area brings up novel and complex privacy issues and legal issues; as well as the usual employment recruitment issues. Regarding the latter, if you decide not to hire them because their web page said that they had children or were gay; this will be unlawful discrimination. If unlawful discriminatory grounds are proved to be the reason why you did not hire them then it could be expensive and embarrassing for the company. Research by recruitment consultancy Joslin Rowe says that one in fi ve employers say they use Facebook to check out candidates. 66% employers said they did on-line searches. Again, if you want more advice on this area please let me know.

Regards

Caroline [email protected]

The content of this article is provided for information purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. It is not a substitute for obtaining legal advice on a specifi c query and is not intended as such. Whilst every reasonable effort is taken to ensure it is up-to-date no responsibility is accepted for any consequence of relying on it.


Reason Global Insurance is a trading name for Reason and Co (SE) Ltd, authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority

Following the hot dry summer of 2006 we were told global warming was responsible and we should expect this again in 2007. However the July 2007 storms led to a change in the message to “expect the unexpected”. Not very helpful but unfortunately that’s all we have to work with. A number of self storage companies suffered the disastrous effects of the fl oods with several of their stores involved. With the industry being one that generally requires little resourcing the fi rst problem was how to manage the aftermath of the catastrophe with so few staff to help in the clear up, especially where the affected stores were geographically located well apart from each other (in some cases completely different parts of the country). Insurers can compensate you for your fi nancial losses, but they won’t roll up their sleeves and come out and clear up the mess themselves! And this was in addition to trying to manage the sheer volume of customer enquiries regarding the condition of their goods in store and their potential insurance claims. There is no avoiding the fact that regardless of what instructions you give to your customers relating to how they should conduct their claim (i.e. direct with the insurer or broker or loss adjuster), many of them will insist on speaking to you throughout the whole process. This is not necessarily a refl ection on the service provided by your insurers, just a human reaction: the desire to deal with the people with whom they contracted and who they know. The best you can do is turn this into a PR advantage by offering your customers guidance and support and, whilst not compromising the insurers’ position, ensuring they feel happy with the manner in which their claims are progressing. A good loss adjuster should help guide you and your customers through this process. This is where good disaster recovery planning will prove its worth. If you have thought about (and documented) how you will deal with this situation

prior to it happening and when you are in a much calmer environment, you will without doubt be much more prepared and able to cope if you are unfortunate enough to suffer a catastrophe loss. And many more of us may get caught up in these situations in the future in view of the changing climate conditions. You may well also have a claim of your own to make, for example damage to the building and your own equipment in your offi ce and storage area. If you have a Business Interruption claim this will almost certainly prove to be the most contentious area of the whole claim. You have to remember that when setting the sums insured - and, consequently, when preparing claims - you are effectively crystal ball gazing. You want to claim what might have been had the loss not occurred and there is absolutely no doubt that will be the subject of a great debate between you and your insurer. If you want to get the best result from the claim, you must be prepared to put in the time and effort in fully justifying the amount of your claim. You will need to provide projections, trends and historical data to demonstrate your past and likely future business income that has now been lost or reduced or slowed down as a result of the loss. Quite aside from any requirements insurers may have in order to prevent recurrence of a similar loss in the future, you won’t want to come out of all this being known as the self storage company that sinks under water every time we have a heavy downpour. So for purely commercial reasons, you need to consider what it is in your best interest to do to try to minimise your future risk. And quite frankly in these days of extreme weather conditions every company, even those who have not been affected (yet?), should be doing exactly that. Risk assessment and reduction is an essential element of good business planning. The experience in the summer of 2007 largely seems to have related to the inability of the drainage system and guttering to cope with the deluge.

Because drainage is not usually visible to the naked eye it often gets ignored until a problem arises. Companies affected this year have since taken various steps to try to prevent a recurrence in the future. Obviously what is needed will vary from store to store and area to area but you should consider some of the following options before you get caught out:

Regularly appoint a drainage contractor to inspect and fl ush out the drainage system;

Carefully maintain guttering and keep it totally clear of blockages, for example leaves and silt;

Regularly inspect and maintain fl at roofs and valley guttering as these can be particularly vulnerable areas and have a limited life span (the whole of any roof should in any event be kept in a good state of repair);

Always repair or renew damaged guttering and down-pipes;

Consider diverting drainage systems away from beneath the storage area;

Consider installing fl ood defences e.g. small walls;

Consider having a supply of sandbags available to defend any vulnerable areas where other forms of defence cannot be used;

Seriously consider installing stillage (storage lifted off fl oor level) to at least six inches in all ground or below-ground fl oor level storage units as part of your initial fi t-out or construction of the store. In existing stores install pallets or racking or false fl oors. And fi nally, a little comfort maybe for those of you with stores in London. The Thames Tideway project, costing billions of pounds, may assist in alleviating fl ooding and sewage problems. This involves the construction of a huge tunnel through London to divert storm water further along the Thames estuary. But this is a long term project and completion is a number of years away.

“Expect the unexpected; prepare for the worst”

Reason Global Insurance is a supplier member of the SSA UK working closely with the Association and its members.

by Paul Norris, Claims Manager, Reason Global Insurance


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Storewithus, an independent self storage company based in Bridgend, started using Debit Finance Collections Plc’s Direct Debit facility in 2007. Andy Wilkey, the owner, already understood the benefi ts that offering a Direct Debit payment scheme to his customers could bring to his business, but was fi nding it diffi cult to source a bank that would give him the acceptance demanded by BACS, the controlling body of the Direct Debit origination scheme.

Independent Storage Company introduce services of DFC

Without an OIN (Originator Identifi cation Number) Storewithus were unable to process Direct Debit Payments and because of the low volumes involved the banks were reluctant to provide the facility. Debit Finance Collections Plc’s solved this problem through their uniquely designed and user friendly Direct Debit solution.

As Debit Finance Collections Plc process on behalf of it’s customers using their own OIN number, Andy no longer needed to have BACS approval in order to offer his customers a more customer friendly and reliable way of paying their storage fees. Having set up many Direct Debit payments to date, Andy says “the service is excellent and easy to operate and has brought a true business advantage to our organisation.”

After acquired the customer’s bank details either face to face or over the telephone, the information is then uploaded via Debit Finance Collections Plc’s secure website. DFC set up the Direct Debits on behalf of Storewithus and sends out letters under the Direct Debit Guarantee confi rming the amount to be taken and the date of collection.

The secure website provides full management reports of who has paid what and when, as a result, Andy says; “it now takes less management time as the payment details can now be uploaded directly onto our storage management software, and monies are transferred both reliably and effi ciently into our specifi ed bank account by DFC.”

Storewithus have found that customer acceptance is very high and the Direct Debit solution has helped in controlling credit and increased their push rate due to the fact that Storewithus are in full control of rent increases, something that did not happen with standing order.

“The costs in most cases are actually cheaper than continuous card authority” says Andy. Andy is looking forward to the day in the near future when the set up of Direct Debit payments can be performed through his storage management software as due to the nature of DFC’s system allows it to be compatible with most of the major software providers. “I will then have a complete collection facility” says Andy.

Advertorial

2008 Volume I

EUROPESelf Storage

streamline_uk Oct07.indd 1 29/1/08 22:19:21

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Manufacturer and component supplier of roll up doors, swing doors, various hallway systems, compartment walls,mezzanine floors, double deck systems, island deck systems, mobile units, palette units, various types of direct access buildings, steel constructions and multilevel buildings.

Cavale can supply all the needs and solutions to the Self Storage Industry from advice on storage unit configura-tions to complete “Turnkey Projects”. We pride ourselves on our computer aided design and manufacturing systemswhich can accommodate any enquiry. Our Sales and Design teams will provide all the answers to optimize the layoutof an individual site to maximise your revenue that will work within your budget and the site. We can project managefrom conception, feasibility, design, planning, construction, fabrication, manufacturing, fitting out, operational software to handover. Cavale has a vast catalogue of self storage components and a large portfolio of designs of completed contracts.

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EUROPESelf Storage

Self Storage Europe2008 Volume I 5

FOCUS may be subscribed to by applying to the SSA Head Office at Priestley House, The Gul-let, Nantwich, Cheshire CW5 5SZ. Tel +44 (0)1270 623150. Fax +44 (0) 1270 623471 E-mail [email protected]. Current annual sub-scription is £4 per issue in the UK and Europe. EDITORIAL: Contributions on all aspects of the self storage industry are welcomed, and should be sent, together with photographs if appropriate, to the Editor Stephen Webb at [email protected]. Opinions expressed in Self Storage Focus are not necessarily those of the Self Stor-age Association. ADVERTISING: In the first instance please contact Jane Rowe, Commercial Department, SSA, PO Box 5220, Southend, Reading, RG7 6YE. Tel +44 (0)1635 869427Email [email protected]

CONTENT

European Union 6The Slovenian Presidency of the EU

FEDESSA Conference 7Welcome to Rome from Cesare Carcano, VP Italian Self-Storage Association… Rome: The Eternal City Programme for the FEDESSA European Conference

USA 11M i n i - S t o r a g e M e s s e n g e r announces 2007 Facility of the Year Winners Dunwoody Self Storage of Sandy Springs, Georgia is the overall winner

COVER

The Roman Forum, formed the bustling heart and the soul of the Roman Republic from where its emperors ruled the Roman empire. It was many things to Romans: a place of worship, trade, social gatherings and political demonstrations. However, many of the buildings were destroyed by fire in the 3rd century AD and the Visigoths, on their invasion a few decades later, completed it deprivation.

European Standard on Self Storage on the way2008 appears to have started with a “bang” and a not too comfortable one at that, at least for the economies of the world. Hence there is perhaps a certain relevancy and piquancy to my wishing you all a Happy New Year, in the hope that it can also be a successful one for you too! Let’s start with some really good news. On 23 January in Brussels the CEN Technical Committee 320’s Working Group 9 met under the convenorship of FEDESSA’s Vice-President (and Belgian representative), Frank Boot. Agreement was reached by all countries represented at the occasion on a final draft of the European Standard on Self Storage. The European self storage industry was represented by Jan Thomsen from Denmark, Anne-Catherine Pechinot (France), Martin Brunkhorst and Roland Tubbesing (Germany), Colm Hefferon (Ireland), Cesare Carcano (Italy), Joseph Collin (Spain), Michael Fogelberg (Sweden) and myself on behalf of UK. This document will be launched for Formal Vote throughout Europe in the Spring in the expectation that it will be formally ratified by the end of the year. Meanwhile the General Council of FEDESSA met, also in Brussels, last December to set its strategy and programme for 2008 and onwards. FEDESSA’s income has evolved over the years and it is now solely dependent upon membership fees from members companies and the success of the annual European conference. The Council have decided to reduce the annual fee by one third for 2008 which is, I am sure, good news for you all! Whilst it is retaining the services of Weber Shandwick in Brussels to cover any possible external influences on the industry, the office is intending to focus its efforts on improving communication with its members and between members. It also hopes to build up much better information on the industry wherever it has taken hold and produce a directory of all facilities this year. Clearly to do this there must be a better “two-way street”. FEDESSA needs the full support of companies in every country. It would be great to see national associations telling their members and everyone else, in the pages of this magazine, all about the current excitements (good as well as challenging) in their industries. As happened previously we are happy for articles to be in any language. Please make best use of this ever-improving asset and make it your own by writing articles for it. You will have noticed that pictures of Rome are prominent throughout this excellent edition. So let me remind all European operators, and those interested in the industry, to join us at FEDESSA’s annual European Conference in Rome from 7 to 9 May. Read all about it in this magazine.

Yours sincerely,

Rodney Walker Secretary General

Slovenia will assume the Presidency of the Council of the European Union for the very fi rst time in the fi rst half of 2008 – the fi rst among the newest Member States to do so. The challenge ahead is enormous for such a small country but, as stated by Igor Sencar, the Slovenian Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the EU, Slovenia has been preparing to face it “with enthusiasm and ambition” since early 2005. Well over 10% of its public administration is directly working on the Presidency. Slovenia also had the advantage of being part of the so-called Trio Presidency together with Germany and Portugal. Being the last member of the Trio to take on the Presidency has given Slovenia an early insight not only into the running of the EU, but also into the dossiers on the table, some of which will be defi ning features of the fi rst half of 2008. Key priority to the Slovenian Presidency is the new three-year cycle of the Lisbon Strategy for Growth and Jobs, aimed to turn the EU into the “most dynamic and competitive knowledge-based economy in the world” by 2010. The starting point of the review is the belief that the Lisbon Strategy is fulfi lling its goals. At the same time, Slovenia wants the strategy to evolve to respond to the new challenges of globalisation, ageing populations across Europe, and climate change. It will lead the drafting of Guidelines for the next three years, which are expected to be adopted at the European Summit in March 2008. Reducing red tape and simplifying the business environment will also be an important issue for the Presidency, which will be overseeing the follow up of the Commission Communication on a ‘simplifi ed business environment for companies in the areas of company law, accounting and auditing’. A specifi c attention will be paid to small

and medium-sized enterprises which will fi nd in Slovenia a natural ally. Another specifi c area of interest for Slovenia will be the Review of the Single Market, which aims to take stock of how the Single Market has progressed and identify how it can best respond to the challenges of the 21st Century. Following the European Commission’s fi nal report on the Review, the Presidency is set to present the Ministerial Conclusions at the Competitiveness Council in February and subsequently to the European Summit in March, where Heads of Government are expected to endorse a vision paper outlining the Internal Market’s development. In parallel, the Slovenian Presidency will lead the review of EU Consumer Legislation: it will be closely following the Commission’s work to set up a simple set of rules addressing a number of issues such as timeshare, sale guarantees, delivery-related issues and unfair contract terms. The aim is to empower consumers and make them aware of their rights wherever and however they shop in the EU. Business hopes that it will result in more consistency in EU law, thereby allowing providers to develop and market more ambitious products and services on a pan-European basis with more legal certainty and less costs. Following a consultation period and subject to the outcome of an impact assessment which is currently underway, a legislative proposal regulating common aspects of the consumer acquis may be put forward by the Commission by the end of 2008. A “Consumer Scoreboard” is also expected to be presented for the fi rst time by the Commission, offering a global view on Member States’ practices concerning consumers and comparing situations as regards, amongst other things, the transposition and implementation of rules, and infringement cases.

Energy and climate change represent a global challenge that deserves special attention and will be central to both the March and June European Councils. In this context, companies can no longer ignore their environmental footprint. The EU is refocusing its industrial policy on the promotion of low-carbon and energy effi cient technologies, products and services. To foster innovation in this area, incentives may be introduced for ‘frontrunner’ companies choosing to apply higher environmental standards. The Slovenian Presidency will play a pivotal role here in starting the Council’s work on the forthcoming Action Plan on Sustainable Industrial Policy, which it considers to be a key concern. In this frame, the Commission will put forward in January the long-awaited “Green Energy and Climate Package” including a framework Directive on renewable energy sources in electricity, heating and cooling and transport sectors. In addition, emphasis will be put on greening transport. Enhanced logistics is seen as an ideal solution to reduce congestion, fi ght climate change and boost competitiveness. Environmental considerations will therefore be paramount when implementing the recently adopted Action Plan on Freight Transport Logistics and when designing follow-up initiatives to the Green Paper on urban mobility. Last but not least, throughout its Presidency, Slovenia will follow the ratifi cation process of the Lisbon Treaty. They will contribute to the debate where needed and hope to see as many successful ratifi cations as possible during their Presidency so that the Treaty may come into force in 2009. The Treaty will reform the EU internal structures and will equip it to better face the challenges of the 21st century.

This article was submitted by Weber Shandwick, FEDESSA’s support communications company

The Slovenian Presidency of the EU: A business perspective

Self Storage Europe 2008 Volume l6

Rome: the Eternal CityFEDESSA European Conference and trade show7 - 9 May 2008

Welcome to Rome

All roads lead to Rome, said the ancient Romans in 200 BC, at the time of the Glorious Empire. Also the Self Storage industry will move to Rome for a few days, at last! Though still young, the self storage industry has solid roots, good results and is fully satisfactory for all the operators. It is a very important experience for an operator in this sector, to take part in the European Self Storage Conference. The high quality of the training sessions and of all the professional speakers as well as being an excellent opportunity to exchange experiences, information and news with other delegates, improves our professionalism and increases our fi rm success. I attended my fi rst conference in 1999 when our Group opened our fi rst facility in Milan and since then I have not missed one! Now, eight years later, and after opening 24 more facilities, I can really say that these conferences have been extremely important for our success and growth. Even today each Conference offers me the opportunity to learn new things, to keep up-to-date and to put my experience at our colleagues’ disposal. The Rome Conference will be an excellent opportunity to get new tools, knowledge and contacts and to meet the most relevant suppliers for our industry, as well as to discover in another way Rome “the eternal city”. Don’t miss it! Rome, its ‘charm’, the Italian hospitality and the best in our sector; all this is waiting for you in May!

Cesare CarcanoCEO Casaforte Self Storage GroupVP Italian Self- Storage Association

Self Storage Europe2008 Volume lOllie Saunders

Cris Burnam

Many potential delegates for the European Conference & Trade Show will notice that the dates have moved to a warmer time of year! This may encourage more delegates to travel when they can avoid the threats of adverse weather conditions and enjoy the benefi t of visiting the stunningly beautiful city of Rome in the warmth and sunshine. Sheraton Roma is a truly international hotel with excellent accommodation, restaurants, bars and of course a fi ne conference centre! The hotel is easily accessible by car and there is a good shuttle service into the centre and to the international airport (both of these must be booked). The conference programme continues to be of great importance to all European self storage operators. The theme is “Survive & Prosper”. This year, we welcome new industry speakers as well as some well-known faces. The main business days will be on Thursday 8 May and the morning of Friday 9 May, and will include presentations from Roger Martin-Fagg of Henley Management College and Ollie Saunders, Valuation Partner of Chartered Surveyors, Drivers Jonas. Following his extremely well received lecture at the SSA UK’s

autumn conference, Roger, economist turned strategist, will be examining the fi nancial outlook over the next couple of years with guidance on how to survive the adverse conditions. As a property expert, Ollie will complement Roger’s presentation with an overview of the European property market and where he thinks it will go in the short to medium terms. Drivers Jonas is a company that has been closely linked with self storage property transactions over the past few years. Dealing with differing consumer behaviour is an ever-increasing challenge in this age of globalisation. Barbara Sumner, itim Culture & Management Consultancy licencee, is an American by birth who now lives in France. Having concentrated on information technology and training management, some six years ago Barbara began to address the knowledge of personality types to complement the intercultural approach to business in order to help clients to

solve business problems. We are looking forward to hearing about the markets in the southern hemisphere. Rennie Schafer, Executive Offi cer of the SSA of Australasia, will give us a few pointers from the vibrant market down under. Cris Burnam, President & COO of

5 7

Trevi Fountain

Spanish Steps

APT Roma

APT Roma

APT Roma

APT RomaThe Colosseum

Storage-Mart will be visiting European shores again to give delegates the benefi ts of his vast experience of running a mid-sized storage company in USA. In particular, he will tease out the best way to survive in diffi cult times. In order to beat the renowned Rome traffi c, the Facility Tour will leave the hotel at 1130 hrs on Wednesday so that delegates will be back in time to take in the fi rst viewing of the Trade Show at 1500 hrs. Networking is of prime importance and the European conference offers numerous opportunities for delegates and exhibitors to discuss new products at the Trade Show or over dinner. On Wednesday 7 May we will give delegates a quick sightseeing tour of Rome before having dinner at the rustic, friendly setting of the Taverna dei Mercanti just across the river from the city. Diners can be sure to have a relaxed and enjoyable evening with live music. The Annual Banquet will take place in the Piazzetta at Sheraton Roma, a semi permanent tented structure – make sure you book before 1 May!

You should allow yourself a few days to enjoy the sights of Rome before or after the Conference. It is a unique city: the world’s largest open air museum. You will be surrounded by history from the Colosseum, the largest structure of ancient Rome where Romans

were entertained to the gladiatorial and animal combats, to the Vatican, a state within a state responsible for the running of the Catholic Church worldwide, but occupying only 0.44sq km, including St Peter’s Square.

The venues for the ancient sites include the Roman forum, the central area from which Rome developed and what was the administrative heart of ancient Rome. Then there is the Pantheon, one of the most impressive buildings of the Imperial Rome dedicated as a temple of all the Roman Gods. Architecture didn’t stop with the Romans. There is the Trevi Fountain, one of Rome’s top attractions, started in 1732 and fi nished in 1762. It stands close to the Spanish Steps which lead to the Trinita dei Monti church on its hill. Besides the sights there is the ambience. So rest your feet at a café table in a sunny square. In May the temperature maybe has high as 23C. And then there is the shopping, but remember, siesta time is between 1pm and 3pm.

Arch of Constantine



The supplier for

Europe’s most

important Self

Storage players.


2008 Volume I Self Storage Europe

By David Lucas

Each year, Mini-Storage Messenger honors fi ve U.S. self storage facilities that stand out among the competition and feature the latest innovations in the industry. The 2007 Facility of the Year winners all hail from warm-weather American states, from Georgia to Hawaii. In fact, Hawaii Self storage is the third Facility of the Year winner in the past two years from the remote US state that is a little section of paradise. The 2007 winners spotlight a diverse mix of fabulous facilities:

2007 Self Storage Facility of the Year Overall WinnerDunwoody Self Storage, Sandy Springs, Georgia

Dunwoody Self Storage owner Tom Linder pulled out all the stops to build his fi rst self storage project. Linder set out to build a facility with a design that would become a community asset, stretching the design aesthetics as much as the economics would allow. Red brick and white siding construction, windows with shutters, graceful arches and columns, a mansard roof, and a porch make Dunwoody appear more like a college campus or nice hotel than a self storage facility at fi rst glance. The cupola and weathervane, the stamped concrete, and a clock tower round out

the design. The facility’s lobby is designed with a white metal panel system for both the walls and ceilings. The retail area features a brick back wall with three 42-inch plasma monitors displaying the feed from security cameras. The retail area and offi ce includes two executive offi ces, a conference room, support staff cubicles, and a reception area. The 148,000 sq ft building houses 972 climate-controlled storage units and a sophisticated wine storage area that encompasses 1,444 square feet in all, with 49 lockers. The wine area uses Kramer equipment to keep the temperature between 51 and 55 degrees and the humidity between 70% and 75%. Every element of Dunwoody Self Storage, from its traditional design to the understated but secure look of its lobby and corridors, is focused on its upscale market - customers who will pay a premium price for fi ne service, security, convenience, and professionalism.

2007 Self Storage Facility of the Year Construction WinnerStorHouse Storage Center, Oxnard, California

Mini-Storage Messenger Announces 2007 Facility of the Year Winners

Marc Hermann began his marine electronics rigging and yacht business out of a self storage unit in 1984, and he eventually wanted to build his

David Lucasown storage facility. For 20 years, he operated Channel Coast Marine in Oxnard, California, while looking for the right property. He found it just down the street from his business. Starting out with modest plans, Hermann and partner Wade Ambrose eventually escalated the project into a four-story, 205,000 sq ft facility with an eye-catching design and nearly $1 million in security equipment. The facility contains more than 1,420 units, including 65 spaces for RV and boat storage. The owners strived to achieve the “wow” factor with 15ft high ceilings and curved soffi t accents providing a high-end and luxurious feel to the main lobby. Custom-made furniture, travertine fl oors, marble countertops, and fi ve innovative sample units in the offi ce area complete the well-appointed atmosphere. One of the most distinctive features of StorHouse is the way sample units are displayed. Sample units showcased in the lobby double as functional rooms that blend easily into the offi ce environment. For example, the 5 by10 unit is used as a children’s play setting and the 10 by 10 unit houses the copy/fax location. The StorHouse security system includes eight ceiling-mounted, 42in,

11

high-defi nition monitors displaying live feeds from the facility’s 85 surveillance cameras. This state-of-the-art security helped the facility achieve a 30% occupancy rate during its fi rst six months of operation.

2007 Facility of the Year New Facility WinnerHawaii Self Storage – Kaimuki, Honolulu, Hawaii

recognition, both of which are conveyed through positive customer feedback and the honor of being named the 2007 Facility of the Year New Facility Winner.

2007 Self Storage Facility of the Year Conversion WinnerAdditional Self Storage, Copperas Cove, Texas

Everything about Hawaii Self Storage - Kaimuki is about convenience, value, service, and a strong sense of community. Upon entering the facility, visitors are greeted in a lobby with wood fl oors, a counter with granite countertops, and an impeccably dressed customer service team. Numerous fl at-screen television monitors immediately invoke a sense of security as more than 80 surveillance cameras keep a watchful eye over the facility. Hawaii Self Storage - Kaimuki, owned by MW Group Ltd in Honolulu, has more than 116,930 rentable square feet and 1,615 storage units. A variety of unit sizes is ideal for storing canoes, kayaks, surfboards, and other toys enjoyed by Hawaii’s outdoors-oriented community. Centrally located near the Honolulu business district, and not far from the upscale Diamond Head area, developers wanted something unique to call attention to their project. This was accomplished with huge, colorful mosaics that decorate the exterior of the building and a 68ft high clock tower reaching above its roofl ine. The large mosaics, designed by a local artist, feature colorful Hawaiian scenes and range from 18ft high and 11ft wide to the largest at 27ft high and 14ft wide. The end product has proven to be worthy of accolades and great

Walking through the halls of an abandoned Wal-Mart® store, few people could envision the bustling business that now exists in the formerly empty building. Only the most visionary could see rows of storage doors instead of miles of beams and exposed wires. However, Bill Lockhart, owner of Te-Con, Inc, trading as Additional Self storage in Copperas Cove, Texas, and his development team recognised the site’s immense potential to serve the community and grow into a successful self storage business. The empty Wal-Mart building was situated near a busy military base. Lockhart recognized the need for military personnel to have a safe and convenient place to store their belongings while deployed overseas. The plans included 142,000 rentable square feet with 866 storage units. The outside of the building was given a face-lift with burnt orange and black paint and a new awning that improved the physical look of the building and made it more customer-friendly. An additional, unattached storage building behind the main structure was converted into climate-controlled vehicle storage. The facility’s car storage service has been a huge selling point because the site has the largest climate-controlled vehicle storage area within a 100 mile radius. Besides being a good business investment, Lockhart understood that revitalizing the abandoned Wal-Mart would benefi t the community as well. The $5.2mn conversion for Additional Self Storage helped breathe new life into a facility that was once an empty big-box store.

2007 Self Storage Facility of the Year Specialty Storage Winner Cargo Bay Self Storage, Clovis, California

CargoBay Self Storage in Clovis, California is much more than a storage facility offering specialty storage. It embraces an entirely new, never-been-done-before concept: the marriage of a cutting-edge self storage facility and a dynamic business center brought together to serve the eBay and Internet business professional. CargoBay provides this new breed of business professionals with all the tools they need to run an eBay or Internet business, offering customers a business offi ce, storage, and packaging and shipping. Nestled in the heart of central California’s San Joaquin Valley, CargoBay is the anchor of a 15 acre, mixed-use master plan. The concept is unique to both the self storage and the research and development industries. It was conceived by Lawrence Partners as a response to the tremendous growth of commercial activity associated with Internet commerce. In front of the traditional self storage buildings is the CargoBay Business Center, comprising over 28,000 sq ft of individual executive offi ces. The offi ces offer amenities such as IP telephone service, broadband Internet, three conference rooms, mailroom, and “virtual offi ce” workstations. The business center also houses 13,000 sq ft of smaller, climate-controlled storage units. CargoBay provides over 100,000 sq ft of storage and over 1,000 units. This facility is an innovative prototype for a completely new model for self storage. This is a specialty storage idea that’s time has come.

David Lucas is the new Editor for Mini-Storage Messenger magazine.

2008 Volume I Self Storage Europe 13

Documents

Self Storage FOCUS · 2018-10-31 · ELEPHANTE SERVICES LIMITED 2 Goddard Road, Astmoor Industrial Estate, Runcorn, Cheshire WA7 1QF Tel: +44 (0) 1928 500005 Fax: +44 (0) 1928 500006