Pinning down the mobile manager
Published: 27 January, 2011
After five years in business in the UK and abroad, shopping centre management consultant Ray Cliff is looking to grow his business in new directions
Ray Cliff has a long pedigree in the shopping centre industry dating back to 1989, and he has made a speciality of setting up the management systems for new shopping centres ahead of their opening days. But with development activity in the UK at a low ebb he is operating in emerging markets and looking to diversify his business into new areas.
After training as a surveyor in the Midlands, Cliff joined Capital Shopping Centres to manage the phased development of the Harlequins in Watford before moving on via Hiller Parker (now CBRE) to PruPIM where he launched the Mall at Cribbs Causeway in 1998.
Unusually, Cliff was a qualified chartered surveyor essentially carrying out an asset management role, but based on-site. “I’d always had an interest in retail and shopping centres,” he remembers, “and I was looking for a chance to get my hands dirty on site.” Now, of course, such a role is not so uncommon. “Asset managers at companies like Lend Lease do that as a matter of course,” Cliff notes.
Cliff then spent a spell with Hammerson, advising on developments in Bristol, Sheffield, Kingston, Leicester and Peterborough. But by then he was itching to set up his own business, and in 2005 he launched Ray Cliff Consulting.
“The main reason I set up on my own was because I thrive on variety,” he says. “I found that after 18 months I was always looking for the next challenge and working for yourself gives you the flexibility to do that.”
“What I look for is what I call FF&E – freedom, flexibility and empowerment.”
As the development cycle ground to a halt, Cliff has been driven further afield in search of new projects. After three years working on a scheme in Serbia, he is now busy in Croatia, working with CBRE to set up the management systems on a scheme in Osiyek, the fourth-largest city, which is due to open in Spring 2011. And this will be followed by a scheme in Croatia’s second city, Riyeka.
Despite the subdued market, he still has some projects on the go in UK, including HD1, a mixed-use scheme beside the Galpharm Stadium in Huddersfield.
And now he’s looking to add some new strings to his bow, specifically the training and recruitment of centre managers. “Over the past five years I’ve proved there’s a market out there. Now it’s time to take it on to a different level.”
He has just completed a recruitment exercise for outlet manager Realm, where the requirement was firmly for managers who had hands-on experience on the other side of the fence as retailers.
Cliff has been part of a loose network of other freelance consultants – “We bounce ideas off each other and use and spare capacity we each have,” is how he puts it. But now he recognises that a more diverse business means he is going to have to take on staff, while still partnering with other consultalnts.
And to recognise the change in emphasis, the business is being rebranded from Ray Cliff Consulting to Optimise.
For Cliff, it’s a new beginning but one firmly in keeping with his track record in the industry.
