Meet the riders: Mike Thornton, Knight Frank
We're meeting some of the Knight Frank Cycle to MIPIM riders who'll be out on the road from London to Cannes. We're kicking things off with a chat with Mike Thornton, Partner in the Property and Asset Management (PAM) team, from headline sponsor Knight Frank.
Tell us about what your role entails?
I am client lead for the management of a property portfolio which ranges from trophy buildings like Paddington Square for Sellar to 3 Mills Studios where they are currently filming MasterChef and The Great, amongst others. My team collect over £145m a year in rent and service charge, and our role is to keep the occupiers in our buildings, and our clients that own the sites, engaged and happy!
What are you most looking forward to about Cycle to MIPIM?
I’m looking forward to good weather! Whether or not we will get that remains to be seen. I’ve been very unlucky historically, with this event having been through the worst rides weather-wise, in 2013 and 2018.
What one piece of advice would you pass on to your fellow riders?
My one piece of advice would be to “double bag” by wearing two sets of padded shorts / tights. Often you are physically capable of riding an additional stage, but the kit you wear can let you down….
How are you approaching training?
I’m Zwifting with Club Peloton three times a week and doing a couple of longer rides at the weekend. Currently I’m achieving over 200k a week in training and feel fairly strong.
What would you most like to get out of the ride?
A well-gelled team. You make friendships for life on these events. We also have seven coming along from Knight Frank, so I hope to broaden our internal and external network.
What have been the biggest changes or shifts you have see in PAM over the past 18-24 months?
Two things:
1. I was hoping not to mention it, but Covid has obviously caused the biggest shift in how we approach managing our buildings, and provide a safe and secure site for our occupiers. Differing flexible working approaches, retailers struggling to pay rent, cleaning / sanitising regimes, sickness levels and increased client demands have all played their part in this change.
2. Personally, the reason three of us from PAM / Promise are doing this ride, is for Will Monk whom sadly died very prematurely last summer. Losing Will from the team has created a massive void of knowledge, experience and guidance for the team. Robin and I are working to support where we can and hope to meet Will’s high expectations in his absence.
What changes do you expect to see in PAM over the next 12-18 months?
Over the next 12-18 months PAM will engage and invest more heavily in two main areas:
1. Proptech for our internal systems and properties that we manage. We have already invested over £2m in our systems in the last couple of years. But as AI and building analytics become more prevalent, we will be benchmarking best practice and embedding appropriate systems to give us the right level of data and reporting at our fingertips.
2. ESG: everyone talks about ESG, but this impacts on PAM probably more than any other department due to our engagement with our occupiers and clients.
