Tributes paid to real estate research expert Bob Thompson

OBITUARY Bob Thompson, the former head of research at King Sturge & Co and well-known consultant, has died at the age of 71. [caption id="attachment_1128213" align="alignright" width="200"] Bob Thompson[/caption] Having started his career in IT, Bob moved into the property market and in 1985 joined King Sturge & Co, where he was head of research until 2001, when he established his own commercial property consulting business, specialising in the interaction between people, processes and places. In 2007, he became an associate at Remit Consulting, where he provided research and strategy consulting on market, workplace and technology issues as the firm’s director of research and was responsible for work on new fund strategy and logistics. He established Remit Consulting’s REMark Report in 2010, analysing rent collection rates among property and asset managers. What was at first a biennial study became, at the start of the pandemic, a quarterly report that continues to reveal the extent of the shortfall in rents over the past two years. Bob was also a tutor and senior research associate at the University College of Estate Management between 2002 and his retirement in 2018. Additionally, he was a visiting professor at the University of Reading. With a deep understanding of the role that technology would play in the property market, he authored several research papers for the RICS. As early as 2009, he co-wrote an overview of how social media and Web 2.0 would be used within the commercial property sector, followed in 2012 by research into the role of cloud computing in commercial property and in 2017 an insightful report entitled Artificial Intelligence in the Built Environment. Andrew Waller of Remit Consulting, Thompson’s long-time collaborator and friend, said: “Bob had an ability to understand the opportunities that new and emerging technologies would provide the market with, well in advance of most people. He was not afraid to challenge the status quo, and his, often visionary, assessments of the market brought huge benefits to clients. “His approach to alerting the market to future changes and opportunities was, what he would describe as, ‘poking sleeping dragons with sharp sticks’. “His humour, friendship and large dragon stick will be missed by all who knew him.” In recent years Bob turned this knack for writing to fiction, generating numerous short stories, in addition to screenplays, stage plays and two novels, one based in the world of international property. The funeral will take place at Upminster Crematorium at 1.20pm on 23 March. Click here to make a charitable donation to the British Heart Foundation in memory of Bob Thompson. To send feedback, e-mail pui-guan.man@eg.co.uk or tweet @PuiGuanM or @EGPropertyNews