ABSTRACT
The five-stage real estate evolutionary model of Michael Joroff, Marc Louagrand and Sandra Lambert dates back to more than 25 years ago. This maturity model outlines five development stages in corporate real estate management (CREM). According to these stages, CREM changes from technical to strategic, from taskmaster to business strategist, and from engineering buildings, minimising costs, standardising usage and matching market options to convening the workforce. This model can be used as a framework against which professionals can share and evaluate their experiences and discuss their dilemmas in CREM and workplace management. Considering the developments in the last two decades, a sixth stage has been added to this model, which defines the role of a ‘business & user strategist’ as someone who creates work environments that support work practices and enables or enhances behavioural change, in alignment with both corporate goals and employee needs and preferences. To be able to fulfil the role of business & user strategist, psychological aspects of the interactions between people and their work environment need to be taken into account.
