BILL Roddie set up property space provider Spectrum Properties in 1988 to diversify the market. The firm now has more than 700 business space units and currently has plans to develop 500 housing units for sale in the south-east of Glasgow.
Name: Bill Roddie
Position: CEO
WHAT’S THE BUSINESS CALLED?
Spectrum Properties (Scotland) Limited
WHERE IS IT BASED?
Glasgow
WHY DID YOU SET UP THE BUSINESS?
I HAVE always wanted to be the master of my own destiny. To be able to make my own decisions, right or wrong. I believe I have always had the entrepreneurial spirit; I am driven to seek out business opportunities and to create successful, profitable outcomes. I judged that the property sector was the right one for me and decided to get involved. As they say, the world stopped manufacturing land a long, long time ago. Our business covers the full spectrum of property spaces, from small and medium-sized industrial, workshop, office and manufacturing units, to commercial land and storage.
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We have more than 700 business space units, and if a potential tenant comes to us with a specific need somewhere in Greater Glasgow, we will find them a suitable space from our portfolio. If we do not have it, we will buy it, build it or convert an existing property to suit their needs.
In recent years we have also become more involved in residential development where we specialise in restoring historic residential properties, including the former home at Great Western Terrace, Glasgow, of Sir William Burrell which in 2013 we converted into six high-end apartments
We have specialist team members who relish the challenge, including all the constraints, of refurbishing listed buildings to their former glory. We also operate other businesses such as Shedman, which is Scotland’s leading manufacturer and distributor of garden sheds. All our sheds are hand-built in Scotland using high quality, fully treated, tongue and groove Swedish timber. We deliver and install sheds and garden buildings at our customers’ homes.
WHAT IS THE TARGET MARKET?
ANY business or organisation looking for space to operate. We recently offered businesses in Greater Glasgow hit by the Covid-19 pandemic a free storage solution for their equipment. Alongside another of our sister companies, Aabsolute Storage, we have some 200,000 square feet of storage space in an old mill building in Dalmarnock and a further 60,000 in the Queenslie Estate, also in the East End.
HOW DOES IT DIFFER FROM COMPETING BUSINESSES?
WE are a family-owned and managed business, so we can make decisions straight away. This also gives us enormous flexibility with our tenants.
WHAT DO YOU ENJOY MOST ABOUT RUNNING THE BUSINESS?
MAKING my own decisions. I enjoy the diversity that the property sector permits; usually you have lots of options, whether to refurbish, demolish and build anew, find opportunities to create a planning gain, sell on or hold. The main thing is that you do not answer to anyone, though of course, you are responsible for the health and happiness of your team.
WHAT IS THE BIGGEST CHALLENGE IN RUNNING THE BUSINESS?
ASIDE from the Covid-19 epidemic, from which, since I am an optimist, I believe we will recover rapidly, it would be the reluctance of funders, especially the established banks, to support entrepreneurs who are prepared to take personal risks to make a better economy and a better world.
HOW HAS CORONAVIRUS IMPACTED YOUR BUSINESS?
AT the outset we decided that the community needed help from those with the broadest shoulders. As well as offering free storage facilities to businesses, such as pubs and restaurants which have been the most impacted by the lockdown, we offered, via our Shedman business, on a first-come, first-served basis, 100 free small Shopping Sheds to vulnerable individuals and families throughout west central Scotland.
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They offer a safe, dry, and secure way to deliver shopping to friends and family, protecting essential items from the elements and easy to collect. When lockdown measures are lifted, they can be adapted for further uses, for example, a planter, a parcel dropbox or a children’s outdoor toy box.
WHERE DO YOU HOPE THE BUSINESS WILL BE IN 10 YEARS TIME?
TO further expand the business and to improve the quality of our tenants and customers experience. It pleases me that our tenants tend to stay on average five or six years in our properties. This is especially true of tenants in our business centres and workspaces where you can create a community of businesses who will use and recommend each other’s services. On a separate note, we are scheduled to begin a new project to develop 500 housing units for sale in the south-east of Glasgow which, subject to the time constraints imposed upon us by the Covid-19 pandemic, should be completed in five or six years.
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