SPM Assets recently opened its first office in the United States, with Kate Mulligan at the helm as Director. The US has a growing need for robust physical asset management strategies, particularly in the New York affordable housing sector.
North America provides a number of opportunities because of the growing awareness of asset management. This growth is driven partly by federal legislation, and partly by the commercial realisation that the effective management of ageing assets is becoming a critical issue.
New Zealand and Australian companies are well recognised in the United States for innovative technology solutions, and the reception to the entry of SPM Assets into the market has been very positive.
SPM Assets has proven experience in the social and community housing sectors in Australia and New Zealand, and this expertise will prove invaluable in the US market. Housing New Zealand (HNZ) and Land and Housing Corporation (LAHC) in New South Wales both employ the SPM Assets software to support the operation and maintenance of their portfolios. The solutions developed for these organisations have direct relevance within the US affordable housing sector, particularly in terms of data collection, portfolio profiling, and lifecycle planning.
Through our software and services we can provide a lot of value to the the New York affordable housing industry, including surveyors, housing providers, and government agencies.
Our initial focus will be making it easier for surveyors to conduct Integrated Physical Needs Assessments (IPNA), which is a property evaluation tool that integrates an evaluation of energy, water, health needs, and assessment of property conditions to provide a holistic view of property performance and needs. Our solution has proved to greatly reduce the time and effort in producing these regulated inspections, and we have worked closely with two IPNA survey companies to deliver a trial configuration of the software. Initial feedback suggests a 50% reduction of time.
There are 13 qualified IPNA providers within New York who conduct up to 400 IPNAs per year. Initial conversations with the five Government agencies who developed IPNA have identified considerable interest in exploring the functionality of SPM Assets software to streamline and maximise the efficiency of these physical needs assessments, and further conversations will continue in May.
SPM Assets US Director, Kate Mulligan, with the first users in the United States