Hear from our newly appointed Head of TDD in Europe, Karla Scott Castro

Congratulations on your appointment as Head of TDD in Europe.

1. What excites you most about your new role?

   The opportunities that come with us having a greater presence in Europe. From both a company perspective and in terms of the range of services we can offer to clients. It’s a wonderful opportunity to have this increased presence across Europe.
    

2. How would you explain our TDD service in one sentence?

   Our Technical Due Diligence service gives clients comprehensive technical advice when they’re buying, selling or occupying a property, by assessing risks and providing a one to ten year CapEx plan so they understand what they’re getting into!
    

3. What’s one European city you love working in (and why)?

   Madrid! I’ve been living here for 25 years and I absolutely love it; the weather is good most of the year, it’s a lovely city, not too expensive and well connected. I also love Paris, from a tourist perspective I find everything so impressive there every time I go!

    

4. From a client’s perspective, what are the biggest delivery differences between UK TDD and projects across Europe?

   Every country is different, and within each country you have regions, and within regions you have municipalities, all with their own requirements and regulations. So it’s important that we have local expertise. At Hollis, we have a very high standard of delivering TDDs, but we must be country or even region-specific. Having local knowledge is incredibly valuable so we can give clients the correct and relevant advice.
    

5. What’s a memorable challenge from a project and how did the team resolve it?

   On a portfolio in Belgium, with seven industrial assets, we said the buildings didn’t require EPCS. The client’s solicitors came back and said they did. After a long back-and-forth, we discovered that Belgium has three regions, and in one of them you only need an EPC if the offices make up more than 50% of the building. It turned out that we were correct, but it required investigation because every region interprets things differently.

   A challenge we often face with projects is different rules and regulations for each country and within regions. This is why we’re building our partner network across Europe. Our strategy is a hybrid delivery model, meaning somethings we deliver the full TDD ourselves, and sometimes partners help with statutory or regulatory requirements. In countries where we don’t yet have presence, local knowledge makes the process much quicker and more accurate.
    

6. Where will European TDD demand come from over the next 12–18 months, and what should clients watch?

   Over the past few months we’ve been working on very big pan-European portfolios – one with more than 250 industrial estates across the UK, Ireland, France, Spain, Belgium, Germany, Poland and Italy. Our partners are inspecting and delivering, and we’re putting the wrapper on the portfolio and advising from that perspective.

   We’re getting a lot of requests related to refinancing. Clients want clear, portfolio-level advice to support those processes. We’re also doing major data-analysis projects like reviewing a 500-asset logistics portfolio across Europe – which isn’t TDD in the traditional sense but is still about helping clients understand what they have.