Chennai: Global property consultancy Knight Frank is considering India for establishing its first Global Capability Centre (GCC). The facility will integrate the centres of excellence (COEs) currently operating in Malaysia, Mumbai and Poland to support its international operations.William Beardmore-Gray, senior partner and group chair, Knight Frank LLP, said we have been discussing it for the past six to seven months. “In fact, one of my colleagues is coming to India in a few weeks to do the initial scoping. Currently, we have got three centres of excellence in India, Malaysia, and Poland, and the idea is to put them all together in 2028. We are considering India as the location to establish the GCC. We see it as a huge opportunity, and it will be a state-of-the-art facility,” he told TOI in an interview on Wednesday on the occasion of the inaugural of its new office in Chennai.While Malaysia supports occupier services business, Poland is focused on technology used in residential business and occupier services business. “India’s growing importance within our global business has been a key consideration to expand our COE presence here. Our longstanding association with the Indian market has given us a strong understanding of the depth of talent, the maturity of the real estate ecosystem and the opportunities that India offers as a strategic hub for our global operations. As our India business continues to grow in prominence, we see the COE not only as an operational centre, but as a long-term investment in talent, capability and innovation. Looking ahead over the next few years, we believe India will play an increasingly important role in our global growth strategy,” he added.India is the third largest market for Knight Frank after the UK and Australia. The office space stock is on a rise with India crossing a milestone of one billion sq ft in the segment last year. Beardmore-Gray said, the Indian office space market is growing phenomenally. “The long run average of take up in London is 12 million sq ft annually. But, if you take Bengaluru alone, it has been at 25 million sq ft,” he said.Noting that India is attracting interest from global investors, including those from Japan, Singapore and the Middle East, he said the opportunity was spread across office space, industrial and logistics, warehouses, data centres, hotels and infrastructure.
