Strategic Facilities Management Decision Advisory
If your FM contract is up for renewal, a supplier has landed an unsolicited savings proposal, or the board has mandated cost cuts, you're facing a decision with high consequences that's hard to reverse.
Independent judgement, before you commit.
The outcome is not a report. It is a better decision.
No charge. No obligation. 30 minutes. Prefer email? derrick@altrionadvisory.com
Derrick Tate, MSc, FRICS
Founder, Altrion Advisory
The position you're in
Most of the leaders who call me are saying some version of one of these.
"Our contract is up for renewal in nine months and the incumbent is asking for a double-digit uplift."
"The board has mandated a 10% FM cost reduction, without losing service quality."
"A supplier has sent us an off-market proposal promising significant savings. It looks compelling. I can't tell if it's real."
"An AI-driven transformation proposal has arrived from our current supplier. The conflict of interest hasn't been declared."
Finance is looking for savings. Operations is looking for performance. The board wants confidence it's the right call. And almost everyone in the room has something to sell you.
£200,000
is the cost of a 1% commercial miss on a £20M FM contract, in year one alone. Far more than the advisory fee to avoid it.
What this is
Most advisory firms provide process. Altrion provides judgement: knowing which risks are real, which supplier claims will survive scrutiny, and which decisions the board can actually stand behind.
You get an independent read on the decision in front of you, delivered through the Altrion Decision Framework™, before capital is committed, contracts are signed, or transformation programmes begin. It works just as well when a decision is already in motion and needs challenging before it becomes a commitment you'll manage for years.
And if the right answer is to do nothing, that is what you will hear.
Are we making the right FM decision, for the right reasons, with the right evidence, before we commit?
No implementation practice. No technology sales. No procurement exercise to justify. Nothing downstream to protect.
The Altrion Decision Framework™
The presenting issue is often only part of the problem. Costs may look too high, but the root cause may be scope, governance, supplier capability, or the operating model itself.
01
Identify the real issue, not just the symptoms.
Decision Risk Heatmap
02
Establish what success actually looks like.
Agreed success criteria
03
Assess every credible option consistently.
Structured options assessment
04
Apply independent judgement to the evidence.
Decision with rationale
05
Build the case that secures approval.
Board paper & governance
See the Altrion Decision Framework in detail →Or take the two-minute FM Decision Risk Check →
Fees on requestFixed fee, agreed before work begins
For a decision pending, or already in motion. Whether it's commercially sound, where the hidden risk sits, and what the board can back with confidence.
Fees on requestFixed fee, agreed before work begins
For a high-consequence, board-level decision needing a full case for action. The complete framework, end to end.
I keep the demand on your team low. I lead the process, manage the analytical work, and structure the outputs. Your time goes where it matters: key interviews, an alignment session, and the decision workshop.
Not ready for a full review? A one-day FM Decision Diagnostic gives you a first independent read on the decision, and tells you whether anything more is justified.
Fit
I take on a limited number of engagements at any one time, so it's worth being straight about this up front.
In practice
UK retail group
£10M identified on a £100M+ contract
A UK-wide FM services contract was up for renegotiation against a baseline the incumbent argued was already tight. I provided the commercial analysis, strategic advice and negotiating position.
Cost reductions built into a new long-term contract, on terms more favourable to the client.
Global pharmaceutical group
£8M+ savings identified on a £100M+ programme
A global pharmaceutical group moved from local and regional real estate and FM functions to centrally managed global functions, on a £100M+ programme.
Savings in excess of £8M identified, alongside clear outsourcing decisions, technology selection and a phased plan.
Healthcare group
£500M service base, with potential to double
A hospital group wanted to commercialise non-clinical services and become a provider to other healthcare operators in its region. I assessed each service's readiness and the external market.
Services valued at over £500M, with potential identified to at least double that by trading them within its region.
Facing a decision like these? Book a call or email me, and we'll talk it through.
Derrick Tate, MSc, FRICS
About
Over thirty years' professional experience, more than twenty of them advising organisations on their most critical operational decisions: FM, real estate and workplace, across UK and international markets. That work spans the public and private sectors: professional services, retail, life sciences, manufacturing and technology, central and local government, health and education. Most recently as Executive Director and EMEA Head of Consulting at JLL, and before that fourteen years at PwC's Real Estate Lead Advisory practice, where I rose to Managing Director.
After 33 years of working for other people, and 20 years advising through large organisations, I started Altrion to get back to what I do best: direct client relationships, honest thinking, and senior judgement on problems that matter. Without the layers, without the overhead, and without anything getting in the way of the advice itself.
When you engage Altrion, you engage me directly. Not a team managed at arm's length, and not a firm with a commercial interest in your outcome. That's the whole point, and it's why I only take on a few engagements at a time.
Common questions
Start with the value at stake. An organisation with a £20M annual FM contract that achieves even a 1% improvement in commercial outcome could realise £200,000 a year, and £1M over a five-year term. For most clients, the contract being evaluated is worth many times the fee. The real question is rarely whether the fee is justified; it's whether you can afford to make the decision without it.
No. Most engagements accelerate the decision rather than extend it. The Critical FM Decision Review is typically complete in two to three weeks, and findings are visible from the first week rather than held back for a final report. A decision that has to be revisited, renegotiated or unwound takes considerably longer.
Internal teams bring essential knowledge; I bring independence. When the decision is significant and the organisation is close to the issue, independent challenge surfaces what internal review often can't, not because of capability but because of proximity, competing priorities, and the difficulty of questioning a position the team has already formed.
Each of those advisers is structured around a service they sell. Transformation consultancies are structured to deliver transformation. Procurement consultants bring real market knowledge, but their advice assumes procurement is the right course of action, a question they're rarely incentivised to test. Suppliers are structured to sell services. Each brings genuine expertise, but each views the problem through the lens of what they offer. I have none of those interests to protect.
No. There's no implementation practice and no downstream commercial interest in the outcome. The engagement is complete when the decision is made. If the conclusion is that you don't need further advisory support, or that your current course is the right one, that's what you'll hear.
Yes, because the engagement is built on judgement rather than headcount. The framework is structured and the deliverables are staged. You see findings in week one, not in a final report. Where the decision needs specialist input, whether legal, technical or benchmarking, I'll say so plainly and source it independently.
Strategy and scope, portfolio rationalisation, and workplace or organisational transformation. Operating model decisions such as in-house versus outsourced, and single versus multi-supplier. Supplier decisions: renewal, replacement, consolidation, renegotiation. Commercial decisions such as pricing models, risk allocation and governance. And investment decisions including technology and AI. The same framework applies to adjacent corporate services decisions.
Yes, and often that is the right arrangement. Legal counsel, benchmarking providers and technical specialists all have a part to play. My role is the independent view across the decision as a whole. Where a discipline is needed that I do not provide, I will name it and source it independently rather than pretend to cover it.
No. There is no tender management, no procurement administration and no implementation practice here. That separation is deliberate: it is what allows the advice on whether to procure at all to be genuinely independent.
Every engagement is conducted under a non-disclosure agreement, and any potential conflict of interest is declared before work begins. That's the same standard this asks you to expect of your suppliers, and I hold myself to it first.
Insights
Market commentaryJuly 2026
A £3.1bn merger creates one of the UK's largest FM employers. If your contract sits with either party, the questions worth asking are practical ones.
Personal noteApril 2026
The 40th edition, run over six stages in seven days, self-sufficient, carrying everything but water and a tent. An account of what it was actually like.
Practice noteJune 2026
After 33 years of working for other people, I am doing something I should probably have done sooner.
Next step
Without charge and without obligation, about the decision your organisation is facing. Thirty minutes will tell you whether independent challenge would change how you approach it. If it would, the Critical FM Decision Review is the usual next step. And if you'd rather start smaller, a one-day FM Decision Diagnostic gives you a first independent read on the decision.
I take on a limited number of engagements at any one time. If a decision is approaching, the best time to talk is before the process builds momentum.
Because the quality of FM outcomes is determined by the quality of FM decisions.
