The role has changed
Project management in real estate used to be seen mainly as the job of keeping things on programme, on budget and moving forward. That is still true, but it is no longer the full story.
Now, project managers are often stuck in the middle of a much harder challenge: keeping a project compliant, certifiable, traceable and coordinated while deadlines tighten and technical demands keep growing. Recent Savills Project Management-related work in the UK reflects exactly that shift, with projects aiming for multiple performance standards at once and teams operating in increasingly complex delivery environments.
More targets mean more verification
One of the biggest changes is the rise of stacked performance targets. It is no longer unusual for a project to pursue WELL, BREEAM, NABERS and EPC outcomes at the same time. That sounds impressive, but it also creates a huge amount of extra checking.
Each standard brings its own criteria, evidence requirements, review points and risks. A design decision has to be interpreted correctly, tracked properly and then backed up during delivery. The more standards involved, the more likely it is that a small oversight becomes a larger problem later. Savills-linked project work has publicly pointed to exactly this kind of multi-standard ambition.
Deadlines expose weak coordination
Things become even more difficult when the project is driven by external constraints such as lease expiry. Once a fixed deadline is in place, legal briefing, design development, procurement, construction, inspections and handover all get compressed into a tighter window.
That is when coordination starts to wobble. Decisions get rushed, information moves across too many people, and checks that should be controlled become reactive. In these situations, the project manager is not just keeping work moving; they are trying to stop speed from undermining quality and compliance in the first place. Savills’ own 2024 project management material explicitly describes this kind of pressure across multiple delivery stages.
BIM and smart technology have made delivery more technical
Buildings are also becoming more complicated in a technical sense. Sustainability goals are increasingly tied to actual building performance, and many projects are now combining BIM-led delivery with smart technology systems.
That creates more interfaces to manage and more opportunities for something to be missed. Teams need to track design intent, model accuracy, installation quality, commissioning evidence and certification requirements at the same time. A detail that slips early can affect handover quality, operational performance and client confidence later. Savills-linked material points directly to BIM environments, smart technology integration and sustainability-led delivery as part of the project challenge.
Too many teams still rely on disconnected workflows
This is where the real operational problem shows up. Many teams are still trying to manage modern project complexity with old-fashioned, fragmented processes.
Inspections happen in one place. Defects are tracked somewhere else. Compliance notes live in spreadsheets. Photos sit in folders. Decisions disappear into emails and meeting minutes. On a smaller job, that may be inconvenient. On a large or high-risk project, it becomes a serious weakness.
When information is split across disconnected tools, consistency drops. Teams spend more time chasing evidence, checking versions and confirming whether something has really been closed out than they do solving the issue itself.
Affordable housing has raised the compliance bar further
This problem is even more obvious in affordable housing and regulated asset environments. Fire safety, electrical safety and broader building safety requirements have expanded sharply, and with them the operational burden placed on project teams.
Savills’ affordable housing service material explicitly refers to current and future regulatory requirements, including the Fire Safety Act 2021 and the Building Safety Act 2022. It also highlights the need to assess the accuracy, integrity and consistency of compliance data. That is a strong signal that the challenge is no longer just whether work happened, but whether the evidence behind it is complete, reliable and defensible.
The firms that win will validate design continuously
The firms that pull ahead over the next decade will not be the ones asking people to manually review more spreadsheets and more checklists. That approach simply does not scale.
The leaders will be the firms that embed automated design validation into everyday delivery. They will connect requirements, model data, inspections and issue tracking in a way that makes compliance visible early rather than painful late. They will reduce reliance on memory, manual coordination and disconnected reporting. And they will give project teams a much clearer view of what is compliant, what is at risk and what still needs action.
Better systems do not replace judgement, they make it more useful
This does not remove the need for experienced project managers. It does the opposite. It gives them cleaner information, faster visibility and more time to focus on what actually matters: resolving risk, coordinating stakeholders and protecting project outcomes.
For firms dealing with growing ESG pressure, tighter programmes and more demanding compliance expectations, this shift is becoming strategic rather than optional.
A practical next step
If your teams are feeling the strain of compliance evidence, design verification, inspection management or project traceability, it may be time to rethink the workflow itself.
At Tektome, we are working with teams facing exactly these pressures and exploring better ways to bring design validation, compliance checking and project traceability into one connected process.
