Savills Australia has formed a strategic alliance with Queensland-based proptech start-up company, SA1 Property, in a move to command greater market share of the industrial and occupier services sectors.

SA1 Property builds bespoke geographic information system (GIS) mapping platforms and analytics for commercial property participants.

Senior property industry executives, Aaron Bates, a former director of the CBRE and JLL industrial businesses in Queensland, and Stephen Clark, who has 15 years’ experience applying geospatial technologies to military, mining, infrastructure and property situations, founded the firm earlier this year after they observed a gap in the proptech market.

“We’re delighted to enter into this alliance with Savills,” Mr Bates, SA1 Property’s director of Property Strategy, said.

“It was critical for us to identify an industrial agency business with huge growth plans and a willingness to invest in technical innovation.

“Savills is an outstanding fit for SA1 Property, and we’re excited by the value we’ll be able to create for them and their clients under this arrangement.”

Mr Clark, SA1 Property’s Director of Locational Intelligence, said the alliance was recognition of the firm’s ability “to cover markets with a rich array of geospatial data sources, and to extract valuable insights on how location provides an advantage for occupiers and investors”.

“We know Savills clients will directly benefit from this relationship, and we’re looking forward to rolling out a suite of powerful digital tools and analytics over the coming weeks,” he said.

Savills Australia’s National Head of Industrial & Business Services, Michael Fenton, said the union with SA1 Property would allow Savills to provide its clients with unique information for location decisions, which could result in “millions of dollars in savings for industrial occupiers and de-risk the investment thesis for investors and developers in transactions”.

“This is an exciting point of difference for Savills and will generate business for our industrial agency and tenant representation product lines,” he said.

“The platform will be available to everyone in the industrial business, and the system will be rolled out with training modules and practical demonstrations.”

SA1 Property and Savills will use big data, modern analytics and property metrics to help occupiers optimise their supply chain networks, and to help investors and developers create powerful insights into Australia’s industrial property markets.

Savills Australia’s Chief Operations Officer, Brett Kauffman, said the alliance was part of the business’ three-year business plan to engender a culture of innovation and develop best-in-class strategies to better service clients’ needs.

“We’re looking forward to working with SA1 Property, and know our people and clients will benefit greatly from this working relationship,” he said.