How Stadium Residential keeps a lean agency running smoothly
Stadium Residential provides residential sales and lettings services across Highbury and Islington in North London.
A client since 2008, Stadium has been supported by MRI Software, and their outsourced accounting partner, Touchstone, as it has built an estimated 60% share of the lettings market on one of its key developments.
Stadium Residential was set up as a legacy business to support the regeneration of Arsenal Football Club’s former Highbury stadium into residential homes. Today it deals almost exclusively in modern, purpose-built developments rather than period stock, and prides itself on a reputation built largely on referrals and repeat custom.
A small team with a big reputation to protect
Stadium Residential’s team carries more than 90 years of combined property experience between four people. That reputation is protected by word of mouth and recommendations from existing customers. The business doesn’t canvas or actively pursue new business, so maintaining a consistently high level of service is central to the way it operates.
Processing the volume of transactions required accurately and compliantly is hard to do well with a team of that size. That’s why, from its earliest days, Stadium chose to outsource its accounting to Touchstone rather than build the function in-house. Touchstone’s specialist team could process the volume of transactions Stadium needed while also providing additional oversight from a compliance perspective. Because both organisations use MRI Software, Stadium benefits from a shared technology environment that helps streamline financial processes while supporting compliance and the management of client funds.
Having both Stadium and Touchstone using MRI Software as their core platform helps create a more joined-up approach. It gives us confidence in our financial processes while helping the business run efficiently day to day.
– Graham McKee, Co-founder, Stadium Residential
Finding a steadier way of working
Stadium Residential has relied on MRI Software since its earliest days. As the system is cloud-based, Graham McKee, Co-founder of Stadium Residential, can check in on the business from anywhere in the world, with the same visibility his team has in the office.
“Because it’s cloud based, I can check everything they can. It secure and it works very well for us.” – Graham McKee, Co-founder, Stadium Residential
Usability has improved over the years, too. Graham states that ongoing enhancements have made MRI a better fit for the day-to-day needs of his team, helping them work more efficiently while maintaining visibility across the business.
More recently, Stadium’s property manager led a move to bring resident maintenance reporting fully into MRI, replacing the legacy third-party repairs system. Residents’ repair requests now come in through Stadium’s website, are logged directly into MRI, and are tracked through to completion, giving the team a single, traceable record of every job.
Measurable outcomes
The shift to managing maintenance through MRI has already paid off, removing approximately £1200 in annual third-party supplier costs. For Graham, the bigger win is reliability rather than the saving itself. With maintenance requests managed within MRI, the team now benefits from greater visibility of ongoing work, a clear audit trail, and a more efficient process for tracking jobs to completion.
Nearly two decades into the partnership, Stadium’s four-person team now manages around 200 lettings a year and 150 of the 550 homes on its core development, holding an estimated 60% share of the local lettings market. MRI’s all-in-one cloud solution for estate agencies has meant less time spent digging through reports, freeing the team up to focus on the relationships that drive the business.
Despite repeated approaches from competing providers over the years, Stadium has stuck with MRI throughout. For a lean team, quick access to information is critical to maintaining operational efficiency and delivering the high standard of service on which the business has built its reputation.
It’s all very well having lots of data, but if you can’t navigate it, you can’t find what you want and can’t pinpoint the information that you’re looking for then it’s almost worthless.
– Graham McKee, Co-founder, Stadium Residential
MRI helps the team quickly locate the information they need, with visibility across day-to-day operations without unnecessary complexity.
Stadium’s plans for the future are less about expansion than consolidation, building steadily on its sales business while keeping the same lean, experienced team in place. MRI, running quietly in the background, remains part of that steady foundation.