January 14, 2016
Demand for offices in Paris to remain strong in the coming months 0
Competition for office space and investment assets in Paris remains strong, on the back of healthy economic growth, with GDP in the country expected to grow by 1.1 percent this year, and a further 1.4 percent in 2016, after three years of subdued growth. Following a relatively weak performance in the first quarter of 2015, office leasing in Île-de-France recovered in the third quarter, with annual take-up forecast to again exceed 2 million sq m. Though demand remains high, rents have been left unaffected, further increasing the desirability of the market. Limited development will continue to restrict occupier activity – the development pipeline for the next two years has reduced, with much of the new stock likely to be pre-leased before completion. Heena Kerai, International Research Analyst at Knight Frank, commented: “Occupier and investor confidence will remain positive and despite stock limitations, we can expect both markets to put in a strong performance in the coming quarters.”
January 6, 2016
Two new studies that highlight the complexities of gender at work 0
by Mark Eltringham • Comment, Knowledge, News, Workplace
The increasingly complex nature of the career and workplace choices made by men and women and the specific challenges they face is the subject of two pieces of research presented at this week’s British Psychological Society’s Division of Occupational Psychology annual conference in Nottingham. The authors of the admittedly small scale studies conclude respectively that men in what are generally considered typically female-dominated occupations tend to value the social aspects of their career more than financial rewards and that ambitious professional women would benefit from a better understanding of how to build, maintain and use their social capital to succeed in their attempts at reaching the top of their professions. Both topics have been raised before but it’s interesting to see yet more research which challenges the often overly simplistic assumptions that seem to go hand in hand with gender issues at work.
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