Best British offices crowned at BCO Awards

Best British offices crowned at BCO Awards

Taunton’s UK Hydrographic Office Headquarters was named ‘Best of the Best’ at the British Council for Offices’ (BCO) National Awards, and also took home the ‘Corporate Workplace’ award. The office was joined by six other award winners recognised as leading examples of excellence in the office space. This ‘roll of honour’ includes two buildings in London: The Brunel Building on Canalside Walk, and 160 Old Street, a refurbished office space in the “Silicon Roundabout” district. More →

Third of firms plan to reduce office space

Third of firms plan to reduce office space

office spaceMajor UK employers plan to reduce their office space by up to nine million square feet, equivalent to 14 Walkie Talkie buildings – the 37 floor high rise on London’s Fenchurch Street – according to PwC’s Occupier Survey of 258 of the UK largest companies. The fresh figures show half of the organisations surveyed expect to reduce the size of their real estate portfolio and, of these, one third believe they will reduce their office footprint by more than 30 percent. More →

Ending the commercial rents stalemate can help economy rebound, claims CBI

Ending the commercial rents stalemate can help economy rebound, claims CBI

Occupiers and landlords of commercial property should partner on a path towards full economic reopening by taking decisive action to address commercial rent challenges, says the CBI. The CBI believes commercial property tenants should resume paying rents as normal when emergency coronavirus legislation protecting businesses from evictions and statutory demands ends on June 30, except in cases of extreme financial difficulty caused by this year’s lockdown measures. More →

Real Estate, HR and Technology leaders must collaborate to create a future of work fit for the 21st Century

Real Estate, HR and Technology leaders must collaborate to create a future of work fit for the 21st Century

An office that depicts the future of workHR leaders, heads of real estate and IT decision-makers have not always spent huge amounts of time working together – their roles and responsibilities have often been siloed. But in the new world of work, that’s all changing. These three groups of senior leaders are being asked to collaborate on one of the biggest challenges corporate occupiers, as they try to figure out when and how to return to office-based working and shape the future of work. Failure to collaborate will increase the probability of workplaces having low occupancy rates, low employee engagement and decreased productivity. More →

BT invests in landmark new Dundee office development

BT invests in landmark new Dundee office development

BT has today announced plans to develop a brand new, multi-million pound contact centre in Dundee which will become the new home to around 1,000 employees. The new office will be at West Marketgait in the heart of the city centre, close to the waterfront and part of a £1bn regeneration area. When the building is complete, expected in late 2023, the contact centre will be one of around 30 of BT’s new future-fit offices in the UK, developed as part of its ‘Better Workplace Programme’ – the largest workplace improvement and consolidation scheme of its type ever undertaken in the UK. More →

Commercial occupiers and landlords to get more in step on the future of the office

Commercial occupiers and landlords to get more in step on the future of the office

landlordsNew research from MRI Software, claims that 71 percent of commercial occupiers say the mass shift to remote working during the pandemic has fundamentally changed their long-term approach to space usage, and yet 69 percent of landlords expect no lasting impact from COVID-19. More →

Jooxter launches new Essential Collaboration Pack to help people plan where they work

Jooxter launches new Essential Collaboration Pack to help people plan where they work

Jooxter has announced the expansion of its operations into the UK and Ireland. Jooxter is a leading provider of smart workplace solutions designed to help businesses manage their digital workplace strategy by optimising building occupancy, managing workspaces and enabling collaboration. Founded in France in 2014 by CEO Fabien Girerd, Jooxter offers web and mobile applications combined with QR codes and IoT networks to provide real-time visualisation of a building’s occupancy and analytics. This gives companies a smart way of managing and optimising the use of the office space they have. More →

Spaceflow and Flowbox partnership helps landlords monitor and control properties to support sustainability

Spaceflow and Flowbox partnership helps landlords monitor and control properties to support sustainability

Spaceflow Flowbox Flow ScreenSpaceflow, a tenant experience operating system and Flowbox, an in-building advanced technology management company, announce their partnership. Through their common product offering, Flowbox and Spaceflow help landlords and building operators with their ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) goals. With FLOW, real estate companies can monitor energy consumption, occupancy, air quality, temperature, CO2 levels, humidity and in later phases, control and automate their building hardware in one platform. Real-time data helps owners and managers optimize operations, streamline the use of energy sources, reduce operating costs and be guided through investment decisions. More →

Central London office leasing rises by almost a third in Q1 2021

Central London office leasing rises by almost a third in Q1 2021

central LondonAccording to proprietary research by DeVono Cresa (DC), Q1 2021 saw 1.6 million sq. ft of office space leased across central London, representing a 27 percent increase on Q4 2020. As lockdown restrictions in the UK are eased, demand, availability and rents across central London have all trended as predicted and led to a leasing landscape that benefits tenants reviewing their space needs. More →

What’s a landlord to do when the office is a destination, not a routine?

What’s a landlord to do when the office is a destination, not a routine?

Office for Estee LauderEvery week a new survey is published or a statement from a CEO hits the press related to corporate occupier’s desire to adopt a form of hybrid working for the long-term post Covid 19. And as a result, the desire to occupy less space in their central office hub. Landlords are asking- What do we do now to attract and keep great occupiers, and fill our buildings? I have an idea that is of its time. A time when the world has started to cooperate, collaborate, and work towards a common purpose. When work, life, values, and priorities are shifting. Employers are seeking to look after their people in a holistic way in and out of the office. More →

Apple commits to new campus as part of huge investment plan

Apple commits to new campus as part of huge investment plan

Apple campus in RaleighApple has announced an acceleration of its US investments, with plans to make new contributions of more than $430 billion and add 20,000 new jobs across the country over the next five years. The plans include the creation of a new campus in the Research Triangle in Raleigh, North Carolina. Apple will spend over $1 billion on the campus, where it will employ around 3,000 people working on technology including software engineering and machine learning. Employees are expected to start work at the campus next year. More →

Global real estate CEOs plan for industry transformation

Global real estate CEOs plan for industry transformation

real estateThe real estate industry needs to transform to serve the needs of people and cities in the next decade, according to a new report released by the World Economic Forum. COVID-19 has revealed vulnerabilities throughout the real estate industry, ranging from indoor air quality problems to excess supply and accelerated underlying demand drivers, which need to be addressed for buildings and cities to be healthier, prosperous and more sustainable. More →