HSBC strikes 1000 desk deal with WeWork

HSBC strikes 1000 desk deal with WeWork

by • Coworking, News, Property

HSBC has agreed a deal to locate more than a thousand members of London staff in a WeWork coworking space in London. WeWork confirmed to the Financial Times that the bank has signed up for 1,135 desks at its new building at 2 Southbank Place.  The move is further proof of how coworking has become a mainstream option for large corporations as they seek to get more value our of their property and introduce new working methods. HSBC’s corporate real estate team and other staff already work from coworking spaces, but the new deal marks a step change in its strategy.

Image: WeWork’s existing coworking space at Waterloo

EDGE enters UK market with project on South Bank

EDGE enters UK market with project on South Bank

by • Company news, Property, Technology

EDGE Technologies, the specialist developer best known for its groundbreaking  The Edge building in Amsterdam has announced its entrance into the UK commercial property market with the £50m acquisition of 60 St Thomas Street on London’s South Bank.  The acquisition is subject to planning permission, which EDGE will pursue in partnership with the seller. The partners will consult closely with Southwark Council and the local community. After completion of the development – four to five years from now – 60 St Thomas Street will be an optimised office environment and a new workspace fit for the future. (more…)

London remains second most expensive office market

London remains second most expensive office market

by • News, Property

Hong Kong Central and London’s West End held onto their top spots in a ranking of the most expensive office market locations in the world at $322 and $220.70 per sq. ft. per year respectively according to the latest Global Prime Office Occupancy Costs report from CBRE. The ten most expensive markets were the same markets as last year, though several have changed positions within the top category. The biggest gainer within the top 10 was Midtown Manhattan ($196.89) in New York City, which climbed to the fourth most expensive market this year from the sixth last year. London City retained its number 10 position on the list at $139.75 per sq. ft. (more…)

Coworking is now the key driver of change in property market

Coworking is now the key driver of change in property market

by • Comment, Property, Workplace design

Having disrupted the property sector over the last decade, coworking continues to impact investors, developers and end users as the concept appears to be the dominant force in the commercial sector. Coworking can trace its roots back as far as the 1980s when Regus (now part of IWG) popularised the idea of a serviced office, by taking on leases of office buildings, subdividing the available space and leasing it out to small business, fully furnished and ready to rent. (more…)

Sharp fall in Scottish commercial property market

by • News, Property

An analysis of commercial property sales during the first quarter of 2019 from the Scottish Property Federation (SPF) claims that total the value of sales in Scotland fell by 21 per cent compared to the same period in 2018. The drop in value was largely driven by fewer high-value transactions for this period, with the number of £5m+ sales down by nearly one-third compared to Q1 2018. (more…)

BT to dispose of 90 percent of real estate

BT to dispose of 90 percent of real estate

by • News, Property

BT HQ in London real estateBT has announced that it plans to close more than 270 offices as part of a five-year programme to cut costs by around £1.5bn. The firm says it will retain 30 sites in its real estate portfolio, primarily those “containing modern, future-fit buildings, including corporate offices, contact centres and specialist sites”. BT has announced the first eight locations for its new consolidated offices as part of what it calls the “Better Workplace Programme”, which was first announced in May 2018. The offices will be located in London, Belfast, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Bristol, Birmingham, Manchester and Ipswich. (more…)

Workplaces around the UK are something to treasure

Workplaces around the UK are something to treasure

by • Comment, Property, Workplace design

A worker checks her phone at KPMG Edinburgh, illustrating how important the design of workplace isThe world is changing. Often without sense, often at startling speed. I need not mention the ‘B word’. However, there is a risk that this volatility leads to us being too negative. Today, too many people are speaking with too much pessimism. Don’t believe me? Try logging onto Twitter. In these challenging times, we need to also look at our strengths and celebrate areas where things are going well. The UK’s workplaces sector is one example of this, as shown by the BCO’s recent regional awards. (more…)

BCO announces winners of North of England property awards

BCO announces winners of North of England property awards

by • News, Property, Workplace design

Manchester-based businesses dominated the BCO Northern Awards with Hanover, PwC Manchester and No. 1 Spinningfields all being recognised as some of the best workplaces in the North of England at the annual British Council for Offices (BCO) regional property sector awards held at The Principal Hotel in Manchester. In addition to the three winning buildings, 35 Dale Street in the city’s Northern Quarter also received Highly Commended in the Best Refurbished/ Recycled Workplace category. Janet Nash House, Durham and Live Works, Newcastle-upon-Tyne in the North East were recognised as two of the best workplaces in the North. (more…)

London office building at post Brexit high

London office building at post Brexit high

by • News, Property

London officeNew office building in central London is at a three-year high, with 13.2 million square feet of space under construction, up 12 percent on the figure six months ago, according to the Deloitte Real Estate’s London Office Crane Survey. Some 55 percent of the office space under construction was already let and for larger schemes of over 100,000 square feet, more than three quarters was already committed to, Deloitte said. The survey covers seven major central London office markets – The City, West End, Docklands, King’s Cross, Midtown, Paddington, Southbank – as well as three emerging submarkets – Vauxhall-Nine Elms-Battersea, White City and Stratford. (more…)

CRE investment highest in cities with strong tech culture

CRE investment highest in cities with strong tech culture

by • Cities, News, Property, Technology

Corporate real estate investment highest in cities with tech cultureCities with tech innovation-oriented cultures have a strong competitive advantage amongst those investing in commercial real estate, claims a new report from JLL (registration). Of 109 cities analysed, the nine leading global markets – Boston, London, New York, Paris, San Francisco, Seattle, San Jose, Sydney and Tokyo, accounted for around 37 percent of total annual real estate investment volumes over the past decade. Like real estate investors, corporate occupiers also search for locations that have advanced innovation ecosystems, the report suggests. These cities sustain highly skilled workforces and are best placed to succeed in the future.

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Working from home and the future of work. How quaint

Working from home and the future of work. How quaint 0

by • Comment, Flexible working, Property, Technology

In 1962, a professor of communication studies called Everett Rogers came up with the principle we call diffusion of innovation. It’s a familiar enough notion, widely taught and works by plotting the adoption of new ideas and products over time as a bell curve, before categorising groups of people along its length as innovators, early adopters, early majority, late majority, and laggards. It’s a principle bound up with human capital theory and so its influence has endured for over 50 years, albeit in a form compressed by our accelerated proliferation of ideas. It may be useful, but it lacks a third dimension in the modern era. That is, a way of describing the numbers of people who are in one category but think they are in another.

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Belfast office market outpacing others in UK and Europe

Belfast office market outpacing others in UK and Europe

by • News, Property

The Belfast office market is one of the UK’s best performing when it comes to returns for investors, significantly outstripping cities such as Manchester, Liverpool, Glasgow, Cardiff and London, a new property report claims. The Northern Ireland Commercial Property Investment Review (registration), produced by Ulster University and global financial company MSCI in collaboration with RICS commercial property firms, benchmarked the Northern Ireland and Belfast market against their UK and European peers. (more…)

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