March 23, 2018
March 21, 2018
Occupiers seeking tech, flexibility and wellness in a newly consumerised workplace
Nearly two-thirds of corporate occupiers (62 percent) plan to increase their investment in real estate technology over the next three years, most of them in the next year, according to the 2018 EMEA Occupier Survey from CBRE. Companies are intending to invest more heavily in new real estate technologies over the short to medium term in order to enhance the user experience and raise workforce productivity. This represents a clear move away from aiming real estate technology at purely operational goals such as energy management.
March 20, 2018
Enter the MIPIM bandwagon, towed by pink elephants
The old adage “once you spot a bandwagon, it’s probably too late to jump on” was certainly true at this year’s MIPIM if only for the increase in journalists sent by the national press (allegedly) hoping to catch a glimpse of men behaving badly and weaving tales of excess. Whilst the message of #TimesUp was heard loud and clear in the property world after the recent expose at the Presidents Club, the reality is the hedonistic opulence actually came to an end in 2009 after the global crash. That was the year that the property market realised they needed to do things differently and it was the beginning of putting people first. But it takes time for thoughts to turn to actions and reality, and a number of senior women that I spoke to observed that what we are now seeing are results of change and a drive to continue that change.
March 20, 2018
Vienna ranks highest for quality of living, but emerging cities doing more to attract mobile talent
Cities in emerging markets, though challenged by economic and political turmoil, are catching up with top ranking cities following decades of investing in infrastructure, recreational facilities and housing in order to attract talent and multinational businesses, finds Mercer’s 20th annual Quality of Living survey. Meanwhile, many of Europe’s cities still offer the world’s highest quality of living and continue to remain attractive destinations for expatriates on assignment, despite economic volatility due to uncertainty around Brexit and increased political volatility in the region overall. Vienna tops the ranking for the 9th year running and is followed by Zurich (2), Auckland and Munich in joint 3rd place. In 5th place Vancouver completes the top five and is the highest ranking city in North America. Singapore (25) and Montevideo (77) are the highest-ranking cities in Asia and Latin America respectively. London – the highest ranked UK city – scores top marks in areas like access to public transport, and the variety and quality of theatres and restaurants, but has lower scores for air pollution and traffic congestion.
March 15, 2018
Future cityscape will feature driverless transport, smart buildings and co-working says JLL
Wi-Fi trees, driverless transport, smart buildings and co-working will be commonplace in 2040 predicts a report (registration required) published by JLL that outlines the ideal cityscape by 2040. The report incorporates a transformation framework aimed at enabling real estate businesses to adapt and thrive in a future city. According to the report, “The Transformation Framework”, the ideal cityscape in 2040 will have adapted to the trends driving the real estate sector over the next 20 years and will include co-working and living space, smart and healthy buildings, Wi-Fi trees, reverse vending machines, driverless transport and multi-generational housing as standard. To create the future cityscape, JLL asked some of the UK’s leading real-estate owners, occupiers, developers and investors what they thought the ideal city would look like in 2040, while taking into account the seven trends that JLL predict will influence real estate and infrastructure globally over the next two decades. These trends included tech innovation, urbanisation, land & resource scarcity, the low carbon economy, demographic & workplace change, health & wellness and transparency & social value.
March 9, 2018
Seven great workplace stories that have inspired and intrigued us over the past week
Do people really get promoted to their level of incompetence?
Emotional Intelligence: an integrative meta-analysis
Male and female bosses share the same “masculine” personality traits
How to read less news but be more informed
The Jurassic Park problem – tech and ethics
The 911 transcripts of times Apple employees walked into glass walls
Landlords woo office tenants with worker perks
March 9, 2018
Women working in construction sector three times more likely to miss out on promotion
The built environment still has some way to go to achieve gender parity a new report suggests, as women in construction are paid up to 45 percent less than men and are three times more likely to miss out on promotion than men due to perceived gender discrimination. According to the survey by Randstad of more than 5,500 construction workers and 540 employers across all job functions and levels – 75 percent of those passed over for a more senior role were women compared to 25 percent men. The findings suggests women in the industry typically are not being given the same opportunities to progress as their male counterparts even though almost every respondent (93 percent) said having a female manager either wouldn’t affect their way of working or would in fact have a positive impact. More →
March 8, 2018
Data, AI and the commercial property sector – what’s the connection?
The property industry is not the first to be permeated by artificial intelligence, and it is far from being the last. Machine learning is working its way into various sectors, but it’s proving to be of great use particularly in the property sector, providing a helping hand for humans to help reach their professional goals. One of the ways in which AI is being used successfully within the property industry is to analyse data more efficiently. This is particularly significant, as collection and analysis of data can often be time and resource-consuming and difficult to navigate; with the help of intelligent software, however, it is easier to infer the “story” or direction that a batch of data is pointing in, and consequently come to a clearer conclusion or evaluation.
March 8, 2018
Commercial property sector worth £4.8bn to Scottish economy
The Scottish commercial property sector contributes almost £4.8 billion to the Scottish economy and supports more than 92,000 jobs, according to a new report. Compiled by the University of Strathclyde’s Fraser of Allander Institute under commission by the Scottish Property Federation (SPF) its findings include a comprehensive look at the potential economic impact of new commercial work. In total, the commercial real estate element of Scotland’s construction industry has a direct impact of around £2.4bn to Scotland’s economy, however taking into account the additional spill-over effects of the industry, the sector is estimated to have a total impact of around £4.8bn.
March 7, 2018
Europe continues to attract high levels of commercial property investment
Research released by Knight Frank in the European Quarterly, Commercial Property Outlook (Q3 2017) highlighted how 2017 European investment volumes were on course to beat those of 2016. In fact, a total of €47.4 billion was invested in European commercial property in the third quarter (Q3) 2017; a 13 percent increase on the same quarter of 2016. A new report from commercial property firm Savoystewart.co.uk claims to uncover the countries attracting the most interest in investment in Europe. In analysing the figures, Savoystewart.co.uk found several countries experienced a spike in commercial investment in 2017. Most notably in Finland, with a total investment of €5.6 billion, Q1-Q3 – a rise of 121.60 percent on figures from 2016. Hungary (89.90 percent), Romania (73.50 percent), the Czech Republic (43.30 percent) and Netherlands (41.70 percent) followed, with considerable increases measured.
March 2, 2018
Seven workplace stories that made us think this week
IBM gives services staff until 2019 to get agile
White collar workers are fleeing their desks to craft a life
The future of real estate tech and how we got here
McMindfulness: Buddhism as sold to you by neoliberals
Why our jobs matter more now than ever before
A psychologist noticed this cool chair illusion in his workplace
How to think about artificial intelligence in real estate
March 21, 2018
There are at least some reasons to be optimistic about the UK’s tech sector post Brexit
by Gary Chandler • Comment, Property, Technology, Workplace design
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