HMRC signs for Manchester HQ as part of nationwide programme of lettings

HMRC signs for Manchester HQ as part of nationwide programme of lettings

by • News, Property, Public Sector

HMRC has completed a 25 year letting of 157,153 sq ft at the English Cities Fund’s New Bailey development in Greater Manchester. HMRC will take over the whole of the seven storey 3 New Bailey development with staff moving in from 2022. The move is part of a nationwide programme of lettings in major cities to deliver HMRC services at local level, overseen by the Government Property Unit. There have already been announcement of new HMRC hubs in Cardiff, Edinburgh, Leeds and Birmingham. The New Bailey move will form the initial phase of the HMRC Manchester Regional Centre. Additional capacity for around 2,500 staff working in the city will be retained at Trinity Bridge House as a transitional site until 2027/8, when the second phase of the regional centre is expected to open. (more…)

Local authorities and developers must work together to boost the quality of new developments, says Green Building Council

Local authorities and developers must work together to boost the quality of new developments, says Green Building Council

by • News, Property

The UK Green Building Council (UKGBC) has launched two new resources for developers and local authorities designed to help boost construction standards and improve ‘social value outcomes’.  The first resource is related to residential developments while the second is directly relevant to commercial property. The resource, Social Value in New Development, provides guidance for developers and local authorities to help deliver social value outcomes in new residential and commercial developments. The guidance looks at social value, its stakeholders, strategies for driving positive outcomes and measuring success, and the current barriers to delivery.

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Flexible working and the rise of coworking reducing demand for London office space

Flexible working and the rise of coworking reducing demand for London office space

by • Coworking, Flexible working, News, Property

The number of new office buildings constructed since the financial crisis in 2008 has fallen in a year on year comparison by 56 percent, according to an analysis of planning applications carried out by property lending platform Lendy. The authors claim that the primary reason for the sharp decrease has been the greater uptake of flexible working and coworking models of space use. According to the study, only 2,300 applications to build new office buildings were approved last year, down from 5,200 in 2007/8. Lendy adds that applications to build new offices have also fallen since the financial crisis – down 58 percent to 2,500 last year from 6,000 in 2007/08.  Flexible working has reduced the requirement for new office buildings. Other innovations, such as shared workspace and coworking, have reduced the need for employees to have their own dedicated workspace, according to the report.

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Property and construction industry calls on government to raise the bar on environmental standards

Property and construction industry calls on government to raise the bar on environmental standards

by • Environment, News, Property

Over 50 influential business leaders from across the construction and property industry have signed an open letter to ministers urging them to introduce policy that will see all new buildings built to net-zero carbon standards by 2030. As a first step towards the 2030 goal, the group calls on the government to swiftly confirm that from 2020 energy performance standards will be significantly improved. Coordinated by the UK Green Building Council (UKGBC), the letter asks ministers to give the industry medium and long-term policy certainty, to drive significant investment and catalyse innovation.

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Seven workplace stories that fired up our synapses this week

Seven workplace stories that fired up our synapses this week

by • Features, Flexible working, Property, Technology, Workplace design

Three myths about the future of work and why they’re not true

Chronic fatigue trial results ‘not robust’, new study says

Coworking is the new normal and the stats that prove it

Is mindfulness just hype?

What makes employees happy?

The workplace is killing people and nobody cares

The office sector is failing to keep up with business growth

Image: The Cluster, Melbourne

Occupiers seeking tech, flexibility and wellness in a newly consumerised workplace

Occupiers seeking tech, flexibility and wellness in a newly consumerised workplace

by • Flexible working, News, Property, Technology

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.

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There are at least some reasons to be optimistic about the UK’s tech sector post Brexit

There are at least some reasons to be optimistic about the UK’s tech sector post Brexit

by • Comment, Property, Technology, Workplace design

Making detailed predictions about the economic consequences of Brexit has proved a mug’s game many time over the past couple of years. The most accurate summation of what is happening might be ‘mixed’. Most recently, a report from the CBI has highlighted the resilience of many sectors while bemoaning a lack of skills in the economy. Meanwhile former Commercial Secretary to the Treasury Lord O’Neill also recently conceded that the UK economy had been more robust than he had expected following the Brexit vote, which he attributed primarily to the thriving world economy. An argument almost immediately dismissed by the economist Ruth Lea writing for the LSE, who put forward a more nuanced and mixed explanation. The same picture of tempered resilience is also evident in specific sectors, and especially those that were seen as the most likely to feel the consequences of the Brexit vote, including London’s crucial tech sector.

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Enter the MIPIM bandwagon, towed by pink elephants

Enter the MIPIM bandwagon, towed by pink elephants

by • Comment, Property, Technology

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.

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Vienna ranks highest for quality of living, but emerging cities doing more to attract mobile talent

Vienna ranks highest for quality of living, but emerging cities doing more to attract mobile talent

by • Cities, Facilities management, News, Property, Workplace

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.

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Future cityscape will feature driverless transport, smart buildings and co-working says JLL

Future cityscape will feature driverless transport, smart buildings and co-working says JLL

by • Cities, Facilities management, News, Property

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.

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Seven great workplace stories that have inspired and intrigued us over the past week

Seven great workplace stories that have inspired and intrigued us over the past week

by • Facilities management, Features, Property, Technology, Workplace design

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

Women working in construction sector three times more likely to miss out on promotion

Women working in construction sector three times more likely to miss out on promotion

by • Architecture, Facilities management, Legal news, News, Property, Workplace

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…)

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