November 24, 2015

WeWork announces latest plans to dominate London’s commercial property scene ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Flexible working, News, Property, Workplace design

Coworking giant WeWork has announced three new deals as it seeks to become the major player in London’s commercial property market. The firm, founded by Adam Neumann in New York in 2010, has made no secret of its plans for London as we reported earlier this year. The office space provider already has six London locations which it lets out to members (not tenants) who have access to the network of 57 locations in 17 countries on flexible terms via an app. According to a report published this week in Estates Gazette it is now set to add another 1 million sq. ft. to its portfolio in the capital with locations on City Road, Waterhouse Square and Docklands. The plans were announced to coincide with the launch of its largest London centre at Moor Square designed by Oktra. The company has also announced that it intends to launch its WeLive residential property concept in London in the near future following its successful launch in New York.

November 23, 2015

RIBA signs UN Compact as part of an increased focus on ethics ⁰

by Sara Bean • Architecture, Facilities management, News, Property

RIBA (The Royal Institute of British Architects) has become a signatory to the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC) and has undertaken to support its principles on human rights, labour standards, the environment and corruption. Joining the UNGC is part of the RIBA’s focus on ethics which has recently included co-founding a new coalition to develop a set of globally recognised ethics standards for real estate and related professional organisations. RIBA President Jane Duncan said: “As our profession changes and becomes increasingly international, so must our approach to developing and reinforcing professional ethics. Architecture has a direct impact on societies and economies; it shapes and influences the world we live in. For this reason, we architects have a duty to uphold the highest standards wherever we practice. I am delighted that RIBA has signed the UN Global Compact and undertaken to support and promote its principles.”

November 19, 2015

Dubai office market shows signs of cooling down over the next year ⁰

by Sara Bean • Facilities management, News, Property

The Dubai office market is showing signs of cooling, following a strong growth period, with average rents remaining unchanged during the first three quarters of 2015 across all the city’s major submarkets and free zones. Clutton’s Winter 2015/16 Dubai Commercial Market Outlook report revealed prime, secondary and tertiary office rents stand at AED 250 psf, AED 130 psf and AED 70 psf, respectively. However, micro-markets, which are often as small as specific buildings, buck wider trends, such as Emirates Towers (AED 310 psf) and The Gate District (AED 225 psf). Banks, financial institutions, law firms, construction companies and technology-media-telecoms (TMT) firms are the most active occupiers, with the city’s free zones remaining the primary target. This is because the free zones continue to be dominated by multinational organisations, with take-up activity intrinsically linked to business performance in their home markets.

November 14, 2015

Where to have great ideas + Workplace professions + London’s office market ⁰

by Sara Bean • Facilities management, Flexible working, Newsletter, Property, Wellbeing, Work&Place

In this week’s newsletter; Giuseppe Boscherini explores the growing importance of creativity at work; Mark Eltringham argues that the three professions of the workplace, HR, IT and FM need to adapt and notes a growing disconnect between a firm’s earnings and the number of people it employs. In commercial property, demand for office space in London continues to overwhelm its availability, with English regions outside the Capital leading construction growth. High job demands, stress and job insecurity are among the main reasons why people go to work when they are ill, and data shows the Internet of things will connect 6.4 billion objects next year. You can also download the new issue of Work&Place and access our first Insight Briefing, produced in partnership with Connection, which looks at agile working in the public sector. Visit our new events page, follow us on Twitter and join our LinkedIn Group to discuss these and other stories.

November 12, 2015

English regions outside the Capital lead construction growth ⁰

by Sara Bean • Facilities management, News, Property

The construction industry has returned to growth after six months of contraction, according to figures released by industry analysts Glenigan. Its latest Index also found that the value of projects starting on site are higher than a year earlier for the first time since March, fueled by growth across the industry; with housing, civil engineering and non-residential building sectors all up on a year earlier. Non-residential starts as a whole were up 4 percent on a year earlier, as growth in private sector activity offset continued weakness across the public sector. Industrial, office, retail and hotel and leisure starts all registered growth. Although UK construction has moved back into growth, it is the English regions outside of the Capital which are seeing most activity. London, Wales and Scotland last saw growth in March this year and South West England hasn’t recorded a rise in starts since May 2014.

November 11, 2015

Record construction of London office space, but supply shortfall remains ⁰

by Sara Bean • Facilities management, News, Property

Demand for office space in London continues to overwhelm its availability and in spite of record levels of construction, according to two new reports. The latest CBRE Monthly Index claims that rents in Central London’s booming office market grew by 10.3 percent in the year to October 2015, the first time annual growth has hit double digits since April 2008. Despite rapidly rising rents, take-up of offices in Central London continues to outpace the 10 year average. The capital saw 1.1 percent growth in October, with 3.6m sq ft of space snapped up by businesses in the third quarter of 2015, with a further 3.8m sq ft currently under offer and expected to complete before the end of the year. Change could be on the way however as the latest biannnual London crane survey from Deloitte claims that the amount of office space being built in central London has risen by a fifth in six months, the highest level for seven years.

November 9, 2015

Non-death of the office + Property owners lag behind + New issue of Work&Place ⁰

by Sara Bean • Insight Briefings, Newsletter, Property, Wellbeing, Work&Place, Workplace

In this week’s newsletter; Philip Ross says the main driver of the growing convergence of HR, IT and FM roles will be the availability of data to make informed decisions and Mark Eltringham gives a number of reason why office has an enduring appeal. In news; HR guru Cary Cooper warns about the deleterious effects of email on productivity and wellbeing, a third of home workers fear they’ll get fat, commercial property owners are not keeping up with tenant’s needs and the launch of a new study to develop a prototype UK scheme that mirror’s Australia’s ‘design for performance’. You can also download the new issue of Work&Place and access our first Insight Briefing, produced in partnership with Connection, which looks at agile working in the public sector. Visit our new events page, follow us on Twitter and join our LinkedIn Group to discuss these and other stories

November 6, 2015

Shortage of German office space as demand in Europe reaches record high ⁰

by Sara Bean • Facilities management, News, Property

The demand for office space in Europe grew over the third quarter of 2015 with total take up of over 3 million sq metres, on a par with the previous third quarter peak seen in 2007, according to new figures from property consultancy JLL. Take-up over the third quarter of 2015 is the highest on record – up 29 percent year-on-year and full year volumes are forecast to reach 11.5 million square metres, an increase of 8 percent on 2014. Across the continent, demand for office space is being driven by multiple markets recovering, albeit at varying speeds. Germany demonstrated some of the strongest results in Europe. Four of the five largest markets improved on Q3 2014 and Berlin, Hamburg, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt and Munich reported a combined take-up of 775,000 sq m, as the strong employment market in Germany pushes up demand for office space even further.

November 4, 2015

Commercial property owners not keeping up with changing needs of tenants ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Flexible working, News, Property, Workplace design

A new study from Northumbria University, sponsored by serviced office provider Citibase, claims that the owners of commercial property in the UK stand to lose out on £4.8 billion over the next decade because they are failing to adapt to the changing needs of tenants for more agile spaces. The study claims that property owners in 27 towns and cities in England, Wales and Scotland are already missing out on £325 million annually and paying out another £170 million on holding cost and there are stark differences between the prime and secondary office sectors. The report, Taking Stock: Secondary opportunities and the agile future, claims that out of all total empty stock calculated, only 10 percent of vacant office space is prime, the other 90 percent is secondary. The secondary sector currently has an estimated 26.4m sq ft of office space vacant compared to just 3m sq ft of empty stock in the prime market.

November 3, 2015

Less than one year’s supply of office space now available in Central London ⁰

by Sara Bean • Facilities management, News, Property

Office occupiers are being forced to search further afield from traditional London commercial property centres as the vacancy rate of office space in Central London falls to a 15 year low. According to research from BNP Paribas Real Estate, at just 4.68 percent of total stock, the level of supply during the third quarter of the year was just 10.29m sq ft; equivalent to less than one years’ supply at current levels. Take-up to the end of September reached 10.78m sq ft, 18 percent above the long term trend, whilst the investment volume of £11.91bn is 28 percent ahead of the average. The West End’s office market was boosted by several large transactions involving Media Tech firms and take-up in Q3 2015 reached 1m sq ft, making the third quarter the busiest so far in 2015. The City is still attracting media tech companies, but there’s been a resurgence in traditional City occupiers from the professional sector.

October 27, 2015

Seven ways your choice of new office may boost business performance ⁰

by Darren Bilsborough • Comment, Facilities management, Property

There are generally four main reasons why a business considers changing to new office space: your business is growing and your existing office can’t be expanded to accommodate that growth; your need for office space is reducing due to a change in business circumstances; your office lease is nearing expiration: you are prepared to explore whether a change in office could improve your current business performance. It is the last of these four reasons that sits at the heart of this article, but that does not detract from the validity of the other motivations for investigating options for new office space. Changing office space requirements and/or the fact your lease is expiring do not preclude searching for new ways to improve business performance. In fact, they provide a compelling excuse to explore alternatives and often organisations choose to move for a number of good reasons.

October 26, 2015

An updated green building standard designed to meet wider business objectives ⁰

by Sue Gregson • Comment, Facilities management, Legal news, Property

The publication in September 2015 of the revised ISO 14001 Global Environmental Management Standard has been heralded as a move that will “shift business focus on the environment from compliance with regulations and direct operations, to placing the environment at the heart of thinking and strategy.” This will assist businesses around the world to respond to increasing global sustainability challenges and ensure long-term business success. Currently there are over 300,000 organisations worldwide that are certified to the ISO 14001 Standard, first published in 1996. According to the Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment, (IEMA) ISO 14001 is the second most used standard companies employ to manage their performance globally, with 171 countries now represented. Its popularity as a management tool has been linked to both improved financial and environmental performance.