New BREEAM environmental standard launched for UK office refurbishment and fit-outs

by • Architecture, Environment, Legal news, Property, Workplace design

Office refurbishmentThe Building Research Establishment (BRE) has launched the latest addition to its flagship sustainability accreditation scheme. Launched fully at MIPIM UK, the Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM) Refurbishment and Fit-Out 2014 standard has been in development for around  two years, a period which has included consultations with some of the UK’s largest commercial property occupiers, end users as well as a full assessment of a pilot project at BRE’s base near Watford. It joins existing BREEAM standards as a way of assessing the sustainability of office refurbishment and fit-out projects in the UK and overseas. The standards were tested on a simulated refurbishment project at the BRE site and achieved, in the words of the organisation,  “significant savings as well as many other positive learning outcomes”. Firms which took part in the two year development and consultation period included Lloyds, Boots, Legal & General and The Green Investment Bank.

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Two new office developments worth £77m for construction firm

by • Company news, Facilities management, Property

Two new office contracts worth £77m for construction firmConstruction group Galliford Try plc, has been appointed to two new major office contracts worth a combined £77 million. Its been selected as preferred bidder by Northamptonshire County Council to build its new headquarters in Northampton in a £38 million project. The new 17,600 sqm four-storey building is intended to consolidate the council’s existing offices in the town, and regenerate an area on the south side of the town centre. In addition to the office space, a café will be created together with extensive hard landscaping around the site. Galliford Try is also to deliver a new office building at Sutton in Surrey for offshore engineering company Subsea 7. The £39 million project creates a new 150,000 sqft Category A office space and associated facilities on the site of the former Brighton Road car park. Galliford Try Executive Chairman Greg Fitzgerald commented: “We have a strong reputation in the office sector and we look forward to providing these two clients with the first class facilities they require.”

If you want to reduce the cost of your office, move to a creative area

by • Comment, Facilities management, Property, Technology

If you want to reduce the cost of your office, move to a creative area

Clerkenwell Design Week

“First we shape our buildings, thereafter our buildings shape us.” Winston Churchill, House of Commons opening speech. Buildings do indeed shape us, but what seems to affect us even more is the neighbourhood. It’s the immediate environment as opposed to buildings that is much harder to create. It needs numerous factors to influence it, among them the two most precious components– the right people and enough time. Politicians all over the world dream of creating zones that will draw the most innovative companies. But it seems that most of them grow organically – the Silicon Valley in California, the Silicon Alley in New York and the Silicon Roundabout in London. The combination of low rents, proximity to the centre of a dynamic metropolis and interesting culture made the East London neighbourhood of Shoreditch, Clerkenwell and Aldgate a perfect magnet for some of the world’s most exciting companies. So should you think about relocating there too? Here are some things to consider. (more…)

Firms downsizing property dramatically as agile working takes hold, claims new report

by • Facilities management, Flexible working, Property, Workplace design

The sharp reduction in the amount of office space used by corporate occupiers as they adopt more agile working practices has been confirmed in a new study from facilities management services provider MITIE. The survey, as reported in the British Institute of Facilities Management (BIFM) magazine FM World, found that between the years of 2008 and 2014 firms reduced their floorspace by an average of 45 percent. The results of the report, based on interviews with property directors, mirror those of the Occupier Density Survey published last year by the British Council for Offices (BCO) which also found a marked (if smaller) reduction. The authors of the MITIE report conclude, similarly, that the economic downturn has been the main catalyst for the reduction in property used by occupiers and that the main way firms have accommodated the fall is with the uptake of flexible working practices.

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Awareness of benefits of BIM growing in US and UK, but implementation lags

by • Facilities management, News, Property, Technology

BIM Level 2Building owners on both sides of the Atlantic are increasingly aware of the benefits of Building Information Modelling (BIM), even though they may not yet use it directly, according to a new report published by McGraw Hill Construction in partnership with Autodesk and Skanska. The report, The Business Value of BIM for Owners, suggests that this pent-up demand will be unleashed in the near future with 40 percent of US owners and 38 percent of UK owners predicting that more than 75 percent of their projects will involve BIM in just two years, with a particularly high level of growth in the US. Growth in the UK is being driven by the approaching implementation of a central government mandate requiring use of BIM on all national public projects by 2016, with over two thirds (67 percent) of UK owners reporting that the mandate is already having a high impact on their use of BIM. Owners in the UK are also more generally aware of the benefits of BIM and have more experience of it in practice.

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Work begins on ‘living laboratory’ to test eco-build products

by • Environment, Facilities management, News, Property

Work begins on 'living laboratory' to test eco-build productsAccording to Constructing Excellence, buildings collectively account for around half the UK national output of carbon dioxide. To help address this, work has begun on the construction of a new £1.4 million ‘living laboratory’ at the Eden Project in Cornwall, where new eco-build products can be installed, tested and monitored. The Green Build Hub (GBH), is designed as a training centre that encourages inward investment by specialist green suppliers by enabling them to showcase and test innovative products. The project, by the Cornwall Sustainable Building Trust (CSBT), made possible by an investment of £1.1 million from the European Regional Development Fund Convergence Programme, aims to deliver a BREAAM ‘Outstanding’ building that acts as a resource of specialist green building knowledge. The GBH design team includes Gilbert & Goode Ltd, Ward Williams Associates, PBWC Architects, Hoare Lea, CDEC Ltd and TClarke Ltd; with an expected completion date of June 2015. (more…)

Huge increase in Glasgow and Edinburgh office leasing activity, as demand grows

by • Facilities management, News, Property

GlasgowGlasgow and Edinburgh have both seen more than 80 per cent growth in office leasing activity in the past year. A comparison of Scotland’s two major cities to other major cities on the continent at a recent JLL Research Seminar revealed that leasing activity in Glasgow increased by more than 120 per cent between July 2013 and June 2014, in comparison to the same period from 2012-2013. The increase in leasing activity placed Glasgow at the top of the list of forty comparable European cities. Edinburgh is fourth in the list with an increase in activity of around 80 per cent. The office markets of Edinburgh and Glasgow are expected to see continued high levels of occupier demand, an increase in investment activity and a strong performance from business parks. However, Edinburgh’s weakness is a lack of scale, and Glasgow’s is flat population growth; and though leasing markets in both cities are showing very strong recovery, vacancy rates are falling and Grade A space remains scarce. (more…)

HS2 will generate £40 billion in economic benefits and a surge of investment in office space, claims new report

by • News, Property, Public Sector

HS2According to a report published today in The Daily Telegraph, the UK’s new HS2 high speed rail network will encourage housebuilding and commercial property development as part of a £40 billion boost to the UK economy. The report, produced by consultants EY, also suggests that  new developments around the main stations along the route, including Birmingham, Manchester and West London would generate some £1 billion  a year before the route’s completion in 2035, including some 850,000 sq ft of new office space. The newspaper claims the full report will be released by the Government this week as part of its campaign to win support for the controversial scheme and that its content will be a major talking point at this week’s MIPIM which takes place for the first time in London. It was revealed recently that the Government now expects the scheme to cost £73 billion, a figure which critics, including Mayor of London Boris Johnson claim could be spent more wisely.

Winner and shortlist announced for UK Prime Minister’s Better Public Building Award

by • Environment, News, Property, Public Sector

public building awards

Wiltshire County Council Offices

The (rather long) shortlist of nominees for the Prime Minister’s Better Public Building Award 2014 has been announced by the UK Cabinet Office. Hosted as part of The British Construction Industry Awards which aim to ‘recognise all-round excellence in construction, including the overall design, and delivery of buildings and civil engineering projects’ the award’s original nominees were assessed on a range of standards including economic and social value. As well as the rather impressive new headquarters for Wiltshire County Council (above), the Government claims the shortlist includes a college building that is engineered to be one of the quietest buildings in the country as well as a building that will almost entirely be powered by fish oil. Previous winners include Tate Modern and the Velodrome at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. The Government, ever keen to be down with the kids, has produced a Buzzfeed feature on the nominated projects.

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Details released of 510,000 sq ft office development at Moorgate Crossrail station

by • Cities, Company news, News, Property

Moorgate Crossrail station developmentProperty developer Land Securities has released details of its 510,000 sq. ft. commercial property scheme on the site of the new Moorgate Crossrail station in the City of London. The mixed use scheme consists of two buildings providing 410,000 sq. ft and 100,000 sq. ft. of office space, a landscaped courtyard and a high level walkway linking the station site with the Barbican. Retail space will also be incorporated alongside the walkway.  The scheme is part of a programme of development by Land Securities linked to the new line, which will provide a total of 1.1m sq ft around various Crossrail stations. The firms is expected to submit a planning application for the site later this year with work on the site expected to start in 2018 in parallel with the construction of the Crossrail station on site. As well as improving Greater London’s transport links, the £15 bn Crossrail project is seen as an important catalyst for property development in the capital.

BCO announces winners of national awards for Britain’s best workplaces

by • Facilities management, News, Property, Workplace design

Britain's best workplaces - One RiversideThe BCO has announced the winners of its prestigious annual National Awards to honour what it considers Britain’s best workplaces. The overall winner was Number One Riverside in Rochdale (above). The office, home to Rochdale Metropolitan Borough Council, was also recognised as the Best Corporate Workplace in the UK, and topped a list of six other award winners recognised for excellence in office space.  Number One Riverside was singled out by the judges for its consolidation of the Council’s estate from 33 buildings into one. The project is also the centrepiece for the first phase of a major regeneration in the borough of Rochdale, ‘providing a new civic office that promotes new ways of working and creates a sense of community, engagement and social transparency.’ The building was commended by the judges for its incorporation of a range of public space alongside the workplace, including a library and cafe and customer service facilities.

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New property programme supports co-working between tech businesses

by • Facilities management, News, Property, Technology

co-workingOver the next decade, London’s digital tech sector is expected to grow at a rate of 5.1 per cent per annum, creating an additional £12 billion of economic activity and 46,000 new jobs, which in turn is driving change in the commercial property market. Now the rapid rise of the UK property tech market is to get a boost with the announcement of a programme which provides tech companies with access to investment, mentoring and co-working business space. In a strategic partnership with Cushman & Wakefield and Spire Ventures; Pi Labs, Europe’s first property-focused technology accelerator company, will invite start-ups to apply to join the Pi Labs accelerator programme. This will be located within ‘Second Home’, a new iconic 20,000 sq. ft. co-working space in Shoreditch, designed to set new global standards in the provision of stimulating private and social workplace environments supporting collaboration and co-working amongst creative and technology businesses.
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