January 18, 2013
Go ahead granted for Manchester Airport business district
The application to build a new business district within the government-designated Airport City enterprise zone in Manchester has been granted outline planning permission by Manchester City Council. The UK coalition government made the area one of its first four “vanguard” enterprise zones in March 2011 to provide fastrack planning and tax breaks to encourage rapid development. The application involves the creation of 113,400 sq. m. of office space, 49,000 sq. m. of industrial units, and 5,800 sq. m. of retail and leisure facilities on the outskirts of Manchester. The £650 million scheme is anticipated to create over 11,000 jobs over the next 15 years.
US based technology giant Google has completed the long expected £1bn property deal for a brownfield site in the King’s Cross Regeneration Area in London. The 2.4 acre site is located between King’s Cross and St Pancras rail stations and will be used for the development of an up to 11 storey complex which is due to be complete during 2016. Google will rationalise its two existing London locations into the new office and workplace design aficionados will be expecting great things from a firm that is renowned for its original approach, most recently at its 
John Sacks of JSA previews the world’s largest office furniture exhibition which takes place in Guangzhou, China during March. Ignore the shocking website for CIFF, this is an exhibition whose story can be told in numbers, like much that is true of modern China. Over 900 companies will exhibit in a venue with over 210,000 sq. m. of floor space and more than 60,000 people are expected to visit.
The news from the weekend that Axa Real Estate is looking to raise around £1bn to invest in buildings with very long leases has resparked the debate into what sort of lease represents the best value for investors and tenants in these uncertain times. The new fund will target commercial properties with minimum twenty year leases even though investors have to pay a premium for such properties and the majority of occupiers don’t want them. 
The latest wheeze from the Government as it looks to ‘streamline’ the public sector’s back-office functions including purchasing is to create two Independent Shared Service Centres as part of the Next Generation Shared Service Plan. Pick through the usual gobbledegook and acronyms and what you will find are some significant developments as The Cabinet Office seeks to save up to £600 million a year in administration costs. 
January 14, 2013
Cloud computing set to transform business models
by Mark Eltringham • Comment, Technology, Workplace
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As an issue explored in our own briefing on the technologies that will do most to transform the workplace during 2013, we know the Cloud is set to be adopted (and understood) by more and more organisations and individuals in the coming year. Doubtless it will follow the usual process of technological adoption as people begin to understand its unintended consequences as well as its uses but it pays to know what some of its implications will be for office designers and managers as shown by this programme from Deloitte.