June 8, 2018
Flexible office space is becoming mainstream as demand grows
The provision of flexible office space is increasing as landlords look to capitalise on its increasing demand by occupiers. Alongside this a significant proportion would be happy to work in partnership with a flexible office space provider. According to a new study; UK Landlords & Investors Embrace the Flexible Revolution from CBRE, the majority of UK landlords (92 percent) believe that flexible office space is on the brink of becoming mainstream and are not only keen to monitor but respond to the growth of flexible office space. Over three quarters (77 percent) of survey participants stated that they are currently considering some form of flexible provision, with 79 percent declaring an intention to act within the next 12 months. More →
Demand for commercial office space in central London has remained above the long-term average, with the amount of space under offer increasing, though the level of supply in the West End has continued to decline, according to the latest figures from Savills. Take-up in April reached 275,473 sq ft across 24 transactions, bringing take-up for the first four months of the year to 1.3m sq ft. The volume of transactions to complete over the month was the lowest for April in five years but overall year-to-date take-up still remained up on the long-term average for this period by 13 percent. 
One in four workers (28 percent) would move jobs if they weren’t allowed to work from home, increasing to nearly half (45 percent) of millennial workers. Yet while two thirds of UK employees (65 percent) can work from home, 35 percent are still not given the option of working remotely. 
Central London commercial offices under offers are at the highest point in the last 12 months and take-up is ahead of 2017 levels compared with this point last year, new data from CBRE has shown. Central London office take-up for April 2018 stood at 547,900 sq ft, largely driven by pre-letting activity. Office take-up for the year to the end April 2018 was 4 percent higher than the corresponding period in 2017, standing at 3.4m sq ft. Take-up was boosted by 139,600 sq ft of pre-letting activity. Over the last 12 months, the business services sector has represented the largest proportion of take-up at 32 percent, driven by a large number of deals to flexible office providers. Take-up in April was dominated by the creative industries sector, accounting for 44 percent of take-up. The banking and finance sector (26 percent) and the business services sector (21 percent) also represented notable proportions of take-up in April.
UK office workers spend an alarmingly limited amount of time outdoors each day, claims new research from Ambius, which found that almost 40 percent spend a maximum of just 15 minutes outside, excluding their commute to work, and an additional 22 percent spend a maximum of 30 minutes outside. This is even less than prisoners, who require ‘at least one hour of suitable exercise in the open air daily’, according to UN guidelines. On average, the British workers surveyed spend more time per day at their desk or workstation (6.8 hours) than they do in bed (6.4 hours), relaxing at home (3.5 hours) or outdoors (37 mins). A lack of fresh air (57 percent), insufficient natural light (49 percent), and an absence of indoor plants (36 percent) were the biggest source of frustration for employees. Introducing indoor plants (49 percent), nicer artwork (50 percent), and a more interesting colour scheme (54 percent), topped the list of employees’ requests to improve their workplace.
A third of UK office workers (30 percent) have admitted to only completing 1-4 tasks every day, according to a new report from Fellowes, which claims productivity levels in offices across the UK have fallen to a dramatic low. A quarter of workers admit they are unproductive for up to two hours a day, equating to a staggering 40 million-hours in lost productivity across the UK every week. Compared to data from Fellowes in 2017, the average office worker has lost an extra 30 minutes each day to productivity issues., office product specialists, released their second Productivity in the UK report today to help businesses understand what their employees need to increase output and the tools that can help. The study also found that over a third (38 percent) of office workers felt their employers weren’t doing enough to help their productivity and nearly half (40 percent) even went as far as to say they were more productive than their boss. On average Brits failed to meet deadlines at least once a week and 65 percent think a four-day working week would improve productivity.
Users of co-working and flexible space rapidly growing in numbers, according to a report, Marketplace for flexible work, from research conducted by (flexible workspace provider) The Instant Group and architects HLW. The report claims to ‘analyse’ the coworking and flexible workspace sector to gather a ‘360-degree perspective’ of the industry to determine where ‘perspectives align and diverge among stakeholders’. The research also claims that location and the ability to assign or reassign employees to workspace on short notice were also important influencers when choosing flexible workspace over conventional office space. Looking forward, the research claims that more than half of the companies interviewed envisage spending less time working from a traditional company office space.
